Edinburgh crime: Friends rally to raise funds for pal Jelena after scammers hacked bank account and stole every penny

An Edinburgh woman who was left struggling to pay her rent after scammers hacked into her bank account has been given a much-needed boost thanks to her friends who rallied to help.

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Jelena Bašić was conned out of every penny she had last month after someone pretending to be from her bank contacted her and asked for details.

The 32-year-old contacted her bank and police but was told nothing could be done to retrieve the cash.

Seobhan Hope and Jelena Bašić

But Jelena’s friend Seobhan Hope came to the rescue and set up a GoFundMe page to raise money to help get Jelena back to a better financial position.

“I was really worried about her, she was in a precarious place,” said 26-year-old Seobhan.

“I decided to put up a crowdfunder to help her out a wee bit.

“She was having to move house quite soon and she didn’t have enough money to pay the deposit or anything so she was really stressed out and worried.”

Seobhan set up the page last week and appealed to the women’s close friend group for help - and as a result, the page reached its £500 target in just days.

On the page she wrote: “Jelena would never ask for any of this, so wanted to step in on her behalf.

“Jelena has been going through a tough time lately, as she got all her money swiped from her account last month because of some scammers, and has been struggling financially since. She has also had a bunch of work fall through because of Covid.

She added: “We wanted to make sure she’ll have money to pay rent, since it’s all a bit up in the air at the moment.

“I really want to help her get back on her feet, so if you feel like you can give a little, that would be so, so amazing. Every little thing counts.”

The 13 people who donated all agreed to keep the fundraiser a surprise, meaning Seobhan had the pleasure of telling Jelena once the target had been hit.

“She didn’t know what to say, she was really shocked,” said Seobhan, who has been friends with Jelena for around three years.

“She said she couldn’t accept it at first but obviously I made her promise that she would.

“Jelena is a really involved person and she is the first one to offer to help if anyone needs it. Everybody wanted to help her out.

“She couldn’t believe it but she was so grateful. It’s made her be able to relax a bit which is nice.”

Seobhan added that any extra money raised through the page would go towards helping Jelena move house and would also give her the chance to visit her family back in Bosnia.

“It will really help her get back on her feet,” she said.

“I’m really touched at the response the page has had. It always gives me so much hope when people come together and work together to help out someone else.

“Everyone goes through tough times and it’s nice to think we all look out for each other when things go south.”

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