Panto legends The Krankies will feature on the STV series' Stopping Scotland’s Scammers which returns this month. 

Glasgow Times: David Hasselhoff (Captain Hook), the Krankies (Big Ian Smee and Wee Jimmy Smee), Michelle McManus (Mimi The Mermaid), Keith Ramsay (Peter Pan) and Julie Cullen (Wendy) will all star in panto at the SECC Clyde Auditorium. Picture: Jamie Simpson

The duo, who recently starred in Peter Pan at the Clyde Auditorium with former Baywatch star David Hasselhoff and singer Michelle McManus, were the victims of a scam last year. 

The couple Ian and Janette Tough, both 68, lost £3,000 after a scammer while parked outside their house, hacked into the couple’s wifi and accessed their credit card details.

STV will shine a light on financial fraud as Stopping Scotland’s Scammers returns for a second series on Monday, February 29.

Glasgow Times:

In four 30 minute episodes, presenter Jackie Brambles (above) meets with victims of online, phone and romance scams and speaks to industry experts who provide practical advice on how to protect yourself against financial fraud.

The Krankies’ Ian Tough said: "We were both shocked when we realised what had happened; that someone had managed to take all that money from us just by sitting outside our house with a laptop. It was a real wake up call.

"Hopefully by telling our story on the programme we can help others realise how easy it is to be scammed and how important it is to change your passwords."

Viewers will also hear real life stories from victims of financial scams including Karen, who booked and paid nearly £900 in deposit for holiday lodges for her 50th birthday celebration, only to discover the lodges didn’t actually exist; and Kristine, whose mum gave away £6,500 to scammers after being told over the phone she had won £300,000.

The series features the harrowing story of teenager Daniel Perry who was blackmailed online and committed suicide as a result. Jackie meets Lorin LaFave, whose 14-year-old son was groomed and killed by an online predator in 2014 and who campaigns to improve internet safety.

Glasgow Times:

Jackie Brambles said: “Since our first series of Stopping Scotland’s Scammers last year, two remarkable things have happened. Firstly, we’ve been absolutely inundated with stories of people who have been ripped off and are keen to share their stories in the hopes of preventing somebody else from also falling foul of these frauds. We’re incredibly grateful to our contributors, whose courage of conviction to help others was stronger than the sense of humiliation that they were left with after these scammers robbed them of both their money and their dignity.

“The second point is one that we really want to drive home to the viewers at home - you can’t rest on your laurels because every time we learn how to protect ourselves from one scam, these cyber-criminals up the ante and create something even more diabolical. 

“The second series will cover the bewildering array of ongoing financial scams, from holiday homes that don’t exist to small businesses being held to ransom. We’ll be speaking to a scammer who has agreed to share his devious romance scam techniques with us and we also felt compelled to address every parent’s nightmare scenario of their child being targeted online. Whilst we don’t want to scare people, we do want them to tune in and follow the recommendations that our experts will share on the show on how to protect themselves and their loved ones online, starting with cultivating a healthy skepticism on anything that appears too good to be true - because in every single case that we have investigated, it always was."