PLEASANTON — A local elderly woman lost $200,000 to phone scammers before she realized what was going on.
But police say the scammers weren’t satisfied, and that may prove to be their undoing.
It all started in late April when the woman got a pop-up ad on her computer telling her to call a number for technical assistance. When she called it, a person told her that her bank account had been compromised. What was needed to rectify the issue was cold hard cash, he explained, and he’d be sending a courier to retrieve it, authorities said.
The courier came to collect tens of thousands from the woman. Again. And again. By early June, she realized the whole thing was a ruse and that it had cost her more than $205,000, authorities said.
The scammers were planning to come again, but police had a trap ready. They gave the woman fake cash to hand over, then arrested the courier after he arrived for the money.
The suspect, a 35-year-old man, was booked on suspicion of attempted grand theft. No charges have been filed against him yet but such delays are typical in white collar cases where complete investigations tend to require extra work.
Police say they’re still looking into the matter and working in an attempt to recover the stolen money.
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