An 87-year-old woman in Dundee was nearly bilked out of $70,000 after scammers posing as the Federal Trade Commission targeted her through a computer pop-up ad. The fraud attempt was thwarted by vigilant bank staff, according to a social media post from the Dundee Police Department. After receiving the deceiving security alert, the intended victim dialed the number provided, which led to a series of calls from the scammers, complete with a "spoofed" caller ID that mimicked the FTC's credentials.
The con artists instructed the elderly woman to head to the local Huntington Bank branch while keeping them on the line—a ploy intended to facilitate the withdrawal. Despite the suspect's persistence, urging the woman to withdraw and direct the cash overseas, bank clerks, who smelled something fishy, stepped in and prevented the transaction. The woman, convinced to try another branch after leaving the bank, ultimately sensed the sketchiness and contacted the authorities instead.
The scam was under investigation, and when determined to succeed, the scammer reached out to the victim several times. Eventually, "one of those follow up calls was answered by the investigating officer, who identified himself. The caller hung up and did not call back," detailed a report by CBS News Detroit. Fortunately, the savvy actions of both the bank staff and the woman—now skeptical of the scam's validity—meant no funds were lost.
