A 74-year-old Arnold woman lost $12,000 in a scam after she reportedly received a text message that said her bank account had been compromised. As part of the scam, she was instructed to buy gift cards and send the security codes to a man who claimed to work in her bank’s fraud department, Arnold Police reported.
The woman told police she received a text at about 1 p.m. Nov. 1 that appeared to be from Wells Fargo Bank. The message said a hacker had tried to make charges on her account, the report said.
The message also allegedly instructed the woman to call a number in the text message, and when the woman called, a man answered and told her he was a member of the bank’s fraud department, according to the report.
The man reportedly told the woman to purchase gift cards so she could move the money from her bank account to a virtual account. He instructed the woman to purchase three $500 Target gift cards from CVS with her debit card and send him pictures of the cards’ security codes, as well as of the receipt, Arnold Police reported.
The woman bought the cards and sent the security codes, and then she was instructed to purchase more gift cards to transfer the rest of her money. She went to the West County Center mall in Des Peres and purchased $4,500 worth of gift cards at Nordstrom and $6,000 worth of gift cards at Macy’s and again sent the man pictures of the cards’ security codes and the receipts, according to the report.
As of Nov. 11, none of the woman’s money had been recovered, and no suspects had been identified, Detective Lt. Jason Valentine said. He said Arnold Police have forwarded the case to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.
Valentine also said Arnold Police had not recently received reports of similar scams.