Greg's Corner

Victim could lose home after being scammed

By Greg Collier

An elderly New Jersey woman has already lost $420,000 to scammers, and because of that scam she may lose her home.

It started when she received an email stating she had been charged $500 for an antivirus subscription. This is a trick scammers use to get victims to call the number included in the email, which the woman did. The phony customer service rep said they could issue a refund if the victim gave them remote access to her computer, which again she did.

While the scammers had access to her computer, they had her access her bank account under the guise of issuing a refund. Somewhere along the line, the phony $500 charge became a real $50,000 charge. The scammers said they would issue a refund through a wire transfer. However, the victim was instructed not to tell her bank about the wire transfer because the bank may think it’s part of a money laundering scheme.

To further this supposed protection against money laundering accusations, the woman was also instructed to move her money into an overseas cryptocurrency account. The scammers then instructed the woman to tell her bank that the large transactions being made were for antique furniture. Her bank did, in fact, ask about the transactions, and she told them what the scammers instructed her to.

The scam didn’t end there, though. Not only did the scammers take her money, they also opened several lines of equity using her home as collateral. Now, the woman may lose her home since she doesn’t have the money to pay off the loans the scammers took out. At one point, the scammers even had her declared deceased.

Keep in mind, this was all over a $500 refund for a service that she wasn’t even charged for.

If you receive an email like this, the first thing to do is check your bank or credit card account to see if the charge is even there. If it isn’t, just delete the email. It’s also worth noting that no legitimate company issuing you a refund will ever ask you for remote access to your device. Remote access should only be given to people you know and trust personally. Not to mention that most refunds can be done almost instantly. Lastly, no legitimate company will ever tell you to hide something from your bank. If someone asks you to do that, they’re actually asking you to hide them from your bank.