SMITHFIELD – An elderly Johnston County resident found out the hard way there are fake websites that resemble genuine businesses.
Recently, a 75 year-old Smithfield resident decided she wanted to change her television package with her TV provider, Spectrum. The woman did an online search for Spectrum to obtain their phone number.
Unfortunately, the victim clicked on a fake website created by a scammer to appear to be the official Spectrum website. The fraudulent website had stolen images and logos from Spectrum.
When the woman called the phone number on the scammers website she was told her Spectrum account had be “flagged for hackers” and as a courtesy they would transfer the woman to Truist Bank. A person pretending to be a Truist bank employee told the victim the money in her bank account was no longer safe and she needed to withdraw the money and purchase BitCoin. After purchasing $40,000 in Bitcoin she was instructed to provide them with her account information.
The elderly victim lost $40,000 in the scam.
Authorities say to be careful where you click, including emails, text messages, or links on social media posts. Inspect a website carefully looking for an usual domain name, grammatical errors, low quality images, poor design, and minimal contact information.
You can report suspected fake websites or other internet crimes to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.
