'They should've gone to Specsavers!': Gloria Hunniford's outrage after a 'plump elderly' fraudster posed as the TV star and duped a bank cashier into handing over £120,000 from her account

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Rip Off Britain presenter Gloria Hunniford says banks' security 'must be stronger' after she was ripped off herself for £120,000 by a fraudster posing as the elderly star.

A plump elderly woman presented herself at a Santander branch in Croydon North End claiming to be the 76-year-old Loose Women star.

She had the stars bank details and then brandished ID and a bank card in the name of Mary Winifred Gloria Hunniford - the presenter's real full name.

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Gloria Hunniford, 76, (pictured left) TV presenter for Rip Off Britain had £120,000 stolen by the fraudster who pretended to be her in a Santander bank (right)

 The TV star told the Mirror: 'If you looked at my driving licence, you would certainly know it was not the same person. 

'If they were checking that, where were her eyes? She should have gone to Specsavers because there was no similarity.'

Personal banker Aysha Davis, 28, dealt with the fraudster, who had gone into the bank with two other people pretending to be Hunniford's daughter and grandson.

The trio demanded the 'grandson' become an extra signatory on the account, and Ms Davis duly helped them complete the paperwork, including photocopying their documents. 

Alan Dowie, 18, (pictured) who faced jail has been spared jail by the judge so he can go to university

The woman pretending to be Gloria Hunniford made no mention to Ms Davis that she was a celebrity, and merely said she had 'a few bob' in the account, and wanted to add her teenage 'grandson' as a signatory because she had been ill.

Ms Hunniford's account was subsequently drained of £102,000 that same day, and then a further £18,000 was taken. 

Once the theft was reported, Ms Davis was arrested and charged with in on the scam.

However, she told the court she had never heard of Gloria Hunniford, and insisted she had no reason to suspect anything was wrong with the customer's request. She said she only realised Ms Hunniford's fame when she later Googled her. She told the court the star  was ‘not of my time.’

Police are still hunting for the ‘lookalike’ and her ‘daughter’, while stand-in grandson Alan Dowie, 18, from Surrey, who was the only one of the trio to ever be caught, has been spared jail by the judge and told to go to university.

Prosecutor Sheilagh Davies at the Old Bailey said: 'As my lord saw from the CCTV and better quality stills, she looked really nothing like the rather more glamorous and better presented Ms Hunniford, which perhaps those who watch TV are familiar with.'

The court heard Santander have reimbursed the money stolen from Ms Hunniford’s account after it was drained of £120,000.

Giving evidence, Davis said she had never met Dowie before he walked into the bank and had to google TV star Ms Hunniford - who regularly appears on ‘This Morning’ and ‘The One Show’ - to find out who she was.

‘The name on the ID card was Mary Winifred Gloria Hunniford, and sorry to be stereotypical but this lady looked like a Mary,’ she told jurors.

‘I had to Google Gloria Hunniford and even if I passed her on the street I wouldn’t recognise her because she’s not from my time.’

Prosecutor Sheilagh Davies said: ‘But she’s pretty famous.’

Do you recognise this woman believed to have posed as the 'daughter' of the TV star 'lookalike' who fooled a bank worker she was famous

Jurors giggled when the defendant replied: ‘In your opinion.’ 

But Ms Davies told the court: 'They were a middle aged lady, who purported to be the real Gloria Hunniford but the bank account was held in the name of Mary Winifred Gloria Hunniford and the woman presented herself as Mary.

'She was later to produce a driving licence in the name of Mary Hunniford, which the Crown allege was fake.

'With that lady was another woman of around 40 years of age and with this defendant, Alan Dowie, they attended by prior arrangement and were seen by the personal banker Aysha Davis.

'They were taken to her office and there was an arrangement to add Alan Dowie to the account of Mary Winifred Gloria Hunniford.

'It was presented as a fact that he was her grandson of the lady who had attended purporting to be Ms Hunniford.

'She said she had "quite a few bob" in her account and she was not in good health.

'She wanted her grandson to enjoy the benefits of the very substantial funds she held in that account.'

The court heard that within 90 minutes the first tranche of £19,000 was paid into Dowie's bank account and over the course of the day a total of £102,000 had been drained.

Another payment of £18,940 was paid into the account of Dillon.

'When the money started to filter through into his account he, and others, went on a shopping spree,' said the prosecutor.

Some £429 was spent at a branch of Zara while a massive £80,000 was spent on Rolex watches, one costing just under £30,000. 

The prosecutor said it was ironic that Ms Hunniford presented consumer complaints programme ‘Rip Off Britain.’

Davis said she had spent the morning doing paperwork, before going to the cash desk to book customers in for meetings about opening new accounts.

She then went to the main banking hall to help any customers who had not yet joined a queue and looked like they needed help.

CCTV footage shows Davis approaching a black male to ask him if he needs assistance, before speaking to the three fraudsters.

‘The lady said “I’ve come to add my grandson to my account” she said she had “a few bob” in there and that she’d been ill.

‘The old lady had her bank card and her driving licence - it’s not rare people wanting to add someone to their account, so this was just the same as always.’

