ATLANTA — Imagine your lifetime of savings being wiped out by crooks posing as the U.S. government.
A senior citizen from Georgia says that happened to him.
He told WSB-TV that his Vanguard retirement and investment accounts were drained by a crook posing as a federal agent.
The man, who asked his identity to be hidden, said the scammer was pretending to help the victim recover money already stolen from him.
“I had right around $280,000 in Vanguard,” he said.
The man said crooks started by emailing him, claiming he had bought virus protection software and had not paid for it.
“He said, well, it shows that you owe this amount of money, and you’re going to have to go to your bank and get this money out, and then I’ll tell you where to go. So, I did what he said,” the man said.
Later, realizing he had been scammed out of $6,000, he thought it was an answered prayer when the phone rang again. This time, someone on the phone said they were from U.S. cybercrime and were calling to help.
The man told WSB that the crooks remotely took over his computer, gaining access to everything. The cybersecurity firm Guardio found a 573% rise in tech support scams when comparing just the recent six months to the previous period.
“They really try and plant that sense of urgency into the situation because that keeps you on your toes. It raises your heart rate, and it really keeps you from thinking about why, am I doing this?” Threat researcher Willis McDonald told WSB.
This man said he did get his original $6,000 back, but that convinced him to do as the imposter said and log into his Vanguard account and other websites while the criminal was watching on a mirrored device.
“So, I got on the phone and call Vanguard, and they told me about all these withdrawals, and I say I didn’t do that,” he said.
Georgia’s Division of Aging Services sent Vanguard a letter saying the state is investigating this as potential elder exploitation.
The victim has also filed complaints with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and other regulatory agencies.
But a Vanguard employee told him in an email: “due to the transactions having been requested online using your confidential login credentials, Vanguard is not able to assist further.”
“It was like my heart sank and I felt like I was in a deep pit,” he told WSB.
The best advice for anyone of any age is if someone calls you claiming to be with a bank, investment firm or the government, you should hang up.
Just slow down and call back to the actual number for the company.
WSB reached out to Vanguard, who sent the following statement:
“The safety and security of our clients’ assets and sensitive information is Vanguard’s top priority. We continuously invest in state-of-the-art technologies, processes, and trainings to stay ahead of ever evolving and increasingly sophisticated threats. And we routinely share advice and education to help investors protect themselves and their loved ones from scams and financial exploitation.”
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