A MUM says she is being harassed by fraudsters after they conned her out of £1,950 in a fake advertising scam.

Self-employed photographer Roselle Moss, of Tortoiseshell Way, Braintree, now wants to warn other business owners about the “scary” tactics used by the tricksters.

The 36-year-old took out a magazine advert last year for £250.

She said: “It was all done over the phone. It was supposed to be a magazine that would be distributed in my local area but I never even saw it.

“Then in August I got a call from somebody claiming to be from the county court.

“He told me two bailiffs were about 15 minutes away from the house and they would be collecting goods to the value of £2,500, as I hadn’t paid a publishing company the money I had agreed to.

“They said it was actually a rolling contract of £250 a month. He said all the right things and I believed him. I started sobbing and crying on the phone, I couldn’t even speak. I ended up just begging them.”

Mrs Moss then got a call from the company’s accounts department offering an £800 reduction as a “goodwill gesture”.

She sent a bank transfer to a TSB account in Manchester, but believes fraudsters are still targeting her after she was sent a separate demand for £149 claiming she had agreed an advert for a charity campaign.

She said: “They said it’s going to go to the collections department and they won’t stop until they get the money. It’s very scary. But I have learned my lesson the hard way.”

You can report fraud and get advice about internet crime by calling Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 (textphone 0300 123 2050).