How a Local Was Cheated Out of $13,000 and Other Scams to Beware Of

“Congratulations you have won a gift card!,” “I’m calling today with important news about your car’s extended warranty.,” “Hello, there is a warrant issued for your arrest!,” or “Your computer has a virus, If you don’t do something now, you will lose your data forever!”.

Many people all over the United States have heard any one of these or maybe all of these whether, by mail, phone, email, or computer, and unfortunately, Fayette County residents are no exception. What are they? Scams.

In the spring of 2019, a pop up appeared on a Fayette County older citizen’s computer saying that this person had computer issues that need to be fixed so this citizen clicked the pop-up and called the number. Over the phone, the person said, “We have this service to fix your computer against any viruses and it will be a one-time charge to keep your data safe.” This older citizen believed this to be true and gave the person their credit card information to withdrawal $2,000.

Six months later...the person was able to contact the older citizen again over the phone and also by email saying now there are even more problems with their computer. The older citizen again believed them and this time they gave them $4,000.

Earlier this year the last and most damaging call came in from the person saying another problem came about and this time the older citizen gave them $7,000. In total $13,000 was taken without any pieces of a contract exchanged or ever meeting in person.

Once this older citizen realized they were scammed they called the credit card company they used during the scam and successfully got back the last half of their money because the credit card company had a security and fraud alerts program.

Another older citizen has been getting lottery scams where they were convinced that they have won something through mail and phone calls. These lottery scams typically look like Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes however they will be smaller prizes and suggest that there are chances for you to win more or go higher up with just more information.

A family member had to come to the older citizen’s home because the person from the lottery scam insisted they were going to collect winnings was on the way to their home. Once the older citizen informed the person that his family member would be coming over to help figure out the taxes on the winnings the person, who did not want to talk to anybody else, asked the family member, “Are you a lawyer?” the family then said, “No, but I am concerned about elderly abuse,” which ended the call immediately.

One more older citizen at the end of May received an email stating that they had been charged $395 for security setup and that if they didn’t do this then they could cancel the order by calling a number. The person said the order had already been processed and to get it canceled they would have to send the money anyway. Luckily the older citizen said they would have to first check in on it before they could do that. The person said they would send over an email stating how to send the money over and also said you need to go look at your checking account because they deposited $40,000 instead of $400.

From there the older citizen realized the person had control of their laptop. The person then asked the older citizen to go to the bank to ask them to send back the accidental $40,000. Once the older citizen arrived to the bank while still on the phone with the person the bank employee knew something was wrong. Once looking at the bank account it was revealed that the extra money came from his savings account and the person just moved his money around.

Once the older citizen arrived home to think about what just happened and what he would do next the person still on the other line said to go back on your laptop and if we don’t receive that money we will wipe you out and you will be worthless. The older citizen returned to the bank and told them about the threat and the police were called. The older citizen canceled all their old accounts and opened up new accounts. However, the person continued to call back and had been able to track the older citizen the whole time and did end up wiping out the older citizen’s laptop.

Sadly these stories are just some of the ways older citizens in particular in our community are being scammed.

Patrol Officer Kevin Currington said. “In Fayette County, our scam rate comes and goes but a lot of scams go unreported because people are afraid or embarrassed to call us. These scams are happening to a lot of our older citizens because they come from a trusting generation. The scams and frauds have only gotten better with the times. Luckily our local banks and business here are aware and are fast-acting to help.”

Financial Advisor Chuck Mazac also sees the concern for our older citizens.“More and more I see these scams preying on the elderly and sadly they will have an amicable amount of money but they continue to want to win. Nowadays just by picking up the phone, there is the chance that you will be added to a phone list and that phone list gets sold. So my fraud department is a very important asset to how I make sure my clients are aware and protected of their investments.”

Tips from Currington, Mazac, and these older citizens:

1) Block calls you don’t recognize.

2) Don’t buy online from unreliable sites or click links you are not familiar with especially in emails which could lead to a virus.

3) Familiar names like Microsoft, Social Security, IRS, etc. may be used to disguise scams.

4) Get a savings account that is not connected to the internet; you might have to set up a special pin or go in person.

5) Build yourself a community of trustworthy people whether it be grandchildren, police officers, professionals in the phone and computer systems, etc.

6) Treat every phone call as a suspect. Don’t pick up a phone number you don’t recognize and If it is important they will leave a message.

7) If anything has been compromised like an email address, credit card number, phone number, etc. get a new one right away.

8) Turn the computer off or unplug it when you are away or immediately when you feel it has been hacked.

9) And If it’s too good to be true it’s not true.

We know the global and national impact scams have however when scams hit close to home we as a community is just as impacted if not more. We must protect and pay attention to the scams that surround us because in the end all of us no matter our age, race, etc. are being influenced and lured away from a stable living environment, and as one older citizen said, “You really don’t know what kind of monsters are out there.”