An 82-year-old California woman was conned out of $35,000 after being targeted in a bank scam.
Donna Ouchida, of Sacramento County, says she fell victim to a scam when she received a message asking her to verify a suspicious charge, reports NBC affiliate KCRA-TV.
Says Ouchida,
“I got this message that said, is this 200 and something dollars charge yours? If not, call this number.”
When she called the number, she says a man on the other end identified himself as an employee of the U.S. Treasury. She says the fraudster told her that she had become a victim of identity theft and that “credit cards had been opened in my name all over the world.”
“I got scared.”
The scammer then convinced her he was issuing a warrant for her arrest and she needed to prove she was not laundering money by sending him $50,000 in cash, according to Ouchida.
She says she withdrew $15,000 from her bank and followed the scammers directions to ship the money by hiding it in a box with toys to make it appear as a gift.
She handed off a second payment of $20,000 to person who came to pick it up.
After a third payment was asked for, Ouchida became suspicious and reached out to family members who realized she was being scammed.
“It’s really terrible. I know I should’ve known better. If you see a phone number you don’t recognize, don’t answer it.”
The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office is now investigating.
Sgt. Amar Gandhi, a spokesman for the Sacramento Sheriff’s County Office, says the scam that duped Ouchida is common.
“They’ll use everything – from promises of riches to straight-out fear tactics.”
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