‘It was so violating,’ cries Wells Fargo user who watched as $25k was wiped from her account – cops told her ‘it’s gone’ | 959713O | 2024-05-01 19:08:01
'It was so violating,' cries Wells Fargo user who watched as $25k was wiped from her account – cops told her 'it's gone' | 959713O | 2024-05-01 19:08:01
A WELLS Fargo customer fell victim to online scammers who stole $25,000 from her account.
While scrolling on Instagram, Lisa Miles came across a pop-up message alerting her that she had been hacked.
The pop-up message began blaring an alarm and ordered her to immediately contact the number on the message.
After discovering she couldn't close the ad, Miles, from Southern California, dialed the number which connected her to a man claiming to be working for Microsoft tech support.
The man informed Miles that hackers were using funds from her Wells Fargo account to buy child abuse images.
"The problem is, he said, tonight at 7 pm, the hacker is taking $25,000 out of your bank account to buy this pornography," Miles told KTLA.
Once the fraudulent tech support agent informed Miles of this, he then connected her to another man claiming to be a Wells Fargo fraud liaison.
Miles asked the man for an employee ID number and for his contact information, both of which he provided.
He also gave her bank account number and an accurate account of her recent banking activity.
The scammer proceeded to convince Miles that she needed to get $25,000 out of her Wells Fargo accounts to prevent future purchases of child abuse images.
"All the time [the man was] saying, please don't worry, but it's very important that we get this money out tonight because that transaction of your porn that you just bought will go through and you'll be arrested, that type thing," Miles told KTLA.
Falling for the manipulation, Miles followed the man's instructions and went to two different Wells Fargo in her area to withdraw a total of $25,000.
Once she withdrew the money, she spoke to the scammer on the phone who instructed her to deposit her money in a Bitcoin machine located in a nearby smoke shop.
The scammer told her that once she deposits the money, it will show up in her checking account the next day.
When the following morning came and the money was nowhere to be found, Miles knew she had been scammed.
"I just cried, it was so violating," she told KTLA. "It's so wrong, it's so mean."
</div> Lieutenant McComas of the Los Angeles Police Department told KTLA such scams are common and hard to solve.
"It's never legitimate," he said. "Banks, the government, nobody is going to reach out to you through a pop-up message."
McComas said scammers use time to manipulate you so you don't have a moment to think about what is going on.
Elaborate scams such as the one Miles fell for are popping up across the country.
Charlotte Cowles, financial advisor for The Cut, recently wrote about how she got scammed out of $50,000 after being contacted by a fraudulent Amazon representative.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, most scammers will pretend to be from a company you know and frequently use.
The FTC says the best way to avoid falling for these scams is to be wary of phone calls from unknown numbers, avoid giving out any personal information, and resist pressure to act immediately.
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