Video transcript

Evie’s Story Transcript

I was so excited to be starting uni, so many new experiences. Not just my coursework but living away from home for the first time. Even washing my own clothes. The hardest thing was money. I barely had enough to cover the basics. Bills, cheap food, and paying rent on my room in halls. I had to be really careful about what I spent. I just hated not being able to afford what I wanted.

And I saw what looked like this job ad online. Said it was an easy way to make some cash. It seemed too good to be true. They'd put some money into my student bank account, and then I'd transfer it into another account overseas. 

In return, I could keep 10% of the money. I sent them my bank details and followed the instructions. It was brilliant at first. I had loads to spend. I could finally get my nails done, takeaways, and a new phone upgrade. Everything changed two weeks later. I tried to pay for a dress, but my car got declined. 

The bank had frozen my account. When I got home, there were people from the fraud unit outside my door. They said the people who asked me to transfer the money were part of a criminal gang. They were using students like me as money mules to move around illegal cash. I'd have to go to court. I might even get a prison sentence. I was so scared I thought I was going to be sick.

Even if I didn't get a prison sentence, they told me I might get rejected in the future for mobile phone contracts and bank loans. It could really affect my future. I felt like I didn't sleep for weeks after that. I was so angry with the criminals for turning my life upside down, and angry with myself for being fooled.

My court date arrived. I was given a huge fine. I had no idea how I was going to pay it, but at least it wasn't a prison sentence. That would have destroyed mum and dad. Over the next few weeks, I started to feel really down. Missed classes. Some days I didn't even want to get out of bed. I was too embarrassed to tell my friends but it was so hard dealing with it on my own. At last I told my friend Jo. She was great. It was just so good to have someone to talk to you about everything I was feeling.

She arranged counselling for me through uni, and even came with me to some of the sessions. The counsellor was lovely. He put me in touch with a charity that raises awareness of money mule schemes. Turns out there's thousands of other students who've also been victims. So glad it wasn't just me. 

I took an evening job at the student union. Started to pay my fine. Felt so much better. I caught up on miss work and slowly started to get my life back. And I'm never going to fall for anything like that again. I'm really careful to avoid scams, and I warn others about them too. I've learned the hard way. If an offer seems too good to be true, it probably is. On the plus side, my job's given me more confidence, and I've made some great new friends. I finally feel like I can treat myself again.