AN INVESTOR has said she had $1,000 taken from her account on a money app after she fell prey to a simple scam.

Colleen Owen used the stock trading platform Robinhood to start saving for her children’s college education in 2021.

However, Colleen soon found that she wasn’t able to log in.

“I realized I can’t get into my account,” said Owen.

“I’m totally locked out, I can’t reset the password.”

After finally gaining access, Colleen noticed that $1,000 she had invested was gone.

The app informed the mom that she had approved a transfer to someone in Poland, NBC4 I-Team reported.

“It’s my account, these are my stocks, my money, and I didn’t authorize anyone else to take it,” she argued. 

It was later revealed that a fraudster, after learning Colleen had a Robinhood account, changed her email password.

The hacker then liquidated the account, removed the money, and allocated email alerts to her trash.

Read Related Also: Labour’s Stella Creasy moans she missed Xmas party because of ‘motherhood penalty’… but children are the ultimate gift

Security expert Jim Stickley says email hacks such as these are not an anomaly.

“If a criminal can gain access to your gmail account, you’re cooked,” said Stickley. 

“People don’t realize that your email is the easiest way for people to get into all of your accounts.”

In a statement to the I-Team, Robinhood said: “Our fraud, security and data teams work diligently to identify patterns that signal this activity.”

It also said it’s “constantly monitoring new threats.”

But Owen felt let down by the company’s lack of support. 

“If you want a guy in Poland to spend your money, Robinhood’s the company,” said Owen.

After the I-Team reached out to Robinhood, it refunded Owen the $1,000 the fraudsters stole from her.

“To them, it’s not a lot, I’m sure,” said Owen.

“But to me, it is.”

The U.S. Sun has reached out to Robinhood and Gmail for comment.