Rexburg Police issue warning after elderly couple loses $35,000 to scammers
REXBURG, Idaho (KIFI)—The Rexburg Police Department is alerting the area to a potential financial scam targeting the senior community in Southeast Idaho.
Sunday night, police responded to a call from the concerned daughter of an elderly couple who believed her parents had fallen victim to a financial scam. According to a post on the Department's Facebook page, officers visited with the couple and determined they had fallen victim to a fraud scheme.
Warning Signs and "Red Flags"
The victims told police they had received an email from what they thought was PayPal's fraud department, informing the couple of activity involving the purchase of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin. Police say the victim called the number given in the email and was told the fraudulent activity was caused by an employee at his local bank.
Detective Stephen Simper, Rexburg-PD, says the victims missed several red flags.
"Number one, when he first made contact with the person, he(the scammer) stated that he was from China," Det. Simper told Local News 8. "What the victim told us was that he actually sounded like he's from India."
According to the post, the couple was directed by the scammers to make several large cash withdrawals of $10,000, $10,000, and $15,000 from his bank account at different local branches.
Scammers knew that employees at financial institutions are trained to spot and prevent such scams and told the victim to lie to employees about the reason for the withdrawal since the alleged fraud was being done from within, and telling the truth may alarm the 'suspect employee,'" says the Facebook post.
Employees did try to question the victim about the large withdrawals, but the victim told police he told a different story, as instructed, to avoid raising their suspicion.
"Had he been honest with that person at the bank, the teller, and said, 'well, I was told to take this money out by someone because they feel like there's been a fraud issue,' that would have stopped something right then they would have instantly contacted their fraud department," said Simper.
After having withdrawn $35,000, the elderly man was directed by scammers to deposit the cash into a local Bitcoin ATM. According to police, a gas station employee noticed the man's activity and alerted him that it was likely a scam.
The elderly victim told law enforcement he was told by the “fraud agent” that somebody from PayPal would visit his home to retrieve the money in person. On March 1, 2025, two men arrived at the elderly couple's home, retrieved an envelope containing $35,000 cash, and left.
"Usually, banks don't just go out of their way to try to do their internal investigation through a member. They will never do that. They have their own policies and procedures to handle that," said Det. Simper.
The incident is under investigation by the Rexburg Police Department.
"If you have an elderly loved one, please check in on them and educate them of the possible financial fraud schemes that specifically target them," write the Rexburg Police. "Scam artists often keep their victims on the phone for upwards of 8 hours, in an attempt to emotionally fatigue them. They take advantage of the heightened emotional state and lack of technological knowledge of our elderly citizens."
For more information about fraud prevention and responding to fraud, click HERE.
