A senior citizen says his entire savings for retirement was wiped out by criminals posing as the government.
The man, who asked us to hide his identity because he hadn’t told his family what happened, says he had “right around $280,000″ in a Vanguard retirement account.
He says the scammers started by claiming he had virus protection software but hadn’t paid for it. He says he ended up paying over $6,000. So, he was thrilled when the phone rang again and the caller said he was with the federal government, ready to help.
“‘I can reverse that. That money that you put in,’” the caller told him.
“Something about an update was in progress. Don’t turn off your computer. And I could see little arrows moving around,” he said.
He says that scammer recovered his $6,000 for him, but then used that goodwill gesture to drain his retirement account of $280,000 instead.
“It was like my heart sank and I felt like I was in a deep pit,” he said. “Well, I just, you know, ask myself ‘why’ a lot. Why... [didn’t I] do something different?”
Vanguard says client security is its top priority and it continuously invests in “state-of-the-art technologies, processes, and trainings to stay ahead of ever-evolving and increasingly sophisticated threats.”
The cybersecurity firm, Guardio, found a 573% rise in tech support scams like these, comparing the recent six months to the previous period.
“They really try and plant that sense of urgency into the situation because that keeps you on your toes. It raises your heart rate and it really keeps you from thinking about, ‘Why am I doing this?’” threat researcher Willis McDonald said.
Even worse for the man in this case, in the eyes of the real federal government, it looks like he made some big withdrawals from his retirement. “It appears on paper, yeah, that I did. But I never received it. That’s the bad part and I don’t know how I can prove that,” he said.
So, now he’s facing a massive tax bill. “I’m looking at possibly $60,000 on top of [the] $280,000,” he said.
There used to be a provision for fraud victims like this man, but a Republican tax overhaul changed that in 2017. Many of the provisions of the overhaul expire this year, so Congress should have a chance to add protections for scam victims if they want.
“Sometimes Congress has actions and they don’t quite understand the repercussions. So now that they’ve seen them, hopefully, this is something they will correct,” said Christina Wease with Alvin. L. Storrs Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic.
Action 9 investigator Jason Stoogenke says if someone calls you claiming to be with a company or the government, hang up. If you think it may be legitimate, look up the right number and call yourself.
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