AN elderly woman has described how she fell victim to a scam that had her forking over tens of thousands of dollars in cash.
The scammer managed to convince her that her computer had a virus and that charges on her account from Moscow could make her a felon in a pornography trading crime.
2
2
Gloria, who used a pseudonym to protect her privacy, told Upper East Site how she got swindled by a man claiming to be a Citibank worker.
The afternoon of March 29 was like any other for the 85-year-old, who was reading a New Yorker article when she clicked a “continue” button on the page.
That led to a pop-up on her screen that convinced her that her computer had a virus.
She thought her device was being attacked by the malicious worm Stuxnet and her efforts to rid the computer of it led her to contact support.
This is when she reached the so-called Citibank employee, who offered her a badge number to try to convince her that the ruse was real.
The criminal initially asked Gloria to send over $13,000 from a cryptocurrency bank in New Jersey.
They then insisted that she withdraw money from her own account instead and give it to a courier.
She got $20,000 in bundles of $100 bills and stuffed them into an envelope, which she then placed in a cardboard box, she told Upper East Site.
The scam reached a new level of chilling when someone showed up at her apartment building.
She gave a password, the word “camera,” and handed him the box of cash.
The routine was repeated and she handed over another $24,500 for a total of $44,500 in cash.
“It felt like I was hypnotized,” Gloria told Upper East Site. “[It felt like] I was being victimized by some powerful force.”
But when she awoke the next morning, the spell had been broken.
“I thought, ‘Oh you idiot, you’ve just been scammed!'” she said.
Seeking direction the following day, Gloria called her bank.
By that Monday, she reached out to law enforcement, which opened an investigation into where her money went — one that’s still ongoing with little chance of her recovering the funds, reported Upper East Site.
There’s been a recent uptick in scams similar to Gloria’s, Digital Communications & Crime Prevention Officer Detective Anthony Nuccio of the Upper East Side’s 19th Precinct told the news outlet.
Nuccio said there have been four cases in his precinct in under three months and two in Harlem.
The initial messages are often crafted to look like they come from popular companies like Microsoft or Apple.
They incorporate pop-up computer messages, prompting users to call numbers that result in users withdrawing and handing over large sums of cash, Nuccio told Upper East Site.
Phone scam statistics
Americans are bombarded with three billion spam phone calls a month. What are the figures regarding the number of victims and the amount of money lost to fraudsters
- In 2022, Americans lost some $39.5 billion to phone scams, with 68.4 million US citizens affected, according to TechReport.
- The average phone scam victim lost $567.41 each in 2021, a major rise on the 2021 figure of $182 per victim, according to Hiya.
- The majority of scams happen over the phone, with fraudsters twice as likely to call compared to text in 2021, as reports the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
- In 2021, the US saw a 56% increase in spam phone calls with 60% of those being robocalls.
- US residents experienced an average of 18 spam phone calls per month, although some experts believe the true figure may be as high as 31 per month.
- Many phone calls from reputable businesses may be marked wrongly as spam, but 38% of companies have no idea whether they’re being marked as “potential fraud” or not, according to Hiya.
- Never hand over any personal or financial information if you suspect a phone call is a scam. For instance, your bank will never ask you for such details in full over the phone.
- To cut down on spam phone calls and scams, sign up for the Do Not Call Registry. Telemarketers, by law, will need to check that list before they call you up.
- Downloading third-party apps such as Hiya, Nomorobo, or Truecaller can help filter out annoying spam calls.
- Try not to share your phone number unless you have to, especially online or with sketchy sources.
The U.S. Sun has covered the uptick in scams affecting innocent residents.
A woman in San Diego received a message about suspicious activity on her account and later spoke with a man who claimed to be from her bank in the hopes of solving the situation.
When she hung up the phone and called her bank, she was informed that a $6,000 loan had been taken out in her name.
Dating app users should also be aware of the latest romance scams which rely on perceived trust and romance to steal users’ money.
Scammers typically use fake accounts on apps like Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, WhatsApp, and Facebook.
Experts provided eight red flags you should be aware of when dodging dating app scams.
Credit Gist New Today News in Newspaper Nigeria Headlines