Historian's money for Mary Queen of Scots house swiped in sim card con

A historian was left feeling 'desperate' after fraudsters took over his mobile phone and stole thousands of pounds - including from a charity fund for a centuries-old manor where Mary, Queen of Scots was held captive.

Over the course of just a few days, David Templeman noticed his phone seemed to have stopped working, before making the sickening discovery that £1,600 had been taken from a shareholding account.

He then noticed another £1,600 was stolen from a charity bank account the 81-year-old looks after for Friends of Sheffield Manor Lodge, alongside £340 held in a PayPal account for the same charity.

The funds were part of a massive donation drive to support Sheffield Manor Lodge, where Mary, Queen of Scots lived as a prisoner from 1570 to 1584. 

Elizabeth I had ordered her cousin to be placed under house arrest at the estate, because her Catholic relative was seen as a major threat to the Protestant throne.

Of the 19 years that Mary was kept in custody, she spent 14 of them at the historic site in Sheffield, which has fallen into disrepair over the years. 

The charity estimates that between £50,000 to £100,000 is needed to carry out much-needed renovation work, including on the Tudor-built Turret House, which still stands on the local heritage site today.

Mr Templeman did not know at the time he had actually been a victim of a complex SIM-swap fraud, which had left all his financial holdings vulnerable to criminals.

What is SIM-swap fraud? 

SIM-swap fraud begins with a fraudster gathering personal details about you, either by phishing emails, social engineering, data breaches or reading your social media posts.

The fraudster can pretend to be you, using this information to pass any security checks requested by your phone provider.

They can then convince a phone provider to transfer your service to a SIM in their possession. 

This gives them control of your phone number to change your passwords and access incoming calls, text messages and emails.

The fraudster will also receive your two-factor authentication (2FA) to gain access to your social media and financial accounts.

You may notice your mobile is no longer connecting and you are unable to make calls or texts. 

If you receive unsolicited texts or emails about your SIM being ported or a PAC request, or you unexpectedly lose phone service, you should contact your provider immediately. 

You should also inform your banks as soon as possible. The fraudster may attempt to make a money transfer online or over the phone while they still have control. 

Source: Met Police

The scam involves fraudsters remotely transferring a person's mobile phone number onto a SIM card that they hold, so that they can receive all calls and texts. 

From there they can use two-factor authentication (2FA) codes that are sent by text to access bank and savings accounts.

Two months on, the Derbyshire resident managed to reclaim his phone and regain the money stolen from his shares - but initially not the funds taken from the charity's HSBC and PayPal accounts.

He claimed that HSBC advised him to reach out to PayPal - but PayPal in turn told him to take up the issue with HSBC, which left him distressed and without resolution.

Mr Templeman, who has published a book on Mary, Queen of Scots, told Daily Mail prior to having his money restored: 'They're treating me now as if I'm the fraudster. It's a terrible situation to be in.' 

It was only when Daily Mail intervened, that PayPal re-examined the case and said it had been 'resolved positively', with the stolen funds returned.

SIM-swap fraud has doubled year-on-year, according to the latest figures from Action Fraud. 

There were 558 cases in 2022, which rose to 1,070 in 2023 and reached 2,037 at the end of November 2024, having previously fallen during the pandemic. 

Mr Templeman believes his ordeal began in early October, when his wife Anne, 79, attended a chiropractor appointment and tried to pay with her Halifax personal account card - only to find the payment was declined.

She then received a text from her bank informing her there had been suspicious activity and her card had been stopped. No further money was taken from Anne's account - but within hours Mr Templeman's phone appeared to not be working.

Believing it was just an issue with his phone, he contacted a local repairman and was told they were away, but would look at it on their return. 

Mr Templeman, who became a historian after retiring from a career in the leisure industry, remained unperturbed about the situation until he went to check his bank accounts that night.

'Anne's Halifax account was given a new password and I thought to check my own personal account as well given she had an issue.

'Nothing had been taken, so I then checked our joint HSBC account and that seemed fine. 

'But then I looked at the account for the charity, of which I am the chairperson and Anne is the membership secretary.

'When I opened it up, I was amazed to see four payments - three of £500 each and one of £100 - which had been sent out via direct debit to PayPal.

'It was certainly not authorised by us and was not flagged by HSBC, which I found strange - firstly because it was four separate payments on the same day, but also because when we opened the account 20 years ago we were told that as a charity account we could not do direct debits of any kind.

'We've never, ever used a direct debit on that account.' 

Over the next few days, Mr Templeman found £1,600 was taken from an account he has with investment and savings firm Hargreaves Lansdown - although the money was swiftly returned after he flagged that he had been a victim of fraud.

He also discovered £340 from a PayPal account used by the charity for ticket sales and donations had been transferred to a seldom-used account held by Mr Templeman with Betfred for the 'occasional flutter on the horses'.

Betfred emailed him to say there had been 'huge sums of money paid in and taken out' and flagged it as 'suspicious activity'. After telling them he had been defrauded elsewhere, his account was 'immediately closed.'

His woes could all be traced back to an incident with his mobile phone provider GiffGaff, which had received a request to change all his details onto a new sim held by an unknown person. 

Mr Templeman claimed that 'it took weeks' to get his mobile phone working again and described his experience as 'horrendous'.

He believes the scammer had managed to convince the network operator to change his details, having collected personal information from him elsewhere.

In many cases, the criminal can obtain details from social media accounts, previous data breaches, or phishing messages and phone calls. 

In regards to the money taken from the charity account, HSBC said in a letter to the historian that the direct debits had been added as an AUDDIS (automated direct debit instruction service) which enables organisations to set up new instructions to banks electronically, without the need for paper mandates.

The letter added that because Mr Templeman had informed HSBC his PayPal account had been compromised 'it is advisable to contact PayPal directly to discuss any refunds you may require.'

They also advised him to go to the Financial Ombudsman if he felt the matter had not been resolved.

But Mr Templeman believed HSBC 'failed' in its duty to him in not flagging any of the transactions as suspicious, or that a direct debit had been set up on the account - and he said PayPal was initially unhelpful in assisting him to restore any of the stolen money.

The historian said: 'It was the not knowing that was the worst part. Was there something else I has missed? 

'HSBC said they couldn't help me - and then PayPal said the same, so where did that leave me? 

'Being in a situation like this gives you no peace of mind.'

In a statement to Daily Mail, a HSBC UK spokesperson said: 'We are sorry that Mr Templeman has been the victim of a scam. We have advised on how he might recover the money from the third-party platform.'

PayPal confirmed that the case had now been resolved. 

A spokesperson said: 'We never lose sight of the fact that we are entrusted to look after people’s money. We take this responsibility very seriously and use advanced fraud and risk management tools to keep our customers and their payments safe and carefully consider and investigate all reports of fraud. 

'We can’t comment on the detail of individual accounts for privacy reasons but can confirm the case has now been resolved positively.'

Daily Mail also contacted GiffGaff for comment. 

Top tips to preventing fraud 

1. Protect your personal information: Never share important information like bank account details or passwords and ignore requests for your details. 
2. Set up a PIN or password with your phone provider: Ask your provider to set up a unique PIN or password on your account, needed to approve any account changes.
3. Use social media wisely: Avoid sharing details such as your phone number, date of birth and answers to common security questions.
4. Monitor your accounts: Regularly check your bank accounts and credit reports for strange transactions or activities. Set up alerts for any significant changes to your accounts.
5. Set up biometrics: Consider adding facial and voice recognition to your security options.

Source: NatWest