SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio — A Dorsh Road resident reported Oct. 30 that she became a victim of a scam after receiving an email believed to have been from Discover Card.
The email alluded to a request on the Dark Web for $23,000 to be transferred from her bank account due to her Social Security number being compromised.
The woman, 76, said she Googled a phone number for Life Lock and called the first number she found. She then spoke to several people whom she was led to believe were with Life Lock, the FBI and her bank.
The scammers told her she needed to secure her funds by transferring the money to a new account. The scammer kept her on the phone as she went to three branches of her bank to withdraw $23,000.
She subsequently met with a supposed undercover FBI agent in the Starbucks parking lot, where she handed over $23,000 in cash under the impression that it would be deposited into a cryptocurrency account in her name. She said that she tried to follow the man after giving him the money but was told to stop because he was undercover and had to collect money from another person who was in the same situation as she.
She discovered she had been scammed after finding that no such account had been created. Her bank is investigating but advised her that she likely would not be refunded since she willingly withdrew the money.
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