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THE victim of an almost $100,000 PayPal scam fell down a spiral of confusion after thinking she was actually getting help.
Valerie of Woodridge, Illinois, 29 miles west of Chicago, saw suspicious emails that said she owed bills on PayPal and called a number it provided for assistance.
Valerie shared her scam story and referred to it as, “The wild, wild west out here. As far as the internet is concerned,” NBC affiliate WMAQ in Chicago reported.
In January 2023, the first bill said it was for $150 and the second said $500 which led to instant confusion of where they could have come from.
“I saw an email from PayPal. And it stated that I owed them $150,” Valerie told WMAQ.
“First thought was, I don’t have PayPal.
“And why is someone charging money to my PayPal account?”
She called the number provided and spoke with the scammer who insisted the bills were already paid.
HACKED
The scammer told Valerie they would help her get her money back if she gave access to her computer by downloading a program.
The program allowed the scammer to hack her computer and take money out of her account.
The scammer said he accidentally put $100,000 into Valerie’s account and then mixed some numbers around to make it look like he put it back but he was stealing it.
“He had put in $100,000 in my bank account. And I told him it wasn’t mine. So I wanted to give it back to him.
“While he had done really behind the scenes was manipulate numbers to make it look like he had given me $100,000,” Valerie said.
“When I got back home, I saw that my account, my savings account, had been drained of that $100,000, and I’m thinking well, you just stole money from me.
Valerie then rushed to Chase Bank after realizing what had occurred and filed a fraud case and police report.
She did not receive a response until December that her fraud report was declined.
However, the local news station contacted Blue Ridge Bank, which was the bank that received the money in the scam to help Valerie out.
Valerie said in February she finally received a full refund for the stolen money.
“It worked. It worked. You ruffled some feathers,” Valerie said.
“I checked my bank account, I think was Feb. 28, and there was money in my checking account.”
COMMON ISSUE
Valerie is not alone when it comes to falling for bank scams.
It has become a common issue for people to fall victim to these scammers because of how tricky they can be.
Another woman was similarly scammed after receiving texts and a phone call from a scammer who claimed to be her bank and said her account was hacked.
She listened to their advice and allowed them access to her account and lost $18,500.
Security expert McAfee has warned that phishing messages are tricking people more than ever.
Phishing messages include links that have malicious intent to steal your personal information or financial information.
