An 84-year-old man from Hingham, Massachusetts, was duped out of nearly $100,000 after falling victim to a telephone scammer impersonating a PayPal representative. The elderly resident was contacted by a fraudster who claimed an accidental $100 deposit had been made to his account, as per the Facebook post of the Hingham Police Department.
Compounding the initial falsehood, the caller concocted a story that the accidental deposit was, in reality, $100,000, not $100. They instructed the senior to verify the transaction by logging into his bank account while still on the phone. "This likely gave the caller remote access to the resident’s computer and open bank account," the police warned, according to Boston.com. During the unprecedented breach, the victim's bank account showed a fake deposit of $100,000.
Instructed by the scammer to rectify the situation, the Hingham man was told to obtain two cashier's checks for $49,800 each and send them overnight to an address in North Carolina. The police statement, obtained by The Patriot Ledger, recounted the fraudster's directive: "The caller warned him if he was questioned at his bank about the large transactions, he should tell them he was buying a car." To the scammer's benefit, no questions were raised when the transactions were made, and the checks were promptly cashed upon receipt.
The Hingham Police Department has since urged the public to talk with elderly family and friends about such scams, recognizing that seniors are often targeted by these cruel, deceptive tactics. As this case illustrates, the repercussions of such frauds can be financially devastating, stripping victims of their hard-earned savings and piercing the veil of security around their everyday lives.
