Wisconsin Retiree Hands Gold To A Stranger In A Fast-Food Parking Lot After Fake FBI Calls - Then It Got Worse

Résumé détaillé

Wisconsin Retiree Hands Gold To A Stranger In A Fast-Food Parking Lot After Fake FBI Calls - Then It Got Worse A Wisconsin retiree lost more than $400,000 of her retirement…

A Wisconsin retiree lost more than $400,000 of her retirement savings over three months to scammers who posed as her investment company, the sheriff's office, the FBI, the Federal Trade Commission and, finally, the Better Business Bureau, according to an InvestigateTV report published Nov. 11.

"Forty years' worth of savings, and it's gone," the Winnebago County woman, whom InvestigateTV calls Mary, told the outlet.

It started with a pop-up carrying her financial company's logo, which appeared while she was booking an appointment with her financial advisor. "They locked my computer to the point where I couldn't even shut it off manually," she said. A caller claiming to represent her investment company then told her the account had been hacked and that she was a suspect in weapons dealing and money laundering.

The callers said someone had taken out a $35,000 high-interest loan in her name, and they showed her eight places where her Social Security number was being used. They told her that her own financial advisor was a suspect too and that she should not speak to anyone, and they sent a non-disclosure agreement straight to her printer.

More calls followed from people posing as the sheriff's office, the FBI and the FTC, who said they were working to restore her account. "That's the trick is to get your confidence," Mary said. The callers told her she needed to buy gold to protect her money, and she spent $131,208 on 24 gold coins.

A man claiming to be from the Better Business Bureau then called to tell her she had been dealing with scammers. "He said, 'You've been working with the scammers. You need to stop right now. And I'm going to help you,'" Mary said. He was an imposter too, and he arranged for a courier to collect the coins from her in a fast-food parking lot. She was given only a first name and a password to identify the courier, who had a description of her car and her clothes.

Staff at her bank and at the business that sold her the gold asked about her large cash…

Début de l'article, extrait de ZeroHedge. Pour lire la suite, ouvrez l'article chez le média.