Scammer Leaves Her Fake ID at North Carolina Bank After Trying to Steal $4,000 from Bank Account

A woman in North Carolina went into a bank in Roanoke Rapids with a fake ID that had her real photo as the picture. The fraudster got nervous and quickly left while the bank teller was checking on the account she was trying to withdraw funds from.

credit: Roanoke Rapids Police Department

Some scammers never learn. 

NC Police Department is Looking for a Bank Scammer

Roanoke Rapids Police Department is actively looking for the woman seen in the photo above after she left a fake ID at a bank in Roanoke Rapids, NC.

She walked into the bank around noon on Feb. 7 at a location on East 10th Street in Roanoke Rapids.

She attempted to withdraw $4,000 from a bank account that was not hers.

The bank teller became suspicious and had another teller contact the real account owner. The account owner said that "no one should be removing funds from their account."

As the teller was checking on the bank account, the woman quickly left the bank branch, leaving her fake ID behind. Bank employees said that the picture on the Identification card was accurate, while the other information was not. 

If you have information on this woman, please contact Halifax County Crime Stoppers at 252-583-4444.

Nigerian Scammer Admits He Took $100K from Women Online with Romance Scams

A Nigerian scammer confessed that he took money from women online, divulging details about who he targeted so others can learn from his past romance scams.

Nigerian scammer "Christopher Maxwell"; credit NBC4 Washington

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reported that romance scams totaled $1.3 billion in 2022.

Now the consulting firm Social Catfish consults with a past romance scammer from Nigeria.

Cofounder Brianna McClellan shares a big red flag.

She said:

“You met someone, and they're professing their love to you right away followed by someone asking you for money, gift cards, wire transfers, anything,” she said. “Anything that has to do with money being sent, red flag.”

Take the image of the person you are talking to, and put it into Google reverse image or on Social Catfish reverse image feature to see if you are talking to a catfish.

Nigerian Man Shares Details About His Past Romance Scams

A Nigerian man shares the details of his past romance scams on American women so now they can be careful when dealing with scammers online.

NBC4 Washington reported that a man who calls himself "Christopher Maxwell" is now divulging how he targeted women with romance scams to steal money.

Maxwell shared how he typically picked his victims.

He said:

“I usually pick my victims from the ages of 38 to, maybe, 60 to 65. Single women. I look for women that’re single that have kids, and they need someone to take care of them, to love them.”

He would often look for divorced women on dating platforms while using a picture of a military service member to portray himself as a trustworthy individual.

He said that sometimes his scam could yield money quickly, while other times it could take months. He would employ a "sob story" that he was deployed, and didn't have access to his bank account, and he needed help making a payment on a house, car, or for his kids. Of course, it was always a lie.

He said:

“Sometimes you have to be patient for months,” Maxwell said. “Sometimes I can get money in three days...Definitely, she would want to help me, because I’m her boyfriend.”

Maxwell even admits that he worked on and perfected his American accent so he could chat on the phone with his American victims.

He said:

“If you’re talking to someone online, a stranger that you don’t know, um, you can ask for a video call,” he advised. “If someone is refusing to talk to you on a video call for absolutely no reason, it’s a scam.” 

But Maxwell said he did feel guilty taking money from these women based on his lies.

He said:

“I felt so guilty,” he said. “I showed her my face on video call. She cried. She did not block me.”

He confessed what he did to his last victim after she got sick and went into debt. 

Nigerian Man Was Fined $250 and Spent One Day in Jail after Scamming $100,000 USD

Maxwell stole about $100,000 over five years and was arrested by authorities in Nigeria. He paid a $250 fine for his crime and spent one day in jail.

Maryland Woman Loses $17K from her Bank of America Account After a Crook Goes into a Verizon Store w/ Her Phone Number & Gets a SIM Card

A Maryland woman was scammed out of $17,000 in her Bank of America bank account after a scammer walked into a California Verizon store with her phone number and obtained a SIM card for her account, shutting off her phone. Then the scammer steals $17K from her Bank of America bank account.

Verizon Wireless store

Scammers continue to find new ways to steal money from hard-working people, even when a person has two-factor authentication on an account.

A Maryland woman learns that even with two-factor authentication, a criminal still accessed her account and took $17K from her with a SIM card swap.

Details on what happened are below.

