A Wisconsin retiree lost more than $400,000 of her retirement savings over three months to scammers who posed as her investment company, the sheriff's office, the FBI, the Federal Trade Commission and, finally, the Better Business Bureau, according to an InvestigateTV report published Nov. 11.
"Forty years' worth of savings, and it's gone," the Winnebago County woman, whom InvestigateTV calls Mary, told the outlet.
It started with a pop-up carrying her financial company's logo, which appeared while she was booking an appointment with her financial advisor. "They locked my computer to the point where I couldn't even shut it off manually," she said. A caller claiming to represent her investment company then told her the account had been hacked and that she was a suspect in weapons dealing and money laundering.
The callers said someone had taken out a $35,000 high-interest loan in her name, and they showed her eight places where her Social Security number was being used. They told her that her own financial advisor was a suspect too and that she should not speak to anyone, and they sent a non-disclosure agreement straight to her printer.
More calls followed from people posing as the sheriff's office, the FBI and the FTC, who said they were working to restore her account.
