A Michigan senior has lost more than $270,000 from pension accounts after scammers posing as federal agents pushed her to buy gold and hand it over.
The 70-year-old Hazel Park resident got an unsolicited email that claimed to come from the Federal Trade Commission and falsely tied her to a vehicle with a dead body and drugs, reports CBS News.
Says Hazel Park Police Department Detective Chad Jackson,
“She received an email that said she had a warrant for her arrest. Claimed it was from the Federal Trade Commission. They said that there was a car found that had a dead body in it, and there was drugs involved, and her name was attached to it, and her information was in the vehicle.”
She contacted a supposed agent who told her to pay money and buy gold so she could wipe out the fabricated charges.
The caller warned her not to contact local authorities and said the funds would come back after a holding period.
Adds Jackson,
“They threatened her that she shouldn’t call the police locally because there is a warrant, so they would probably arrest her, and they could handle it separately outside of that. She was told that her money would be held for a period of time to clear her name and that they would return it back to her account. But her money never returned, so weeks later she contacted us.”
Further demands pushed her to liquidate both her pension and her late husband’s, for more than $270,000.
Investigators later used community Flock camera recordings to track 30-year-old Ranjeet Singh from Sacramento.
Authorities extradited the suspect to Michigan and arraigned him on two counts of false pretenses with a $300,000 bond.
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This post Alleged Scammers Drain $270,000+ From Michigan Senior in Fake FTC Email Scam may be modified as updates unfold.
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