A Michigan woman gave over $300k to a scammer claiming to be from Amazon's Fraud Department. Two months after the scam started, she finally told her husband and now they may never recover her money.
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| Photo by Giorgio Trovato on Unsplash |
A woman from Troy, Michigan handed over $300,000 to a scammer, and in the "blink of an eye," it was gone before realizing her grave mistake. Then she had to tell her husband what she did.
Michigan Woman Gave the Scammer $300,000
FOX 2 News reported about a woman from Troy, Michigan who fell for a common scam from someone claiming to be from Amazon's fraud department.
First, she was contacted by a scammer in June 2023, claiming to be an Amazon employee, working for their fraud department, and he accused her of drug trafficking.
This should have been the first red flag, as Amazon would logically never be involved with something like this.
The scammer encouraged the woman to contact the Social Security Administration, because "she may be a victim of fraud."
A second scammer contacted her, claiming she was under investigation for "drug trafficking and fraud."
Next, the scammer told her not to contact anyone about her case. This is common in scams involving the transfer of money, and oftentimes the scammer will say there is a "gag order" preventing the victim from telling anyone. This is all part of the scam.
The scammer told her that he "could protect her from legal action" if she sent him "any money she had over $5,000." The scammers talked her through buying pre-paid gift cards and she sent photos of the gift card numbers.
The scammer asked for an accounting of her financial assets and for her driver's license, and she provided a photo.
When the scammer found out she had over $300k in gold and silver, the scammer told her how to turn these assets over to them, to "protect them from seizure."
The communication from the scammers ended on 28 August 2023. The phone number she had been communicating with had been disconnected. This is when she realized she had been scammed and then decided to tell her husband.
They went to the authorities to report the scam, but the damage had been done and their money was gone.
How to Prevent Scams
In modern times, it is important to know how to prevent being scammed.
YouMail - a company that monitors robocalls - reported in 2021 that "Americans receive between 100 to 150 million robocalls per month claiming to be with Amazon." (Source: Cincinnati Enquirer)
Tips to Prevent Getting Scammed:
- First, if you are ever accused of a crime, you need to tell your family and quickly get a lawyer involved. If she had told her family and a lawyer, she probably would have found out about the scam.
- Next, if a person from Amazon calls you, it is probably a scam. Amazon rarely calls a person unless you have first requested them to call you (such as you are trying to get in touch with customer service). They may offer to call you back so you don't have to wait on hold or if you prompt them to call you on their website. Amazon will not call a customer "out of the blue" without being first directed to. If you receive a random phone call from Amazon, find a reason to end that call and then call Amazon Customer Service back directly and inquire if they need to contact you.
- Never give out personal information, such as copies of your driver's license and personal financial information to someone who asks you. Again, if you have a lawyer involved, give this information only to your trusted legal representative.
- Lastly, no government agency, nor law enforcement would ever ask you for payment at the beginning or during an open investigation.
- Ask the family to take a look at any emails or texts from Amazon that seem out of the ordinary. Never click on links in texts or emails unless you trust it is legitimate.
Amazon states on its website: "We take fraud, scam, phishing and spoofing attempts seriously. If you receive correspondence you think may not be from Amazon, please report it immediately."
If you have received a "suspicious" phone call, email, or SMS/text message, this can be reported to Amazon on this webpage.
Thoughts
Questions for the reader:
- Have you ever been contacted in an email or by phone by someone claiming to be from Amazon? What did you do?
- Do you know anyone who has been scammed?
The purpose of this article is to keep you and your loved ones protected from ongoing scams.
Please share this article with family and friends so they can stay up-to-date on the latest scams.
Sources
Amazon "Report Something Suspicious" webpage. Date accessed: 9 September 2023.
Brookbank, Sarah. "Got a call from Amazon about fraud on your account? It could be a scam. Here's how to tell." Cincinnati Enquirer. 28 May 2021.
FOX 2 Staff. "Amazon scam: Troy woman scammed out of $300K in 2 months." FOX 2 News. 6 September 2023.
