A MOTHER is warning others to be vigilant online after she claims she lost more than £8,500 after signing up to what she thought was a trading website.

Esther Osakwe initially handed over £250 to www.marketrading.co in a bid to kick start online trading deals, but was then phoned by someone claiming to work for the company.

The 32-year-old said the caller told her they could successfully invest her money. She took part in a Skype phonecall and shared her screen with the caller, who cleaned out her bank account.

This failed to put off the mother, who says she trusted the company would refund her or invest the cash, and borrowed money from her sister, which she again handed over to the firm.

It was only when she failed to get a refund - and had lost £8,743 - that she started to think something had gone horribly wrong.

She is now warning others to take care online.

“This happened to me once and it doesn’t have to happen to anyone again,” she said.

“I want to warn everyone out there because most things are avoidable.

“These people must be stopped.

“Cyber crime is real and they are out to get you.

“I trusted them and didn’t want to believe they were taking my money.”

Ms Osakwe says she has researched the company and claims they are not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, which holds these organisations to account.

She added: “Even if they ask you to share your screen, you share it and they instruct you to log into your Barclays account or whatever bank you’re with and they are right there and can see all your details.

“They even ask you to go to your bank and request an overdraft.

“All they want you to do is get all of your money out of your accounts and into their platform.

“When it came to withdraw, they give you some goalposts and say ‘if you invest another £2,000’ we will give you an automatic refund.

“I phoned Customer Services and they didn’t know anything about a refund.

“I spoke to the Billing Team and they don’t know anything about a refund.”

A spokesperson for Action Fraud, said: "Bank account fraud can happen when people share their details online, through online video calls and by allowing their screen to be viewed.

"Vishing can be used as the enabler to carry out bank account fraud. This is when a fraudster uses their voice, usually via a phone call, to contact the victim pretending to be from a company or organisation they trust in order to get personal details from them.

"If you receive a phone call from someone you don’t know, never share your personal details with them."

The Telegraph & Argus has contacted marketrading.co for a comment.