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Phone Scammer Shows up at Doorstep

by | Jun 24, 2024 | CST Articles | 0 comments

Thousands of dollars were stolen from a Las Vegas woman who was targeted by scammers she says ultimately showed up on her doorstep.

The incident happened about two weeks ago. The victim, who wanted to remain anonymous, says it started with a call with her bank’s caller ID, KVVU reports.

“I was at home, and I got a call letting me know that there was suspicious activity on my account,” she said.  When she looked at her online bank account, she found two fraudulent charges totaling thousands of dollars. That’s when she says the scammer told her that they needed to “secure her account” immediately.

“He went on to explain to me that, due to the high amount of fraud that’s been going on, they would have to send a courier to pick up my card,” she said.

Within less than 10 minutes, that so-called “courier” showed up at her front door with an “access code.”

“Unbelievably, I opened my door and gave him my card,” she said.

After she handed the card over, the video shows the suspected scammer pulling out a pair of scissors, chopping the card in half and putting it in an envelope.

“They had my information. I didn’t give them my address. They confirmed my address with me,” she said.

This whole time, she was still on the phone with the original caller. However, just a couple of minutes after she handed her card over, she got fully locked out of her online bank account.

“That’s when I realized. I said, ‘I’m in trouble here. Something is not right with this.’ And I just quietly hung up,” she said.  She jumped into action and called her real bank, closing her accounts and changing her passwords.

Nearly $9,000 later, she’s hoping her story serves as a warning before these scammers strike again.

“It’s embarrassing to come forward and say that you fell for something like this, that you opened your door and handed something so valuable to a complete stranger,” she said. “The bottom line is if somebody calls you, just hang up.”

She says a representative from her bank told her the scammers had already hacked into her account from the moment they first called and getting the card’s chip took the scam one step further.

She’s hopeful her bank will pay back the $9,000 that was stolen, but she hasn’t seen the money yet.

Police say if you’re concerned about a scam, you should call your bank directly, making sure you’re not using a number provided by a scammer. They say no bank will ever send a representative to collect your card for destruction.

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bconnolly@livewell.org