Anatomy of an Imposter Scam: Part 2 in a 3-part series
Lee Erickson
50plus Magazine
See Anatomy of an Imposter Scam Part 1
RECAP
In Part 1, Lee’s roller coaster of a day went from a frozen computer to finding bogus charges on her accounts. Just as she breathed a sigh of relief at the news these were stopped, she was told that one last charge — for child pornography — couldn’t be. This meant not only possible financial loss, but criminal charges against her. Here we resume the events of that terrible morning. . .
11:13am
Shocked and in tears, I told the banker I had to get that money out — it was my (small) savings to live on! Gently, he suggested I take a moment. There was more, he said, for which I needed a clear head. Soon he continued, “As a federal crime, this has been reported and your account frozen. You’ll be receiving a call from an IRS criminal investigator” (he provided a name and badge number).”
I later learned the IRS only handles tax fraud.
I insisted the banker help me get my money. After putting me on hold again, he returned and said they’d successfully unfrozen the account, but “for two-hours only, so you can withdraw your funds (in person only), leaving some — insufficient for the transaction to go through.”
I left immediately.
ON THE RUN, CLOCK TICKING
Given my upset, the banker offered to stay on the phone, but said I must leave it in the car while in the bank as it was illegal for him to overhear my conversations. He said due to the illegal nature of the transaction I was not to discuss it or my withdrawal with anyone in the bank. Not only was I under investigation, so was the bank, as the fraud could have come from within.
At my nearest branch, I withdrew $10,000, the max allowed. I then drove to another branch and withdrew $15,000, the max allowed there.
Soon after, I received a call from the investigator. He repeated not to discuss my case (because: “active investigation”), saying these things are often resolved within 38 business days. From the time I was notified of the fraud, he said, I must follow the law, including not withdrawing from my accounts.
He explained that in such cases, a secure escrow account was created with the FTC to hold my money until the conclusion of the investigation, and that I needed to deposit the money into that by the end of day. I would receive a QR Code from my bank, he said, to deposit the money through a special cryptocurrency ATM into the secure account.
This could be done, he said, either in person at his Washington DC office, or through an ATM used for this purpose. He knew of one 75 miles from me but would look for one closer. Shortly, he said, I would receive the tools and paperwork for the next required steps from the NCIS.
NCIS? I wondered. I was so worked up I decided to look that up later. For now, I focused on documenting what I had to do, what I would be receiving, and how/when my money would be returned. Later looking up the NCIS, I found it’s the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which has zero to do with bank fraud.
The criminal investigator arranged to call the following morning to update me and verify my deposits with the FTC.
THEN. . .
As if things weren’t crazy enough, they were about to ratchet up even more. Read about it in the December issue.
Lee Erickson lives in Springfield. She works and volunteers assisting local seniors and is available to speak about her experience. Reach her at fleurdelee70@gmail.com.