'People become destitute,' warn cops as couriers show up at homes & steal life-savings – thousands have lost over $100k | 959713O | 2024-05-01 19:08:01
THE FBI has warned citizens that scammers are targeting elderly people at much higher rates than before, to drain them of their bank accounts.
Investigators have found that scamming has been rampant in recent years, with fraudsters utilizing different tactics to steal thousands of dollars from victims.
"It can be a devastating impact to older Americans who lack the ability to go out and make money," said Deputy Assistant Director James Barnacle of the FBI's Criminal Investigative Division, according to AP.
"People lose all their money. Some people become destitute."
Over the last year, people over the age of 60 have been targeted 11% more by scammers than in the years prior.
Authorities have received over 100,000 complaints, with thousands of them reportedly losing $100,000 or more.
Many of these scammers have begun utilizing couriers to collect people's cash in person.
"A lot of the the fraud schemes are asking victims to send money via a wire transfer, or a cryptocurrency transfer. When the victim is reluctant to do that, they're given an alternative," Barnacle said.
"And so the bad guy will use courier services."
Sending couriers allows fraudsters to avoid alerting the bank since it is the victim who is withdrawing the money and eliminating a paper trail.
However, the FBI also pointed out that phone scams are the most popular way the thieves have gone about stealing people's life savings.
The U.S. Sun has previously reported about victims who have been scammed over the phone.
<!-- End of Brightcove Player --> These fraudsters often create a spoof number of a popular bank or even the IRS to disarm the victim.
The thieves will then trick the person into divulging personal information about themselves to receive access to their bank account.
VICTIMS SPEAK OUT
Across the country, people are losing their hard-earned money to scammers.
Lisa Miles thought she was saving herself when an ad popped up saying she'd been hacked.
<p class="article__content--intro"> As scams become more sophisticated with the use of artificial intelligence, it is important you know how to spot a scam: </p> </div> </div> She couldn't remove the pop-up so she decided to call the number on the ad to see if something really occurred.
The person on the other end of the line told her that someone was able to hack her computer and was planning to use her Wells Fargo account to purchase explicit material.
"All the time [the man was] saying, please don't worry, but it's very important that we get this money out tonight because that transaction of your porn that you just bought will go through and you'll be arrested, that type thing," Miles told KTLA.
She was told to withdraw $25,000 from her account and deposit it into a Bitcoin machine at a nearby smoke shop.
The scammer told Miles that once she deposited the money, she would see it show back up in her checking account the following day.
However, she never saw that money again.
"I just cried, it was so violating," she told KTLA. "It's so wrong, it's so mean."
Bruna Capretta revealed she was also a victim of scammers after she clicked on the wrong page on a Google search, according to CTV News.
Capretta thought she clicked on the Bank of Montreal's website where she logged in and was asked to type in a one-time authentication code that was sent to her email
However, following the website's instructions led her to lose everything.
"As soon as I put in that passcode, I literally just blinked, and $3,000 was gone from my account," she cried.
The webpage completely disappeared after her money was stolen.
She tried to get her savings back, but the bank refused after launching an investigation into the case.
Getting your money back can be a tough thing once it's stolen by scammers.
After Jolinda Crocker's Wells Fargo bank account got hacked, her bank accused her of transferring the money out of her own account and refused to help her.
"I would never transfer such a big sum of money in my life. I run a little music school," she told Daily Mail.
She spent two years trying to get her savings back but received no help.
"It feels like everybody is just rolling their eyes. $60,000 is nothing to Wells Fargo but it's my lifesaving," Crocker said.
More >> https://ift.tt/sEGnUxD Source: MAG NEWS