GLADES COUNTY — A Glades County woman was scammed out of thousands of dollars and wants others to learn from her mistake.
“I’m so embarrassed. I feel like such a dummy,” said the 80-year-old victim.
She said the story began on Memorial Day weekend. “I got an email. Everyone has email now.” The email told her there was a problem with her PayPal account and asked her to call a particular number.
“I don’t know what I was thinking,” she said. “I called it.”
She was connected to a man speaking broken English. He called himself James and was very polite and helpful. He told her the best person for her to talk to was Brian at the Better Business Bureau. He was even kind enough to connect her to Brian so she would not have to call him herself.
“That should have been my first clue,” she said. I got through to James really fast and then to Brian just as fast. You don’t get through that quick.”
She said Brian was not as nice as James though and did some shouting when she did not do things exactly the way he instructed.
Brian told her he needed access to her computer so he could catch the people who were trying to steal from her PayPal account.
Once inside her computer, he said he needed to install some software, and this took two days. “I don’t know why I didn’t call a friend or something. I just don’t know. It upsets me to think about it even now,” she said.
After Brian finished installing his software, he was able to see everything, including her bank account information. Each of her accounts had a balance of approximately $6,000. He told her that with her help, they could catch the criminals who were masterminding some fraud in the area. He told her he would deposit $6,000 in each of her accounts which were in two different banks. Then, he wanted her to go to each bank and transfer $5,500 out of each account into another account he would give her. He explained that neither she nor the banks would be able to see the deposits, but they would be there. He also told her the banks would ask her what the money was for and would ask questions to make sure she was not being scammed. He told her what to say when they asked those questions, and she told them she needed it for a nephew. “I’m so mad at myself. The banks are not responsible, because they did everything they were supposed to do,” she said.
Believing the extra money left in the accounts was her reward for helping to catch criminals, she was surprised when Brian called again and asked her to withdraw that money and buy gift cards and give him that information. She went to Walmart and purchased several cards, all the while listening to Brian berate her for taking so long and doing everything wrong.
It was not until days later that she realized her accounts were empty. No deposits had ever been made, and the money she transferred was hers.
“I talked to the banks, but all the suggested was that I close my accounts.” She closed both accounts and had to sell some gold jewelry to pay her bills.
She called a friend from Glades County Sheriff's Office, and was told there was not really much they could do for her either.
“I still have not told one of my children,” she said. “I don’t know how he will feel. I just can’t face him asking how I could let that happen. I already asked myself that.”
Although she lost $12,000, she said she is thankful that it was her money that was gone and not money she handles for a local charity. That money was not touched.
Financially, she is recovering, but mentally, psychologically, she is struggling. The one thing that helps her is knowing she is not the first one to be fooled like this.
“I don’t want this to happen to anyone else. Please, don’t call any numbers in your email.”
If you ever get an email purporting to be from PayPal, forward it to phising@Paypal.com.
