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State pensioners risk losing an eye-watering £11,000 to one of the "most cruel" scams doing the rounds. Romance scams are on the rise, with tens of thousands of pounds at risk of being wiped from bank balances.

Lloyds has circulated a warning centred around Kathy, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, after she was tricked into handing £11,000 to “Freddie”, who claimed that he needed help.

Liz Ziegler, fraud prevention director at Lloyds, said: “Romance scams are some of the cruellest cases they deal with. Taking advantage of people who are looking for love and companionship, fraudsters play with victims’ emotions when they could be at their most vulnerable.”

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Lloyds said: “

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