A woman has taken to social media to warn people to be 'vigilant' after scammers tried to spend almost a £1,000 on her debit card.

Kimberley Thornton, posting on public Facebook group Bicester Chat, wrote: "They hadn't physically stolen my card, it is likely they had procured it through some other tactic."

She said she suspected it was due to a text claiming to be from O2 she received telling her she needed to update her card information.

She said: "I opened the link but actually updated this information via the legitimate O2 app I had downloaded on my phone previously (as I did feel updating it via that portal might have been dodgy).

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"However, it must have simply been enough to just click the link for them to gain access to my info?

"I may have entered my O2 password at some stage, I can't exactly remember.

"But it didn't strike me as unusual because it just so happens that I had recently been issued with a new card."

She said it only occured to her it was a fake text when her partner received the same text even though he isn't an O2 customer. 

She added: "The fact we both got the same text suggests this might be a local attack."

Luckily, her bank blocked the attempted £999 charge on her debit card last week and she contacted Lloyds to cancel her card and arrange a new one.

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But the scammers weren't done yet.

She said: "I have been receiving calls from someone under the guise of someone from Lloyd's fraud team (the scammer).

"I was told by my actual bank that the scammer might attempt this.

"Oftentimes a scammer who has been thwarted might try to intercept your communication with the bank by impersonating someone from your bank.

"Fortunately, I was already told by the Lloyd's bank operator I spoke to that they might try this.

"As the issue had been resolved, no one would need to call me (and if anyone did call me, it was going to be the scammer and I should hang up."

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She said the number appeared to be an actual Lloyd's number, but added: "I know it wasn't my bank because when I told them 'game's up/ do one' they began putting on a stupid voice and imitating me.

"Please understand that your bank will never call you out of the blue to inform you about a fraudulent payment attempt."

She warned a scammer will try to pressure you to stay on the phone and say you must act immediately. 

Many have commented on the post, which was shared yesterday evening, to share they had also received texts claiming to be from O2 recently.

Others mentioned companies also used by scammers including Paypal, Amazon, Halifax, and Lloyds.