An elderly woman from Haverville Township which is outside of Rochester Minnesota has fallen prey to some scumbag internet scammers and it has cost her a ton of money and her trust. I am a firm believer in being very cautious of anything I order online but admittedly have been duped by some products I have bought online. I always got the product and was charged the right amount of money but the actual product was junk.

That falls under buyer beware and I also have a credit card that all I only use for online purchases.  I would never use my debit card in case it is a scam it would be easier to get reimbursed my money for my purchase and would not jeopardize my bank account. But this situation is altogether different and is something all of us at any age need to be aware of.

In this case, according to the Olmstead County sheriff's department, the victim received a phone call about an Apple computer that she purchased from Amazon. But the key point to this is she HAD NOT made any such purchase. She called them back to talk to them about this supposed purchase which never happened. They told her that they would reimburse her the $400 supposedly charged to her account, but she needed to go online and download some software onto her computer.

She did what they said and a screen appeared where she could enter the $400 refund, the screen then went black and the reimbursement total now said $40,000 and she was not able to change it.  The people on the phone were coaching her the entire time and she looked at her bank account and saw a deposit supposedly from Amazon for $40,000. She was then told to withdraw the money in two different transactions and mail it back to them.

She made an initial withdrawal of $20,000 and mailed it off to an address in Washington. The woman contacted the sheriff's department who instructed her to try and stop the delivery of the package but it was too late. The package had been delivered to an address that turned out to be ab Airbnb and the person listed on the delivery does not exist.  She is now out $20,000! For more on this story go to Kaaltv.com.

If this happened to my mother or an elderly relative I would just be sick to my stomach. It just goes to show how savvy these criminals have become to be able to dupe people into falling for these scams. Again like has been said over and over again if something does not seem right hang up and do not interact with them. If I had a dollar for every phone call I get about my car's warranty I would be a millionaire by now. This is a discussion that we all need to have with loved ones and friends and if you are not sure about something seek out the company that these calls are coming from or talk to the police.

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