The Hart County Sheriff’s Office recently intercepted over $25,000 in cash bound for Florida fraudsters.
In a statement on the incident, the sheriff’s office said an elderly Hart County woman was lured into a phone relationship with a scam artist, with the suspect slowly gaining the woman’s trust over a period of about two months.
At that time, the suspect sent a “fraudulent wire transfer” to the elderly female in Hart County, after the suspect hacked a California resident’s bank account.
Upon receiving the wire transfer, the suspect asked the woman to cash the checks and send the cash, nearly $30,000, via UPS to a person in Florida, according to the sheriff’s office. The elderly woman did what she was asked to do, but it was then that someone notified the Hart County Sheriff’s Office with concerns about what was transpiring.
The sheriff’s office intercepted the UPS package — containing $26,5000 — just prior to the money being flown to Florida. The cash was returned to the bank, and then given back to the original victim in California. The investigation continues.
The sheriff’s office said, “The Federal Trade Commission states that in 2018 they received 2.7 million reports of scams, with an approximate total of $907 million lost to scam artists. With most phone- and internet-based scams originating overseas, the fraud is virtually impossible to investigate.”
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com or 270-259-6000
