CLAYTON – A 56 year-old Johnston County woman lost thousands of dollars in a scam.
It all started when the woman received an email that appeared to originate from PayPal but it was from a scammer. The email appeared to be a receipt for a Bitcoin purchase the victim did not make, and to call a number in the email if there were any questions.
The victim called the phone number and was told by the scammers her identity had been stolen in Texas and her bank account was no longer secure.
They instructed her to make two withdrawals from her bank, totaling $18,000, and to deposit the money in a BitCoin account for “safekeeping.” The victim did as she was instructed, only later realizing she had been defrauded.
PayPal says never pay a suspicious invoice or money request. Don’t call phone numbers in the invoice note or open suspicious links. And never send money to a crytocurrency wallet mentioned in an invoice or money request.
56 years old is way too young to be getting scammed like this. This is someone who has probably been ‘technologically literate’ for almost 20 years now. It’s really awful that this happened, but do people just not have common sense alerts that go off in their head? How many times are we told to NEVER call a number left on a voicemail or email when it comes to our finances- call the number directly on our card/paper statement.
And let’s not forget to also NOT call a number that someone text to you claiming they are from a bill collectors office. Someone tried that one on me about a week ago. When they asked me for my Soc Sec # I told them to tell me what my number was, and they could not. I also knew that I did not owe anyone any money. People, use your heads, please.
So tired of seeing stories like this and all the comments are placing the blame on the victim of the crime! It’s time to get off your soap box and demand better from email service providers, ISPs and government. It is not the fault of the victim!
To say I’m disgusted is an understatement! So, she receives an email saying someone used her PayPal acct fraudulently to buy Bitcoin. And her lack of common sense convinced her to fix the problem by putting $18,000 into a Bitcoin ATM?? Woman you are 56 years old!! You should know better. Disgusted doesn’t even begin to describe my emotions on this. Grow up and get a grip on reality. Seriously!