As Christmas approaches there will be devastation for Jean – played by Gillian Wright – as she discovers that she is the victim of an intricate pension scam.
The BBC One soap has worked with experts in the field including independent scams expert Nick Stapleton, The Pensions Regulator and Stop Scams UK on the storyline in which Jean is tricked into giving the money she’s accrued in a long-forgotten pension fund to scammers.
EastEnders Executive Producer Chris Clenshaw said:
“Jean’s story will highlight the extreme strategies scammers use to gain a victim’s trust to convince them into parting with serious sums of money. Not only will Jean have to cope with losing her pension money, but she’ll also have to deal with a range of difficult emotions as she tells her family and friends what’s happened.”
Tonight, Jean is distraught to discover the ‘financial advisors’ she’s trusted to invest her money are criminals who’ve targeted her and have stolen everything she has invested.
The story – which is part of BBC’s Scam Safe initiative – will continue as Jean discovers more about the scammers and deals with the practical and emotional fallout of the crime.
Nick Stapleton, scams expert and BBC Scam Safe spokesperson, said:
“I am incredibly happy to see the issue of scams and fraud getting the attention it deserves with a storyline on one of the nation’s favourite soaps. Scams are one of the greatest challenges of modern times; not just the money we lose to scammers as a country, but the emotional and psychological impact for those who go through one. It’s high time we brought that fully into the mainstream and EastEnders is leading the way.”
EastEnders, first look on the BBC iPlayer and every Monday to Thursday on BBC One at 7.30pm