A Scammer Walks into a Verizon Store with a Woman's Phone Number

7News reported on Wednesday that Sharon Hussey from Maryland was "stunned" after a criminal took control of her account after walking into a California Verizon store with her phone number.

The crook then changed her Bank of America contact information "within minutes" and then took $17,000 from her bank account, even though she had two-factor authentication enabled.

She said:

"I don't know what kind of story they told them, but they bought a new phone, gave them my phone number and were issued a new SIM card, and with that SIM card they can take over everything. I don't know if the could access my banking apps. I don't know what immediate access they had...they could change my Verizon account information, they changed my password, they changed another phone number that was on there, and then they went into Bank of America, and now that they have this phone with my control, they were able to make a sizable withdrawal and when they were sent a code to the phone, they had it." -Sharon Hussey, Verizon customer

 She said:

"It was absolutely stunning. My heart dropped to the floor...and the bottom just kind of dropped out." -Sharon Hussey, Verizon customer

When a new SIM card was issued in California, the SIM card in her cellphone no longer worked, and should could no longer get a verification code to her phone, because the scammer was now using her phone number.

She needed to contact Verizon about her phone issues, but when she called Bank of America, she found out that $17,000 had been removed from her account.

She said:

"Initially, I didn't realize how big of a deal it was. I thought I had handled it on the first day by calling the bank, calling Verizon. Figuring things out.” -Sharon Hussey, Verizon customer

Hussey says that the "two-factor authentication" in her particular situation didn't help her.

She said:

"And I have two-factor identification which ended up biting me in the face when it all came down to it. That was the thing that completely hijacked everything. They had complete control of my phone and there was nothing I could do about it." -Sharon Hussey, Verizon customer

7News revealed that the scammer in this situation used two-factor authentication via receiving a text code to access accounts that have this feature enabled.

That's how the scammer gained access to Sharon Hussey's bank account.

In the video below on X.com (formerly Twitter) Sharon explains what happened.

Update to this Story: 24 January 2024

7News reported that Bank of America initially denied her claim for her $17K loss "over the next three months," but did reverse its decision, and decided to refund the money that was stolen from Sharon Hussey's account.

Thoughts

Now it is time for the reader to share your thoughts on the story.

• Did you know this type of SIM scam existed?
• What would you do if someone stole your phone number?
• Do you use two-factor authentication to protect your accounts?

Please help others stay informed about this story by sharing this article on social media.

Sources

Scott Taylor's account on X.com (formerly Twitter): @ScottTaylorTV

Sharon Hussey on Facebook.

Taylor, Scott. "Maryland woman loses $17K in SIM card swap scam despite two-factor authentication." WJLA 7News. 24 January 2024.

Bank of America's website.

Verizon's website.

Hacker Takes Control of a Man's TV & Puts a QR Code on the Screen. The Man Scans it and Loses Thousands of Dollars.

 A Florida policeman who recently had surgeries after being hit takes a financial blow when a hacker puts a QR code on his TV. He scans it and it directs him to call a phone number, connecting him with scammers ready to steal his money.

Rafael Cubela; credit: 7 News

Florida Policeman Hacked After Scanning a QR Code on His TV

7 News reported that a policeman who drives a motorcycle is recovering from a vehicle colliding into him, and something else happened.

As he was recovering, he was watching a movie on Amazon Prime when a QR code came on his TV screen. He scanned the code and it directed him to call a phone number.

After he called the number, they informed him that they were employees of Amazon. The representative could tell him personal information, all found on his smartphone.

Rafael said:

 “He knew my Social Security, the last four numbers, he knew the banks that I used, that were on my phone.”

After the scammer said he fixed the problem, Rafael noticed that his smartphone was displaying strange notifications. 

After all of this, Rafael also noticed that he opened up an app and saw a large amount of money from one of his accounts.

Sure enough, the scammers had stolen $5,000 from Rafael's bank account.

He contacted his bank, and the bank refused to return the money.

Rafael said:

“For them to say that they’re not going to be held responsible for this, to me, it’s sad.”

Now he will take it to small claims court after he recovers from his surgery. 

Always be aware that scanning a QR code can allow hackers to gain access to your phone and personal information.

Colorado Man Loses Almost $140K to Scammer Posing as Chase Fraud Department

A Jefferson County man was living in a "nightmare" after a scammer posing as Chase Bank's Fraud Department sent a "Chase Fraud Alert" to his phone. After giving the scammer access to his account, 11 wire transfers initiated by the scammer stole almost $140K out of his Chase Business account.

