(ConservativeHub.com) – A recent Newsweek report has put a spotlight on a recent scam that the FBI has warned could result in people having their money stolen.
Sara, who is being referred to by an alias, had received a phone call from an unknown number with her area code in January. She stated she had been waiting for someone to call her from her apartment in order to address a burst pipe that had gotten damaged. She described the way that the incident developed as a nightmare.
She said that after she picked up, the man on the other line stated that he was with the Clemson Police Department and that she didn’t appear for a court hearing. The man proceeded to provide specifics as to the reason Sara was in trouble and even named her roommate as one of the witnesses.
As Sara was not close to her roommate, she believed that the phone call was real and that she indeed owed a $2,000 fine. She said that the entire experience was confusing and she was panicking after being told that if she failed to pay the fee, she was going to be arrested.
Sara added that she had never gotten in trouble and she was scared of what the effects of these allegations could be. So she ended up paying the scammer using some of her own money through payment app Zelle as well as graduation money she’d received through gift cards. It wasn’t until afterward that she realized she’d been scammed.
According to Newsweek, the FBI has warned that these types of scams could be impacting millions of Americans. The agency said that while apps like Zelle and Venmo are typically convenient and safe, there are criminals out there trying to scam unwitting victims out of their money.
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