Senior Lost $14,000 To Scammers

A Johnston County senior citizen lost a large sum of money to scammers. The 74 year-old Smithfield resident said she was swindled out of $14,000 and authorities say it is unlikely they can recover the money.

The victim said she received two separate phone calls from scammers, one claiming to be with Chase Bank and the other from BB&T Bank fraud department. Following conversations with the victim, they somehow convinced her to obtain $14,000 in gift cards then give them the card numbers.

Law enforcement says a fast-growing telephone scam involves individuals pretending to be with a bank fraud division and claiming there has been a fraud attempt on their account. They often ask for a bank account or social security number as proof they are a customer. They can even spoof the phone number of your local bank on caller ID.

Authorities are still investigating the specifics on how this particular victim was scammed.

13 COMMENTS

    • oh please. she’s 74yrs old. it’s disingenuous and pretty shallow of you to blame her. these scammers are pro’s at this, especially with the elderly who aren’t tech savvy.

      • Nope…. It is called personal responsibility. People need to learn to take care of themselves. Unless this lady has as mentally deficient, it is her responsibility!

  1. Maybe if all the IDOIT’S in Washington and I mean all, would stop being concerned about being reelected, and kissing Trump’s Butt. They would pass real legislation with some teeth in it, that would hold these phone scammers accountable. By not doing so, they are complicit in this type of fraud on the elderly. Shame on them! all of them!!!!!

  2. Please stop saying stuff like that Mark. The scammers are slick talkers. They spend years perfecting their scams. Our government needs to be more diligent about warning people about the different scams. The scammers will NOT stop until innocent victims stop falling for these scams!!! It’s not that lady’s fault that she got scammed. Truly, it’s our government’s fault for not warning her!!!

    • They really aren’t that slick. If they were they would have someone play “Officer Bob Smith” who didn’t have a thick Indian accent.

      Either hang up or do the next best thing…play along and pi*s them off. They really flip out sometimes when you turn the tables on them.

    • “The government’s fault…”

      Are you kidding me? Only SOCIALISTS expect the government to take care of them! Here on AMERICA we value personal responsibility. If you’re too stupid to keep your money, maybe you shouldn’t have it!

  3. I am a Conservative who believes that a government as big as the one we have, should make it a point to protect our most vulnerable citizens. Currently nobody in government is doing anything to stop the scammers or warn people about the scams. There are, however, a large group of people known as ScamBaiters who fight the evil scammers every day. They make videos of the different scams. They’re on YouTube……Jim Browning, ScammerPayback, Kitboga and a lot of others. They all bring different skills to the table, but they all have one goal and that is to stop the scammers.

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