CLAYTON – Two scammers tricked a retired Johnston County woman out of $20,000.
On July 3, the 73 year-old victim received an email that appeared to originate from Microsoft. The email claimed the victim had made a payment for $421 to Microsoft for technical support and to call a phone number if she had not.
The victim called the number and spoke with a person who claimed he was Kevin with Microsoft. The scammer told the victim he would refund the money to her account.
The scammer even emailed the victim a refund authorization form to sign and return.
The fraudster then transferred the call to a second person who claimed to be a billing manager. The second scammer convinced the victim they had mistakenly transferred $20,000 to her bank account during the refund process. They requested she obtain $20,000 in cash, then send the money to them through BitCoin.
Not knowing it was a scam, the victim sent the money.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, refund scams are widespread. Scammers often use email addresses similar to Microsoft’s real email accounts, microsoft.com or microsoftsupport.com. The FTC warns to be on the lookout for fake email verification and virus notification alerts from scammers using the Microsoft name.
These scammers who would rather rob an old person than get out and work will one day have true Karma paying them a visit. How do they even sleep at night? And don’t blame the victim–older seniors are living in a different world than what they grew up in.
I’m convinced there’s a large segment of thr JoCo population that should not own a computer.