An elderly Oklahoma woman with Parkinson's disease lost $20,000 in a cryptocurrency scheme set up as a scam, according to her daughter.
Jamie Moore, the daughter of 77-year-old fraud victim Marcia, knew a scammer was trying to contact her mother when she received a strange email informing her that a Bitcoin transaction had been completed.
“I got an email from my mom saying, 'Jamie, I think I'm being scammed,' and I said, 'Don't fall for it, I get emails like that all the time,'” Moore said. KFOR.
Since the two were aware of the fraud, things should have been smooth sailing from there.
Marcia, who suffers from Parkinson's disease and multiple myeloma, then contacted the number provided in the fake email to seek some clarification.
She told the other person that she had never purchased Bitcoin.
The scammer posed as a federal employee and told Marcia that her identity had been stolen and that she needed to withdraw money from her bank account to keep it safe. He also told everyone, including his daughter, to keep the situation a secret.
“She was on the phone for probably about five hours. He continued to be on the phone with her,” Jamie said.
Following the scammer's instructions, Marcia went to the bank, where she even lied to the teller to justify the large withdrawal of $20,000.
“She was coached by this FBI guy not to trust anyone, told the teller she needed $20,000 to renovate her house, and wiped out her entire savings account,” Jamie said. said.
From there, the scammer instructed her to go to a liquor store 45 minutes away in Ponca City, Oklahoma, and deposit her savings into a Bitcoin ATM.
Only after completing the transaction did Marcia realize that she had been deceived.
Jamie said: “We never thought this would happen to us. She's humiliated, embarrassed and questioning her choices. She's a smart woman and an intelligent woman, so it's heartbreaking. It's heartbreaking,” he said.
The family has filed a police report, but there is little hope that Masha will get her savings back.
The actual FBI then contacted the family and explained that the ruse was likely part of a larger operation from Nigeria, Jamie said.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, fraud involving Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has increased in recent years. Consumers lost more than $1.4 billion in 2023 and more than $1 billion in the first nine months of 2024.
