Woman almost scammed out of $1K from scammer threatening to hurt her mother

By Trevor Sochocki, James Paxson

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    FREELAND, Michigan (WNEM) — A Michigan woman was almost scammed out of $1,000 during a frightening phone call in the middle of the night.

When Paige Housner saw her mom calling at 4 a.m. Monday, her heart sunk.

“And I think oh no, something’s wrong,” Housner said.

The Chelsea resident picked up the phone.

“A gentleman came on the line and said, don’t panic, stay calm, or else I’m going to kill your mom,” Housner said.

According to Housner, the man said he was holding her mom, who lives in Freeland, for a $1,000 ransom. Housner’s husband Adam called a family member who lives near her parents to have him check on the house and contact police.

“I just kept thinking, how can I keep my parents safe, or my mom safe in this very moment, being so far away. My only thing I can do is pray to god that if I follow what he wants, he’ll leave,” Housner said.

“I will beat this lady. I ain’t–“

“You’re not — you’re not — you’re not going to touch her. I just paid it,” audio from the phone call.

When Venmo asked her to confirm her payment to this account, she paused.

“Ok, it says, umm… No that doesn’t, that doesn’t sound like a you, so how, I mean, this says it’s going to uh… Some Michael Moore. Is that you?” Housner said in the phone call.

“And I thought, I just made this situation way worse because I questioned who he was. And then my brother in law’s like, a garage door light just turned on, they’re in the garage,” Housner said.

As it turned out, her mom was fine. The phone call was a scam.

“I feel violated, which I have a right to be. But I question myself how I didn’t realize it was fake,” Housner said.

Housner’s glad she kept a level head and never paid the money and even more thankful her family is safe. TV5 confirmed Housner’s story with Bay County Sheriff Troy Cunningham.

He said it is difficult to arrest scammers like this because they’re typically not in the country. The sheriff also warned people to be smart and stay diligent if they ever get one of those calls.

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