Metro passenger's warning over 'devious' scammers

A victim of a social media scam claiming to offer free public transport has said fraudsters tried to take money out of her account for three months.

Patricia Daglish, from Gateshead, made a purchase from the fraudulent page, which promised six months of unlimited free travel in the Newcastle area with a £2 Pop Pay As You Go (PAYG) card.

She said she thought it was "too good to be true", but initially believed the advert came from an official Tyne and Wear Metro Facebook page.

Metro operator Nexus said it had reported the scam page - which gets taken down but then appears again with a new name - dozens of times. Facebook has been approached for a comment.

"We have reported this to Meta numerous times. We're aware that other transport operators across in the UK have been targeted by what looks like the same scammers," Nexus said.

"Our customers are advised that this is a scam website and they should not engage with it. This is not connected in any way with Tyne and Wear Metro, or Nexus, and we do not endorse its content."

Since September, there have been a number of warnings from Nexus about the fraudulent page, which features photos of Tyne and Wear Metro, buses and the Shields ferry.

Ms Daglish, 64, said there were also comments on it from people claiming they received the card and saying it was a great deal - but these were also fake.

"Stupidly, I thought I'm going to try it," she said.

Days after the initial payment of £2.35, fraudsters tried to take out about £49.99.

Ms Daglish said she used a Zing card for the initial payment and had put only £3 on it.

Subsequent scam payments failed because there was not enough money, and Ms Daglish cancelled the card - which was used in the euro currency for trips abroad - straight away.

But, she said, despite the cancellation there were about nine attempts to take money out of the invalid card between the end of September and Christmas Day, for random sums ranging from about €9.99 to €49.99.

"I was very mad. I thought 'I cannot believe that I fell for something so stupid'," Ms Daglish said.

"I haven't seen the page for about two months now, but I can guarantee they are still doing it.

"It's a total, absolute scam and I don't know how the Metro can stop it, I don't know whose problem is it, but people must be getting money taken out of their bank accounts."

Ms Daglish only lost the initial £2.35 but said she was worried of more scams in the future.

"I don't know who they are and how they get away with it. It's disgraceful," she said.

"They're very clever, they're very devious."

Nexus advised customers to be vigilant "with any rogue social media page or website pretending to sell travel passes" and to report it to Nexus and Facebook.

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