Elderly Texas Couple Tricked By Scammers Posing As Officials, Lose ENTIRE Life Savings

The scam occurred over two days and included the couple traveling to a nearby Food Mart, where they were tricked into transferring $14,900 to crooks via a Bitcoin ATM. The couple was reeled in by an unusual message on their tablet computer. Judith, one of the victims, said, "It just kept flashing back up at me, so I called the number, and it said Apple customer support." After the couple responded to the first message, another fraudster claimed to be from Wells Fargo bank.

The scammers then connected her to a third fraudster who claimed to be a representative for the Justice Department. The man said her social security number had been compromised and she should withdraw her money. The crook told Judith he would put her money into a safe place where it would be protected. The fake government worker told the couple to travel to a nearby Food Mart and transfer $14,900 to a secure cryptocurrency account using a Bitcoin machine. "In the course of the two days, they had us empty our account to the tune of $43,500," Judith said.

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The FBI has issued advice on how to steer clear of internet fraudsters. Phishing scams were the most common online crime last year, with 300,497 victims reporting losses of $52 million in 2022. Last year alone, the FBI said Americans lost a massive $10.3 billion to internet scams, with fraudsters developing increasingly sophisticated ways to lure in often vulnerable victims. Officials urged Americans to keep systems and software up to date, install a robust and reputable anti-virus program, create different passphrases for each online account, and never click the link in an unsolicited text message or email.

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A single mom told DailyMail.com how she lost $80,000 to a fraudster she met on a dating app after being conned by a cruel 'pig-butchering' scam sweeping the country. Kate, 41, was lured in by a crook posing as a 36-year-old wine trader from Seattle who persuaded her to make bogus cryptocurrency investments with the promise of significant returns. The con is known as 'pig-butchering' because victims are 'fattened up' with a fake romantic relationship before being butchered by fraudulent investment advice.

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June 24, 2023

Earlier this year, Verizon also revealed the most common scam texts to look out for, including those claiming you won a contest you did not enter. The telecoms giant urged users to pay close attention to so-called 'smishing' attacks, where a scam message is sent via SMS or text. Fraudsters typically send messages that appear to come from reputed organizations to try and dupe unsuspecting victims into handing over personal information such as bank details, credit card information, or even a social security number. Attackers often try to play with your mind by asking you to take immediate action. A message asking you to do something urgently will likely be a con.

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Scammers often pretend to be your bank or a government agency. They may say your credit card has been blocked or there appears to have been a fraudulent transaction and ask you to provide information to unblock or reverse the payment. Remember that your bank will never message you to ask for sensitive information such as your banking password or PIN. Attackers can only victimize people who respond to these messages. Common scam messages often claim you have won a contest, even when you haven't entered one.

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An increasingly popular text scam says there's a delivery issue with a package you haven't ordered. Poor grammar, misspelled words, and awkward use of language can identify spam text messages. A text message from a lengthy and suspicious-looking email address is almost certainly a spam text message. This is a huge warning sign. Do not click the link or follow prompts from these fake text messages.