ANSON COUNTY — When it comes to fraud, schemes, and scams, one Anson County woman is determined to tell others of her experience with being financially defrauded. As she wishes to remain anonymous, she will be referred to as Ana to protect her identity.
Ana’s husband suffers from Parkinson’s Disease, and like most of us one thing he derives enjoyment from is his television time. When their Roku went out, she said she quickly googled the number for Roku, gave them a call, and within minutes was speaking with a representative. He told her he was very sorry, but he was unable to fix the issue and offered to transfer her to their support system. Ana says the man introduced himself as Michael Stark and assured he would be able to help.
He next asked Ana to download an app on her phone so that he could access her phone remotely and give her instructions to fix the problem. Ana says she was then told by Stark $8,900 in gift cards had been rung up on her American Express account. Luckily, he assured her he had caught the purchases in time and placed a hold on them. Stark then told her not to worry.
Stark asked Ana, “If I had bitcoin, and I told him I have a bitcoin wallet.” Looking back, Ana believes he already knew about her bitcoin wallet from remotely accessing her phone.
Next, he instructed her to take $2,000 out of her account to purchase bitcoin. While Stark was on the phone with Ana, he claimed scammers kept trying to kick him out of the program, but not to worry, Stark would continue to pursue restoring her account.
Ana said, “He said I would see the money back in my account within two to three days.” She adds, “And I did.”
Stark then told Ana to be reimbursed for the $8,900 in gift cards on her account, she would need to purchase gift cards herself. After finding out where Ana lived, he found some stores in the area and instructed her to go to Food Lion and CVS to purchase gift cards for $500 and $250 for various businesses such as Sephora and the Apple Store. She admits when asked by employees at both stores, she lied and claimed the cards she was buying were gifts. Often, as a last resort fail safe, it is store policy for employees to inquire if anyone has asked the customer to purchase the gift cards or if they are purchasing them under duress.
She says, “He [Stark] told me I would receive an extra $25 in addition to the $8,900 for every gift card I purchased. He said he needed the numbers off the gift cards I purchased to put in the system so he could begin taking the gift cards connected to my American Express off the account.”
Ultimately, Ana was scammed out of $750 in gift cards.
Ana says she contacted LifeLock Identity Theft Protection who told her to never go to Google to get any contact information for an individual company.
“They build websites that look legit. She told me to always go directly to the company’s website for contact information,” remembers Ana.
No stranger to fraud schemes, Ana was also fooled when she accepted a position working remotely. Having previously worked from home for a job she loved, she was hopeful of lucking into another work from home position and inquired on the popular job finding website Indeed. Not long after inquiring Ana received a text message from a person identifying themselves as Rhonda, who told Ana she was a good match for a position and asked her if she could respond back to her within 24 hours, and Ana agreed.
Following up, she accepted a job with the company and was told she would be working with others from across the globe to boost the positive reviews made by guests at their hotels and resorts.
At first, Ana found her work easy, almost too easy, and came to really love her job, including getting to know her fellow remote workers through texts on WhatsApp.
She said, “I saw it working. The people I was talking to- everyone said they were making money.”
But Ana was not making money.
She was told the money she was making kept getting caught up in what the company called “bundles” and to fix this she would need to place money in a Bitcoin machine. When she contacted her coach, Ana was told in order to collect her pay in American dollars, she would need to pay in or invest her money in bitcoin. She admits she didn’t think too much of the request because everyone she was talking with seemed to be receiving their money.
Ana explains, “When I worked remotely before, I got paid through a credit card and the funds were then transferred into my bank account.”
Altogether, Ana believes she lost roughly $30,000 through the remote work scheme.
Knowing how easy it can be for anyone to be fooled by a professional scammer, Ana tries not to beat herself up too much.
She says, “With my daughter and her husband now involved, I am losing my independence, and I don’t like that. I am a very independent person, but I have to admit I just don’t understand technology anymore. It seems to have passed me by. I know my daughter is doing what is best and I am thankful I have her and her husband to look out for me.”
She wants to share her story in hopes she can prevent another person like herself from becoming a victim of fraud. Ana has learned a lot of valuable information throughout her ordeals, including going directly to a company’s website to contact them, being wary of anyone asking her to transfer funds or purchase gift cards, and utelizing legitimate companies who specialize in protection like LifeLock.
Additionally, the ACSO and the WPD often post information on their individual Facebook pages regarding new scams active in the area. Both law enforcement agencies encourage anyone who thinks they may have been contacted by a scammer to reach out and file a report. These types of scams often seem legitimate, so coming forward and sharing your experiences, even anonymously, might be what saves a potential victim from becoming an actual victim.
