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.
[adinserter block="1"]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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