In a storyline to be broadcast later this week, the soap character will fall victim to boyfriend and soap baddy Lewis Archer. The conman secretly prints off Gail's bank details from her computer before blackmailing her daughter-in-law Kylie into revealing log-in and password details and stealing £40,000.

The Payments Council has little sympathy for Gail though, arguing that she could have avoided her fate by following some simple security advice: don't tell anyone else your password, and if you need to write it down, disguise it in a way only you understand.

Adrian Kamellard, chief executive, Payments Council, says: "Internet banking is a really quick, convenient way to manage your money and millions of people use it safely every day. Innocent fraud victims get excellent legal protection but Gail's story is a reminder of how important it is to keep your security details secure."

It's not the first time that a fictional UK soap character has been used to broadcast a public interest warning to the great unwashed. In 2009 the Serious Fraud Office advised the writers of the Archers, the long-running BBC radio drama about the daily ups and downs of life in a fictional farming village called Ambridge, about how to handle an SFO investigation into a case of bank fraud by local businessman and serial rogue Matt Crawford.