Chase Bank branch

What happens when the bank isn't prepared to help you resolve a fraud alert quickly, and a scammer posing as the fraud department is "more than eager" to help?

It's a situation happening far too often after a man in Colorado learned the hard way to be more cautious after losing almost $140K in a fraud scheme that all started with a text message.

An FBI report on fraud in 2022 found that 405 Colorado residents lost almost $500k to phishing scams, while 467 residents lost over $2 million to spoofing scams in the state.

More details are below.

Colorado Man Tricked by Scammer's Text Message Spoofing a 'Chase Fraud Alert'

FOX31 News reported on Friday that Scott Koll from Golden, Colorado received a Chase Fraud Alert text to his phone in January, which started a nightmare situation for him and his wife.

Scott is seen in the photo below along with the Chase Alert he received.

Scott Zoll and Fraud text alert; credit: FOX31 News

The Chase fraud alert read: “Chase Alerts: Did you attempt to send a Wire transfer for the amount of $4,500.00? Reply Y or N. STOP to end."

Scott contacted his business partners to see if they knew anything about it.

He said:

“At that point, before I did anything else, I reached out to my business partners and asked if they had initiated a wire. They had not. So I then called the bank branch to see if they could see any activity on my account." -Scott Koll, Chase customer

Next, Scott called his local bank branch in Golden, which gave him the number for Chase's fraud department.

While communicating with his bank, he also replied to the "fraud alert" text.

He said:

“At that point, I acknowledged the text that came through, said, ‘No, we did not initiate this wire,’ [&] got a text back immediately saying somebody from the Chase fraud team will be in contact with you.” -Scott Koll, Chase customer

Scott didn't know that his text replied to a scammer waiting for his response.

Chase's legitimate fraud department number was being "spoofed" by the scammer, which also fooled Scott into thinking it was his real bank.

He said:

"Probably within 30 seconds, I received a phone call from the exact number that the branch had just given me." -Scott Koll, Chase customer

He was on the phone with a scammer and the call dropped. So he called the real Chase Bank fraud number. His real bank could not see the texts or communications that he had with the scammer, and Scott began to get frustrated with his real bank.

That's when the scammers posing as his bank called back. Since they seemed to know what they were doing, he continued on his call with them. They knew how much money was in his account and could tell him his bank account number.

The Scammer Asked Him for a 'One-Time Passcode'

Scott was working with who he thought was a member of the fraud team to look into a fraudulent wire that was posted to his account.

The scammer told him they would need Scott to reveal a one-time passcode that would be texted to his cell phone to authenticate his identity. Scott complied with this request, which then gave him the access needed to initiate 11 outgoing wire transfers out of his business account totaling $137,130.

Never give anyone a PIN or "one-time passcode" from your bank. Real employees of the bank do not ask for this and would get in trouble if they did ask for it. Only scammers ask for this type of information.

Chase Bank released a statement to FOX31 News.

It read:

"These types of scams are heartbreaking. Beware of new contacts asking you for codes, access to your device, or to send them, yourself, or anyone else money to prevent fraud. Chase, other banks, law enforcement, and technology companies won’t ask you to do this, but scammers will. Like cash, wires are final payments and are rarely successfully recalled, once sent." -Chase Bank

An Update to the Scott Koll Case

The U.S. Sun reported that Scott Koll was notified by Chase Bank on 31 January 2024 that a "significant amount" of their missing funds are expected to be returned after investigating his case over several weeks in January.

Their investigation also uncovered that Scott Koll's computer was infected with malware and "was hacked more than one year before the fraud took place."

Thoughts

Now it is time for the reader to share your thoughts on this story.

• Do you know anyone who has been the victim of bank fraud?
• Have you ever had fraudulent charges posted to your debit or credit card?
• Have you had to contact a fraud department to dispute fraud charges?

Please share this article with friends and family so they can be informed about this story.

Sources

Chase Bank's website.

FBI Report: "Federal Bureau of Investigation Internet Crime Report 2022." Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). Date accessed: 2 February 2024.

Low, Rob. "Phishing scam dupes Jefferson County couple out of $137K." FOX31 News. 1 February 2024.

White, Debbie. "DON'T BANK ON IT. ‘Never trust an incoming call,’ Chase customers are warned after couple loses $137k – it looked like an official number." The U.S. Sun. 2 February 2024.