Wells Fargo Customer Loses $20,000 to Scammer Posing As Bank Employee: Report

An elderly customer of Wells Fargo has reportedly been defrauded out of $20,000 after bad actors posing as employees of the banking giant scammed them.

According to a new report by CBS News Miami, a 22-year-old Omari Burke, from Pompano Beach, Florida was arrested for allegedly draining the savings account of an elderly victim.

Authorities say that Burke called his victim, who resided in another state and chose to remain unidentified, pretending to be a Wells Fargo representative warning them about a suspicious $20,000 withdrawal attempt.

The scammer would then get a co-conspirator on the call pretending to be an investigator with the bank, telling the victim to withdraw $20,000 and send it to a specific address.

The report says the victim caved in to the ‘overwhelming pressure’ and was further convinced by legitimate-looking text messages sent by the actors.

The defendant, who was caught after posting images to social media bragging about the money, faces a slew of charges, including money laundering, unlawful use of a two-way communications device, bank fraud, and grand theft on a person 65 years of age or older, according to the report.

As stated by the victim,

“I kind of went into a panic mode. They had me running all over town and checking out my accounts and getting deposits… It drained my savings account one time and put me in kind of a financial hurt. I tried everything in the world to get it stopped, but I couldn’t stop it.”

Authorities said the investigation into Burke is ongoing, as he may have scammed other victims using similar methods.

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