Certified Apple Consultant Pat Dengler joins me to tell the harrowing story of how her neighbor was seconds away from being scammed out of $30,000. In an elaborate web of lies with multiple people involved, she was connected supposedly to Amazon, the FBI, lawyers, and more, and every single person gave their IDs and return phone numbers. Pat saved her literally in the nick of time.
This story aired as part of the NosillaCast on December 1st, 2024 but I made it a standalone episode so folks can point directly to it to help raise awareness.
If you need a Certified Apple Consultant, Pat can be contacted at [email protected].
Read an unedited, auto-generated transcript with chapter marks: CCATP_2024_12_21
Pat’s notes from the encounter:
Early this morning she got a phone call from Amazon: $1279 was charged to her account for a laptop being shipped to NY (Amazon rep: Emily Johnson). Emily transferred the call to Alana Brown at Wells Fargo because Dorothy said she didn’t place that order and Emily determined it to be fraudulent. Alana said she needed to refer to the Feds because they used her Social Security Number. Then transferred the call again, this time to Neil Carson at the “Federal Trade Commission”. FTC10253 is his ID. 202-703-1259
Neil said he was going to run a full check because someone is using her Social Security Number at Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Chase, and NCA bank. He also told her that $67,000/week was being withdrawn based on her social security number. pulled out from these accounts. Dorothy would not be responsible for the debt because they know she’s a good person, pays her taxes, etc.
He quoted “Section Number 19A: Money Laundering”, and said he needs to suspend/freeze her banks SSN so she’s not going to be responsible, and she’s going to get a new Social Security number.
A US (Federal Trade Commission) officer was going to come to her house and he would have some forms for her to fill out and some questions to answer. The Federal Trade Commission officer is the Social Security officer with whom he would give her an appointment.
Then he said they were going to pick up cash from her that they would show the judge to prove she was the owner of the bank accounts, and he needed a copy of her driver’s license to prove the money was from her.
Before I arrived, he had asked her for her bank information and how much money she had in the various accounts. She listed them out to him.
The line was cut off, not by her. He called back. He said that the info has now gone to the US Treasury Department, and an attorney would take over, The call was transferred.
Alvero M Vedoya from the “US Treasury Department” called and gave his ID number as PN1156. He said he would conduct a 72-hour inspection. His extension was 31156 at the same number. To run the investigation he needed to know how much she had in assets at all her banks — Credit Union, Wells Fargo, etc. He directed her to go to the credit union and withdraw $15-20k “or whatever they will give you”, and then go to Chase and get $25k cash and tell them you are buying a new car or remodeling. He knew that the bank would question the cash.
Dorothy went to both banks and withdrew $30K in cash. They did question her but she insisted it was for legitimate use.
When she arrived home, she had difficulty texting him a copy of her driver’s license, which is when she called Pat to ask for assistance. She met, meeting me Pat at the front door and asked her not to say anything. She said to just help her because she was not supposed to tell anyone (although she told me at the time that they didn’t ask her to not tell anyone). $30,000 in cash was sitting on the counter.
Pat heard him on the line repeatedly pushing her to send the image of her driver’s license. She prompted her again to hang up the phone, and that it was a scam. After some hesitation, she did. While Dorothy was explaining in more detail the need for texting the photo, she showed Pat the cash sitting on the kitchen counter where she had taken a photo of it with her driver’s license.
From phone number 202-202-3407 he kept calling back after she hung up. Later, he called again from a different number: 202-703-1259. She blocked these numbers.
I recently received a similar call, although I did not save any of the supposed employee ID numbers, case numbers and so forth. The rigamarole went on for a good 20 minutes until one of the scammers asked me what I was going to do now?
I thought for a moment and said, “I dunno, I guess the first thing I’d do is make a police report.”
The line instantly went dead. That was satisfying.