Palm City woman almost scammed into sending $10K before deputies alerted
By Terri Parker
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PALM CITY, Florida (WPBF) — It started with this bundle of cash — $100 bills totaling $10,000 — brought to a mail delivery company by an 84-year-old woman who didn’t know she was sending it to a scammer.
“She was desperate to send the money to Alabama because some poor young man was going to lose his job by accidentally placing too much money in her account. Of course, our detectives learned it was a scam,” said Martin County Chief Deputy John Budensiek.
Deputies said an unknown caller to the victim said she was getting a $300 refund from Norton antivirus so she needed to allow him to have remote access to her computer – where he then secretly altered her bank account page.
“At which point they were able to create a fake invoice showing her not only was $300 coming into her account but $20,000 on top of the $300 was in the account so they’d overpaid her,” Budensiek said.
The woman tried to withdraw $20,ooo from her bank but they wouldn’t allow that much at one time, so she took out $10,000 and rushed to a mail facility to overnight it to Alabama —just as the scammer asked.
An employee noticed she was nervous and suspecting something was not right, called deputies who discovered the scam cash wrapped in tin foil.
“It took a while for it to sink in she was being scammed, she didn’t believe she was being scammed at first,” Budensiek said.
Budensiek said scammers typically prey on older people, and warned relatives to check elderly people’s accounts frequently, and remind them if someone offers them money, to be alarmed.
“And don’t give anyone access to your computer,” he added.
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