PEARLAND, Texas – You’ve heard these stories before about criminals pretending to be a bank or business and scamming customers out of hundreds, even thousands of dollars. And once you get scammed, there’s sadly not much you (or the banks) can do.
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That was the sad fate for one Pearland resident, Missy Edwards, who reached out to KPRC 2′s assignments editor Terrance Kelly after they were targeted by scammers who claimed to be from Wells Fargo. According to the Pearland Police Department, it happened on May 28th, when Edwards got a call, and the caller I.D. said “Wells Fargo” on the phone - the number was spoofed.
In an interview with KPRC 2 reporter Bryce Newberry, Edwards said the scammer said all the right things to sound legitimate.
“She knew all the information that you would think a banker would know,” she explained.
The person on the phone told Edwards there was a fraudulent wire transfer on her account and tried to walk her through ways to cancel the wire, however, investigators said really, the caller was telling Edwards how to send the wire.
Edwards realized something was amiss and told the scammer she was actually on the way to a Wells Fargo branch.
“I told her that I was just uncomfortable with it and that I was about two blocks away from a local branch,” she explained.
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By then, however, Edwards’ account had been hacked and a total of $17,633 was stolen.
“There goes a new roof, there goes the leak in the kitchen, there goes any hopes for fun with my family,” she said. “I hope nothing else serious happens to us because that was our savings.”
In an email to KPRC 2, Wells Fargo issued the following statement:
“Scams are an industry-wide concern, and we never want to see anyone become a victim. As scams change and evolve, we have continued to improve our security measures and expand our education efforts to help prevent these heartbreaking incidents.”
Why it’s hard to investigate:
Pearland PD says if someone stole the money, the bank would reimburse them. In this case, however, the victim sent the wire transfer. Even though it was done under false pretenses, the bank may not be willing to refund the money.
The sad reality, according to police, is this is a common scam, not just isolated to Wells Fargo. Even if you think it’s your bank calling, hang up and call the bank back with the number on the back of your debit or credit cards.
Banks require police to issue subpoenas before they turn over documents. When the police get the information from Wells Fargo on where the wire was sent, the police then have to issue a subpoena to the new bank that received the wire.
The bank account the stolen money is sent to could also be legitimate, but the bank account could be opened fraudulently (with stolen IDs). Also, in this particular case, the victim didn’t screenshot or save the wire info.
The ill-gotten money is usually transferred into crypto and it’s very hard to get that money back because those agencies don’t have a relationship with the police.
Even the Secret Service has a hard time investigating these types of crimes. Pearland PD however, says they are actively investigating this case. Detectives work with federal authorities to investigate these cases.
How do victims keep falling for scammers?
The crooks are really convincing. Simple as that and can often prey on victims at their most vulnerable. It’s unclear how the fraudsters know what bank you have or your banking information.
Police don’t have a very high success rate in prosecuting these types of crimes because they are difficult to track.
This is a nationwide issue though and criminals know crypto is difficult for authorities to track.
It’s also harder when there’s a delay in reporting these matters to the police.
What happens if you get scammed?
Pearland police say If you suspect you are a victim of any fraud, the sooner you notify the police, the sooner they can try to locate the money.
If it’s early enough, the Secret Service can track but they may not be able to seize the money. Crypto companies don’t cooperate with law enforcement.
If the money is sent to a bank that cooperates with authorities, you have a slight chance of getting the money back.
Wells Fargo, meanwhile, offered the following additional points:
- Protecting customers from criminals is incredibly important to us, and we have made significant investments and are committed to helping prevent criminals from engaging in fraudulent activity and scams.
- Among the ways that we’re helping customers avoid scams is through warning notifications and authentication steps (such as One-Time passcodes) required before a customer can complete a wire transaction through the Wells Fargo Mobile app or Online Banking.
- Providing personal information such as One-Time passcodes, passwords, or PIN can give scammers access to your account and your funds.
- We also inform customers that sending a wire is an immediate form of payment, just like cash. Scammers who receive payments from victims typically withdraw the funds from their financial institution immediately, making recovery difficult.
- We encourage people to visit Wells Fargo’s online security center to learn about common scams and how to avoid them.
What people can do to prevent becoming a victim
As mentioned before, these scammers can be very convincing and it often doesn’t take much to catch a customer off guard, especially if they’re at their most vulnerable. According to Wells Fargo, here are some tips people can take if they find themselves in the heat of the moment with a suspected scammer:
- Scammers will try to rush you into taking action, so you won’t take time to stop, think, and verify facts.
- Scammers can spoof their caller ID number.
- Common tactics include asking you to provide sensitive personal information or to send money to help stop a phony transaction or receive a refund.
- Your bank won’t ask you to send a payment to prevent or stop fraud in your account. If you get a call asking for that, immediately hang up and call your bank directly.
- If you are uncomfortable with a request received by phone call or text that you didn’t initiate, don’t respond and hang up immediately. Contact the company using legitimate sources.