SMITHFIELD – A 77 year-old Smithfield man was defrauded out of $3,000. Smithfield Police said the victim received a phone call from a scammer who convinced the man someone had hacked into his Amazon.com account and needed to pay $3,000 to have his account restored, and to avoid any problems.
The victim was told to obtain gift cards from various merchants and provide the scammer with the card numbers. Ironically, the scammer did not request any gift cards from Amazon.
Unfortunately, the victim provided the card numbers to the fraudster. Only later, he told someone about the phone call and they told the victim he had been scammed. That’s when he notified the police department.
This is one of several scams where the caller claims to be with Amazon. Many of the scammers try to obtain your personal and financial information. They also claim to need your personal information before a package can be delivered.
I thought the older you got the wiser you become . I’m beginning to think its the opposite. You don’t pay anything with gift cards.
Amanda give the 77 year-old a break. Those POS that steal from the elderly can be convincing over the phone. They are very manipulative and use pressure tactics to direct and confuse their victims. Being wise and being taken advantage of are two different things.
Amanda one of the biggest problems is the older generations are more trusting because we were raised in a kinder country. The young (under 50) have been raised with a loose moral compass. Everything is about making money any illegal way possible.
Hopefully one day you will be 77 Amanda, and hopefully you will have all your faculties.
At this point in time, anyone who still thinks that sending payments in forms of gift cards gets what they deserve.
@tell the truth hope you live to be that old. You show no compassion or empethy. Also hope karma finds you in your elderly years.