Student, 21, left 'with nothing' after fake 'Royal Mail' scammers stole £2,500

A young student has been left "with nothing" after scammers using a fake Royal Mail email address stole £2,500 from her bank account.  The 21-year-old from Horfield, Bristol, said she was "caught in a moment of weakness" while her account was being maxed-out.  The woman, who does not want to be named, said she received an email claiming to be from Royal Mail on November 13.   In the email, she was asked to pay £2 in order for her package to be redelivered, Bristol Live reports.  She paid the money as she thought the email looked "legit" and found no reason to be concerned about it.  But when a few days later her mum sent her a news report about a "Royal Mail" scam, she immediately contacted her bank to cancel her card.  She said later that evening she received a call from a telephone number claiming to be a member of the fraud team - who informed her that £1,500 had been withdrawn from her account.  She said: “They told me to transfer all of my money to a safe account so I told them that I didn't trust this and that I was going to ring my bank as I've cancelled my card.”  She said she was quickly reassured that it was Lloyds Bank and after checking the back of her card she noticed that the unknown number matched that of the bank.  She said: “They told me to transfer all of my savings to my normal account and then transfer everything that I had into what I thought was a safe account - including an £800 overdraft.  “They were even sending me text messages from Lloyds Bank so I trusted it.  "I was caught in a moment of weakness and they completely cleared me out,” she said.  She said the scammers even locked her out of her account and told her she had to wait 24 hours before she could access it.  After the call ended she started thinking that she may have been scammed so she alerted her bank, which confirmed her worst fear.  She said: "It doesn’t matter if there was £100 or more - I was left with nothing."  The 21 year-old student added: “They were very persistent and rang me three to four times and just wouldn't leave me alone.”  Several days have now passed and she has yet to regain access to her account.  Looking back she said: “It's a bit naive of me to be that trusting with someone, It has completely ruined my life.  “I was left in my overdraft - they maxed-out everything.  “I didn’t know what I was going to do financially - I was completely floored.  “I’m 21, I’m young and I don't have that much savings."  She said although the situation could have been much worse, she is worried how badly the incident could have impacted people in a more financially vulnerable position.  “If this affected a family, it could have done more damage to them than me," she said.  She now wants to warn others to be aware of scammers and not to be as naive as she was.  “Always trust your gut and never give any details through an email if you don’t trust it - speak to your bank instead," she said.  Following the incident, a spokesman for Lloyds Banking Group sai