After a Woodridge woman lost nearly $100,000 to a fake PayPal scam, NBC 5 Responds was able to step in and get her money back.
An unexpected bill, which often caught many people off guard, was part of the scam that helped ensnare Woodridge resident Valerie, who asked us not to use her last name.
“It’s the Wild West out here. As far as the Internet goes,” Valerie said.
“If there are bills to pay, of course you have to pay the bills,” explains Valérie, who checks her bank account balance every morning.
One morning last January, one bill in particular caught Valérie’s attention.
“I saw an email from PayPal. And he said I owe them $150. The first thought was: I don’t have PayPal? And why is someone debiting money from my PayPal account? » said Valérie.
Later, she received another invoice appearing to be from PayPal, stating that Valerie owed them $500.
Valerie said the bill requires her to call a 1-800 number if there is an error on the bill.
After calling the number, the person on the other end told Valerie that she had already paid the $500 mentioned in the fake PayPal emails, but could still help her get her money back .
Valerie said the man speaking to her asked her to download a program that would allow him to access his computer, then asked her to log into his bank account so he could return his money.
Then the scammer said he made a mistake.
“He put $100,000 in my bank account. And I told him it wasn’t mine. So I wanted to give it back to him. Although he actually manipulated the numbers behind the scenes to make it look like he gave me $100,000,” Valerie said.
Based solely on what she saw on her computer screen, Valerie rushed to Chase Bank at the scammer’s request to return the $100,000 to the man she thought she was with. PayPal support.
“When I got home, I saw that my account, my savings account, had been emptied of this $100,000, and I think well, you just stole money from me. (I’m) in tears thinking, ‘I’ve lost everything. I lost everything,” Valerie said.
Valerie then filed a fraud complaint with Chase and a police report.
In December, Chase Bank responded to Valerie in a letter stating that it “refuse to reimburse you for the bank transfer“partly because they”received no response from the receiving bank“.
That’s when NBC 5 Responds received the story.
“I’ve seen your work. I saw the people you helped. It’s credible. You are credible. When you can help someone who is at the end of their rope and make them smile again, that’s when you say, “Okay, I see what you did, and maybe you can help me,’” Valerie said.
Our objective was clear. NBC 5 Responds set our sights on Blue Ridge Bank, the bank that received the wire transfer, and began contacting its executives in early February.
Less than two weeks later, Valérie received the good news.
“It worked. It worked. You ruffled a few feathers,” Valerie said. “I checked my bank account, I think it was February 28, and there was money in my account fluent.”
On its website, PayPal asks to forward suspicious emails to phishing@paypal.com and they will investigate for you.
Blue Ridge Bank did not respond to our multiple requests for comment.
A Chase Bank spokesperson tells us: “We (Valerie) are sorry to have been scammed. After numerous attempts to recover funds on her behalf from the receiving bank, we are pleased that she finally had a positive outcome. As a reminder, like cash, wire transfers are final payments and are rarely successfully recalled once sent to a fraudster.
Since all of this, Valerie has changed all of her passwords, closed her bank accounts, installed security software on her computer and is monitoring her credit very closely. Something she and other experts advise anyone who has been in this situation to do.
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