After meeting up with a scammer several times, a Lakewood resident realized he had been scammed, TLS has exclusively learned.
The resident was contacted by a scammer who told him his bank account wasn’t secure, and he needed to “secure” his account by handing over the money to an “agent”.
But after meeting with the scammer multiple times, he started getting suspicious. That’s when he realized he was the victim of a scam.
In total, the victim lost approximately $20,000.
Residents are urged to stay vigilant and always call back an official bank number or other institution’s number before acting on a demand for money via a phone call.
not enough info, who i their right mind hand over that much money to a total stranger , something does not sound right . Just go to the bank and verify the story , if it was an elderly person I feel sorry if this is true
If it was an elderly person, how come the children don’t come to the home more frequently and explain to their parents or grandparents that there are lots of scams out there.
Some elderly people forget, please remind them on a weekly basis.
Let us not forget that our parents invested at least 10,000 hours trying to help us survive and cope with this new world out there.
I am familiar with this scam. This was a very complex scam where the victim was led to believe his accounts were compromised and that they needed to move funds to secure them. They used urgency, authority, and specific knowledge of banking procedures to make the situation feel real and time-sensitive. They were told that their accounts were actively compromised and that immediate action was required to prevent further loss.
They genuinely believed they were protecting their money and following legitimate instructions from authorities.
All transactions were made under deception, urgency, and coercion. Caution should be excerized and authority roles should be researched to make sure authorities are executing operations that are truly part of their operations.
I always thought for me would never happen. I got a call caller Id from Santander bank saying I was just hacked they needed urgently to secure my account. And that they needed one time passcode. I gave it! Then when I spoke to Santander and realized what happened, they said once I gave the code from the text it’s over! My account was locked.
Like I said just go to your bank or call them , No bank would ask you to hand over any sum of money to a stranger . Sadly these scam artist con some older folks who are easy prey to this scam , I am no youngster but still am mentally alert , my standard answer to anyone calling is I do not conduct business over the phone from unsolicited calls
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I am familiar with this situation as well. The comments can be painful for a family already going through a crisis. One should exercise caution before jumping to conclusions and posting negative feedback or hurtful comments.
Can you please change my name on my comment to “friend”?
Yes. Give us a few moments please.