Caught off guard by the call, seemingly from BT Openreach, she was pressured into transferring large sums into newly opened accounts.

"I got a call, and they told me someone had been trying to get onto my internet," she told Sky News.

"They asked if I could help catch the scammers and I said yes, thinking it would just be a few minutes."

Convinced to download a screen-sharing app that would give access to her mobile, she was then asked to open a number of other bank accounts - Monzo and Revolut - and transfer money across in a bid "to catch the scammer".

"Money just started flying from my account," the 63-year-old said.

"I was so confused. It didn't dawn on me until I phoned my daughter on the way to work and I told her, and she said 'Mum, you've been scammed'.

"I felt like such an idiot."

She immediately rang her bank - because £3,000 was still in transit they were able to recoup it.

Twelve months later, she is still waiting to hear if she'll get the remaining £6,500 back.

Thrown away her landline

While these types of scams have always been relatively common, amid the rising cost of living there are concerns they could become more frequent, with people looking to exploit the crisis.

The Department for Work and Pensions had to issue a warning to be wary of unwanted advances ahead of its second cost of living payment to low-income households.

Ida's sister, Beatrice, told Sky News: "They were on that call for two hours and they slowly, slowly, got her to a point where they were able to do this and the pressure of the immediacy, she has to do something now, coupled with her thinking she was being hacked in some other way.

"They did everything to convince her, they had an answer for everything."

For Ida, the mental trauma has been unbearable, and she has now got rid of her landline.

"I've seen her withdraw because of it," her sister said. "She's become even more suspicious of the most non-suspicious things."

'I really should know better'

There is a misconception that older people are more vulnerable to scams, but Britons aged 18 to 34 are twice as likely to fall victim to scams, according to research from Marcus by Goldman Sachs.

The research - based on a national survey of 4,000 UK adults - found 22% of people aged 18-34 have been a victim of financial fraud at least once.

In comparison, just one in 10 people aged over 55 and 12% of those aged 35 to 54 have been scammed.

When 16-year-old Tristan Walker asked his dad for a pair of Nike Air Max, they really thought they'd be the last people to get scammed.

His father, James, is the chief executive of Rightly, an independent consumer data action service - and an expert on spotting scams.

With the original trainers retailing at more than £150, Tristan found a pair for £120 on a website called Sneakers Academy.

"Tristan sent me the link, and as a person who should know better, I really should have known better," James told Sky News.

"Because I was having a time poor moment, rather than looking up Sneakers Academy I said, okay fine, and just bought them - because at this point I had been badgered into buying the shoes."

As soon as they arrived, Tristan knew they were fake.

"They were really poor quality and badly made," he said. "They had holes in the sole, you could just tell they weren't real."

How to protect yourself

Luckily, because they had been bought with a credit card, James was able to get his money back using section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act.

"If you ever buy anything, a credit card is the best one to buy through, because if anything goes wrong the credit card provider is jointly liable," said James.

But even if you buy using a debit card, you may have the option to do a chargeback and recoup your money that way.

However, James said the best way to protect yourself is to do your research before purchasing - by looking at Trustpilot reviews for the website. There is also a whole range of new internet add-ons that can help you see if a website is a scam.

Black Friday surge in scams

In the run-up to Christmas and with the frenzied spending around Black Friday, experts fear people looking to save some money could find themselves further out of pocket.

New data from Barclays found the number of reported purchase scams after Black Friday and Cyber Monday last year rose by 34%, with an average of £1,072 lost to scammers.

Research from the bank found almost nine in 10 (89%) of Brits are relying on Black Friday to do some, or all, of their Christmas shopping this year - and almost half (48%) plan to shop online, leaving them vulnerable to scammers.

Almost a third of shoppers feel pressured to make a purchase quickly so they get the best deal.

Katie Watts, consumer expert at MoneySavingExpert.com, said: "When there's so much hype around the seasonal sales, scammers see it as a prime opportunity to take advantage of unsuspecting shoppers. You might receive something that is nothing like you ordered, or the item might not turn up at all. Either way, there are some things you can do to help make sure you don't fall foul of a fraud.

"The big one is seeing a price that's too good to be true - that usually means it is. If something is miles cheaper than you've seen it elsewhere, it's worth questioning the seller and the site.

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"Do you recognise the retailer? Is the URL of the website what you expect it to be? Are there any spelling and grammar mistakes on the website? All of these are signs that you might not be dealing with a legitimate seller.

"Even more worrying is when you're asked to use an odd payment method. If you're asked to pay by bank transfer or to select an unusual payment type (like the 'family and friends' option with a payment provider), alarm bells should be ringing."