After a long day servicing customers at her painting studio, small business owner Amy Kelly, 65, got a phone call that changed her life.
On September 5, around 4:30 p.m., the Maine resident got a call from someone posing as a customer support agent from Bank of America’s fraud division. According to the man, his name is Justin Turner.
He informed Kelly that she would be contacted by the bank to stop any fraudulent transactions from happening on her account. According to the man, she will lose $23,000 by the following day.
He said Kelly needed to share her screen with him in order to finish a wire transfer and “protect” her money in order to halt this transaction.
“I was starting to panic and all my logic just went out the window,” she stated to CBS 13 News.
Kelly inquired with “Justin Turner” about if she needed to visit her Bank of America location to make sure everything was done correctly after transferring the money. No, he replied; everything was “taken care of.”
“That’s when I knew I had been scammed,” she stated.
Kelly claims that after going straight to her Bank of America branch, she was held waiting for six hours to speak with the manager. Weeks later, the problem hasn’t been fixed.
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Signs that you could be dealing with a scammer
According to the most recent Federal Trade Commission (FTC) data, American customers claimed a loss of more than $10 billion from fraud in 2023 alone.
Imposter schemes, which include bank transfers like Kelly’s, accounted for $2.7 billion in losses. Furthermore, according to a 2023 Gallup poll, 15% of U.S. adults reported that at least one member of their family had been a victim of a scam in the previous year.
In Kelly’s case, “Justin Turner” fabricated a sense of urgency in order to trick her into contributing $23,000. According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), this is just one of numerous strategies utilized by fraudsters.
There are various red signs that can suggest you’re dealing with a scammer. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau advises Americans to be wary of anyone pretending to be from the government, a bank, a business, or a relative and asking them to pay money or taxes in advance — or alerting them that they have won a reward that demands an upfront payment.
Be careful of anyone requesting that you wire money, transmit bitcoin, or use a payment app to transfer monies. The pressure to “act now” is a strong indication of a fraud.
Kelly was weary after a particularly hectic workday, making her more vulnerable to scamming.
By: moneywise.com
