Athens woman falls victim to scam; gives away $40,000 cash

An 85-year-old woman became the latest scam victim in Athens when she gave away $40,000 cash to an unknown man who last week showed up at her home.

The unknown man, who gave his name as Jack, “walked off with the cash down the street,” according to the Athens-Clarke police report.

People in the Athens area are weekly falling victims to scams that are perpetrated over telephones and social media outlets.

In this case, the Athens woman told the officer that on July 2 she had a virus appear on her computer screen, but a number was provided to call Microsoft for help. When she called the number, she couldn’t understand the person due to his heavy foreign accent.

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The call ended, but shortly after she received a call from another number saying it was coming from Edmonton, Canada. This person, who said he was with Microsoft, explained her banking information was compromised, so she was connected with a bank fraud protection agent, according to the report.

This person told her that $40,000 was missing from her savings account, but they could help her get it back. First, though, she had to withdraw $40,000 cash from her bank.

If she was questioned at the bank, she “was told to make up a story in order to withdraw the cash and not to tell anyone about the conversation,” police said.

The report did not disclose if anyone at her bank questioned the withdrawal of the large sum of cash.

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The con artist told her that a new account would be opened and that a courier would arrive at her home to collect the cash. She withdrew the cash about 1 p.m. and the courier showed up at her house sometime after 3 p.m. She gave him the $40,000, police said. She had obtained $36,000 in $100 bills and $4,000 in $50 bills.

Police have said that couriers are often hired by the scammers to pick up packages and often are unwittingly participants in the crime.

“The actual identity of the suspects is currently unknown, but it is likely that they provided false names,” the officer wrote to close out the report.

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