A sad story, and this lady’s retirement plans are destroyed. She and her husband will likely have to work for many more years, unless some miracle happens.
She shared her story so that others may benefit and not make the same mistake.
The scammer called this woman and claimed to be from the FBI. He told her that her identity and social security number had been compromised, and that the FBI would deal with the issue, but that she needed to immediately move all money out of her accounts to protect it from the identity thieves. He said that if she didn’t cooperate with the FBI she would be arrested. He kept her on the phone for many hours, told her that she couldn’t tell anyone about the scam, including her family, and gave her stories to tell her bank if they got suspicious or asked why she was moving large sums of money. He provided her with accounts to transfer the money to, some of which were in Panama. Over the course of two weeks, she transferred all of her savings and retirement money to the scammer’s accounts.
They do feel bad. At least sometimes. They just don’t feel like they have another way to make money.
Even worse than the SSN fear based scam, or the Exiled Prince Needs Help Money Laundering scam (which is a variant of the much older Spanish Prisoner scam), is the current trend of posing as a (real) US soldier using their FB photos and profile info to sweet talk lonely women into a trusting relationship before money is ever requested, in small and then in larger amounts…
“Definitely there is always conscience,” said Akinola Bolaji, 35, who has conned people online since he was 15, including by posing on Facebook as an American fisherman named Robert. “But poverty will not make you feel the pain.”
Yeah, 60 today is not like being 60 20 years ago. People are better informed, or should be. 20 years ago my 60 year old sister was scammed by the “Hi, grandma, it’s me and I’m in trouble” routine. She ended up sending a Western Union money order for $2500. I was always sending her links to Snopes whenever she posted chain letter bullshit on FB.
I’m assuming the scammer in the OP spoke English like a native? If not, I’m pretty amazed that the victim fell for it. A person with a strong foreign accent could become an FBI agent, but I’d find it hard to believe they could have broken English, as do most of the phone scammers I encounter.