Share and Follow
A SCAMMER stole $39,000 from a woman’s life savings after conning her into believing he was from Apple.
The victim said she was in “panic” mode and assumed her phone had been hacked.
The South Florida woman spoke anonymously about her ordeal to CBS News Miami.
The conman had sent her a text that seemed urgent – and legitimate.
“In my panic, I called the number,” she said last Thursday.
She was tricked into believing that he was from Apple, and that her phone had been hacked.
Once he’d hooked her with his lies, the fraudster ordered his panicking victim to withdraw thousands of dollars from her bank.
She was told to deposit it in to a secure cryptocurrency account.
This was to protect her funds, the woman was told.
To cover his tracks, he even suggested what she should say if her bank questioned the unusual transfer of money.
“He said, ‘I really don’t want you talking to anybody and if the bank asks why you are taking out this money, just tell them you’re making renovations to your house,'” the woman said.
Unfortunately, the conman managed to convince her to withdraw funds three times, between January 14 and 17.
She even had to drive from her bank in Big Coppitt Key to a gas station in Marathon with a cryptocurrency ATM.
BITCOIN
Once there, the fraud victim converted her life savings into Bitcoin and sent it to the scammer.
He remained in constant contact to keep the pressure on her, and to ensure the theft was completed.
She recalled: “I just believed it. I did whatever they told me to do.”
It wasn’t until the woman was unable to contact the man on January 18 that the penny dropped – she’d been conned.
She burst into tears and told her husband, who was very sympathetic despite losing tens of thousands of dollars.
The woman said: “I couldn’t reach him [the conman], my heart sank.
“I cried. I threw my hands in the air. I told my husband. He knew and said, ‘Even though we may have lost all this money, we still have each other.'”
Scams and how to avoid them
Four signs that it’s a scam:
- Scammers PRETEND to be from an organization you know – they might use a real name, like the FTC, Social Security Administration, IRS, or Medicare
- Scammers say there’s a PROBLEM or a PRIZE – they might claim you’re in trouble with the government/you owe money/someone in your family had an emergency/or that there’s a virus on your computer. Some scammers say there’s a problem with one of your accounts and that you need to verify some information.
- Scammers PRESSURE you to act immediately – scammers want you to act before you have time to think
- Scammers tell you to PAY in a specific way – they often insist that you can only pay by using cryptocurrency, wiring money through a company like MoneyGram or Western Union, using a payment app, or putting money on a gift card and then giving them the numbers on the back of the card
How to avoid scams:
- Recognize scam attempts and end all communication with the perpetrator
- Search online for the contact information (name, email, phone number, addresses)
- Resist the pressure to act quickly
- Call the police immediately if you feel there is a danger to yourself or a loved one
- Never give or send any personally identifiable information, money, gold or other precious metals, jewelry, gift cards, checks, or wire information to unverified people or businesses
- Disconnect from the internet and shut down your device if you see a pop-up message or locked screen. Pop-ups are regularly used by perpetrators to spread malicious software. Enable pop-up blockers to avoid accidentally clicking on a pop-up
Sources: The Federal Trade Commission and the FBI
Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay told the broadcaster that it was nearly impossible to track down the perpetrators in such fraud cases – incidents of which have been spiralling.
“Phones can’t be traced. Fake IP addresses. Most of these scams don’t even come from the U.S.,” Ramsay said.
NO RUSH
He advised other residents to take a moment to pause when receiving such text messages.
“Act with logic, not emotion,” Ramsay added.
The U.S. Sun has contacted Apple for comment.
GOLD BARS
Meanwhile, towards the end of January, police claimed that woman, 74, converted her life savings into gold bars – and gave them to a scammer.
Fox 13 reported that Lynwood police arrested Zhichao Huang, 42, and extradited him from Los Angeles County back to Washington on January 23.
Investigators have alleged that Huang impersonated a federal agent during a weeks-long scam.
They further claimed that he carried a gun while targeting an elderly woman.
POP-UP ALERTS
The fraud allegedly started with a pop-up alert on the victim’s computer.
The woman contacted a person she believed was Charles Schwab – as per the scam pop-up.
After speaking to scammers on the phone, she was convinced that her account had been hacked.
She was then allegedly conned in to selling off $624,711 in stocks and IRA contributions.
The woman was told to wire them the money through a Bitcoin transfer, investigators alleged.
However, that failed to materialize.
So they then instructed her to spend her money on gold bars, according to police.
It’s alleged that Huang met the woman at a Lynnwood parking lot, and he took her gold bars.
Gold prices jumped more than 1% today to hit a record high, reported Reuters.
U.S. gold futures rose 1.5% to $2,929.70, amid fears of a global trade war after U.S. President Donald Trump announced new tariff plans.
Fox13 said the alleged gold bar theft was just one of a string of scams targeting elderly Americans via pop-alerts.
Charles Schwab warned that pop-ups “are a tactic used in technology scams.”
Victims are contacted by what appears to be a tech support team to fix a fake issue or virus on their computer.
It added: “These scams can include notifications such as pop-up alerts along with phone calls, text messages, and emails, that appear to be from financial institutions contacting you about a security issue, such as account access or activity.
“Pop-up scammers will then often ask you to pay for tech support or other services with a gift card, cash-reload card, or wire transfer.
“Remember that no legitimate company will ask for payment that way.
“In general, distrust pop-up messages on websites — especially if they claim to have found issues with your computer.”
The FBI said: “Each year, millions of elderly Americans fall victim to some type of financial fraud or confidence scheme, including romance, lottery, and sweepstakes scams.”
Research shows that most perpetrators aren’t from within the United States.
RUSSIAN FRAUDSTERS
The World Cybercrime Index shows that most cybercrime threats originate in just a few countries, with fraudsters from Russia leading the way.
Last December, a federal court in St. Louis, Missouri, indicted 14 North Korea nationals with conspiracies to violate U.S. sanctions and to commit wire fraud, money laundering, and identity theft.