WESTON, Fla. – A Broward County senior citizen said she was scammed out of her life savings by high-tech tricksters.
She spoke exclusively with Local 10 News’ Glenna Milberg.
“I received a call from computer security service saying firewall down,” explained Rhoda, whose last name is not being listed in order to protect her identity.
The call made sense, because the internet was out the week before.
“It seemed legit, and then one thing led to another,” she said. “My money is gone, a good portion of my life savings.”
Rhoda believed the man on the phone as he helped her log on to get a so-called refund.
“He said go to computer, the browser was moving, it was up, it was there and I didn’t put it there,” she said.
It sounded like he was manipulating her screen from afar.
“Scroll down put in $300, he said, ‘Oops you put in too many zeros,’ and I didn’t,” Rhoda said.
That started two weeks of fishy phone calls and texts with instructions, cash withdrawals at Chase Bank mailed to Texas and California, and a wire transfer to Thailand. In all, more than $40,000 all in the hopes of making things right.
“I have the FedEx receipt of the first amount,” she said. “This was sent to this address with his name.”
Indeed, Rhoda has names, addresses, receipts and weeks of text messages.
With all this documentation, Rhoda is trying to file a case with the FBI but the connections keep failing.
As for the bank, they are seemingly limited to how much they can help.
“He said he would try to do something but it was doubtful,” she said. “He said because I authorized it.
I was vulnerable, I was stupid, I didn’t think, I just assumed because I saw it and it was physically happening. It made sense,” she said.
Do you have a tip about scams in South Florida, or something we should investigate? Send an email to investigate@local10.com.
