Scammer Tricks Victim Into Sending $24,950

CLAYTON – In an all too common occurrence, a senior citizen was tricked into sending money from their life savings to a scammer. Police are investigating.

The 72 year-old Clayton resident told police she was contacted by a man with a Middle Eastern accent claiming her Amazon account had been hacked by someone who made illegal purchases on her account.

The suspect had the victim give access to her computer through an Anydisk program and told her he was going try and recover some of the money that had been spent during the hack.

The scammer claimed that $40,000 had been put into her account by mistake and that her bank account would be frozen until the money was received back.

Believing the story was true, she wired $9,950 to the suspect and then $15,000 sometime after the first transfer. Upon being requested to transfer more funds, the victim began to suspect she was being scammed.

The incident wasn’t reported to Clayton Police for several weeks. It remains under investigation by detectives.