Personal banker Aysha Davis, 28, (pictured) admitted she didn't know who the TV star was despite her being on programmes like The One Show and Loose Women

When asked by Michael Peters of the defence counsel if she would recognise Gloria Hunniford, she replied: ‘I didn’t recognise her or I would have done something about it. I wouldn’t have gone ahead with the transaction.’

She said she had passed both driving licences under the UV scanner and both had illuminated correctly and then photocopied them.

‘I had never seen these people in my life before - I had no part in what I am accused of. 

'Banks get defrauded every day but because of the high profile of the person on the account, I am being used as a scapegoat to try and repair the damage to the bank’s reputation.

‘I was three months pregnant at the time and the only thing I was focused on was the pregnancy.’

She continued: ‘I spoke to the black male before and if he had said I want to open an account, would have taken him up to my office.’

The prosecutor said: ‘The account had a significant cash balance, the boy was clearly young, only 17, did you not question it?’

Davis continued: ‘I asked the older lady “How come you’re adding your grandson and not your daughter?” she said she’d been ill and she wanted to add her grandson.

‘I’m a working class person and I don’t see that kind of money every day, but some people you think would have lots of money have nothing, and some people who you think wouldn’t have much have quite a lot.’

Ironically Ms Hunniford (pictured left) is a presenter of Rip Off Britain a programme that helps warn viewers of scams

She said that as they had all the correct ID documents and paperwork it wasn’t her job to pry for fear of causing offence.

Jurors were told that one of the forms was missing, but Davis said: ‘If I was purposefully doing something wrong I would have done everything right to cover my back.

‘Just because I made a mistake and I would have gotten into trouble at work it doesn’t implicate me in this fraud.’

Davis, of Streatham High Road, south London, denied one count of conspiracy to defraud.

Dowie, of Oxted, Surrey, has already pleaded guilty to the same charge.

But today was given a suspended sentence for his role in the scam.

Dowie was caught after 102,000 was funnelled into his bank account before his card was used to blow hundreds of pounds on clothes and £80,000 on Rolex watches.

He told police he had been recruited by a pal called ‘Timmy’ to go into the bank with a woman pretending to be his grandmother and another posing as his aunt.

Dowie later claimed he was enlisted in the scam by a friend in the year above at Reigate College, where he was studying for his A-levels, and was told he would receive £1,000.

The teenager, has just completed his A-Levels, achieving grades allowing him the choice to attend Sussex or Swansea University.

 Ms Davies said: 'He said he was brought into this dishonest scheme by someone he referred to as Timmy, who he knew at college.

'Timmy rang him during the course of the morning of the 3rd, and said he had to leave and go to Croydon to meet these other people.

'He knew at this stage it was to be dishonest, and he knew it was a way of making some easy money.'

'He brought his own genuine driving licence which was used by him to present to Aysha Davis as identification.

'But he was aware there were fake IDs as far as certainly the older woman purporting to be Gloria Hunniford.

'He had full knowledge of the dishonest scheme. It was dishonest from the outset. He allowed himself to be drawn into it.

'It was a deliberately targeted account where it was known to those involved there were very substantial funds in the account.'

Dowie's barrister, Richard Merz, said: ‘Alan Dowie was taken for a ride almost as much as the bank itself.’ 

Handing Dowie an 18-month term of detention, suspended for two years, Judge Timothy Pontius said he accepted the youngster was a ‘dupe’ in the scam.

The judge told him: ‘You were the supposed grandson of the Gloria Hunniford look-alike - or look-not-very-much-alike.

He continued: ‘You achieved nothing accept your arrest and criminal conviction which will be on your record for many years.

‘You received not a penny piece out of it. It was a totally unprofitable venture as well as it being a thoroughly stupid one.

‘I therefore hope you have learned a very salutary lesson.'

He added: ‘You are not going inside today. I don’t think it would be right to deprive you of a golden opportunity to go to university, get a degree and pursue a productive, honest life in your chosen career.’ 

He added: 'I find it very difficult to understand how someone as intelligence as you came to be involved, not merely in some lark amounting to criminal activity, but very serious dishonest crime.

'Grandson': Reyon Dillon, 18, from Croydon pleaded guilty to laundering some of the cash from the scam

'It is quite extraordinary.

'You are not some half-witted naïve youth. You are an intelligent young man. You come from a good home.'

Noting his good A-level results and aspirations to study at university, Judge Pontius said: 'Not many young men have that opportunity, even these days. 

'It cannot have been long before you became aware of exactly the nature, the scale of the enterprise.

'Six figures ended up in your account, and also the same day, and indeed the next day as well, a great deal of that money was spent.

'So what was it all for? You achieved nothing except for your arrest and a criminal conviction which will be on your record for many years.'

Reyon Dillon, 18, of Croydon who laundered some of the cash from the scam will be sentenced on 7 September.

Following today's case a Santander spokesperson said: 'Santander takes fraud extremely seriously. 

'As soon as we identified this fraudulent activity we alerted the authorities as well as Ms Hunniford herself. 

'We are very sympathetic to the distress caused to Ms Hunniford for being the victim of a scam and as is our normal practice in a case like this, we have reimbursed her fully for her financial loss. 

'We have also made significant improvements to our processes to ensure this type of fraudulent activity is prevented in future.'