British radio drama The Archers, which celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2011, has seen a number of characters caught up in an elaborate fraud over the past few months, reports the BBC.
The plot was a collaboration between the drama and BBC Radio 4’s consumer programme, You and Yours.
The scam
Earlier this year, several of the soap’s residents were given a presentation on Melling Equestrian Investments, involving a fictitious racecourse development in Costa Rica.
The scam revolves around a love-triangle between husband and wife-to-be Justin Elliott and Lilian Bellamy, and an old flame and conman named Matt Crawford.
One character, a widowed pensioner, has invested more than £300,000 ($399,829, €334,983).
She was promised returns of 12%.
Highly believable
Huw Kennair-Jones, editor of The Archers, said: “This is not an uncommon thing. It’s about people who are not stupid at all who are taken in by the promise of this incredible return that just doesn’t exist.”
Shari Vahl, fraud reporter for You and Yours, said modern investment fraud can be highly believable.
“Victims are given really fantastic brochures with wonderful pictures and graphs pointing skywards, all run by extremely charming and very credible people.”
Vital awareness
Action Fraud, the UK’s national fraud and cyber crime reporting centre, has praised the storyline, saying it has raised vital awareness of the issue.
Figures from the annual Crime Survey for England and Wales estimate that there were 3.6 million cases of fraud in 2016, making it the most commonly experienced offence.
“We would like to thank The Archers and You and Yours for bringing attention to this important subject,” a spokesperson said.
