An 84-year-old woman in Santa Rosa, California, lost over $600,000 to a fraud scheme that preyed on her fears and trust. Scammers posing as government officials and bank representatives convinced her she was involved in a pornography-related crime and threatened arrest if she didn't comply with their instructions.
A family in Santa Rosa is reeling after their elderly loved one lost more than half a million dollars to a sophisticated fraud scheme this year. In May, an 84-year-old woman received a text claiming her Apple devices had been hacked. After several phone calls with folks claiming to be from the Department of the Treasury and Wells Fargo, she was told that she and her husband were connected to a crime related to pornography.
They also said if she didn’t follow their instructions, or if she told anyone what was happening, she and her husband could be arrested. The woman lives with her husband at an elderly care facility, and he suffers from dementia. She kept the 'investigation' with the DoT to herself, not even telling her family or friends what was happening. A little over six weeks later, she had handed over more than $600,000 to total strangers. The woman's son, Robert Kranson, shared his family’s story with KTVU. 'There’s a special place in hell for people like this. These are really smart bad people. I hope that they get caught,' Kranson told KTVU. 'They had built, because of this orchestrated process they go through, the combination of fear and trust they established with her…They had her lock, stock and barrel.' With the help of the scammers, Kranson’s mother was able to withdraw large sums of money from her Wells Fargo bank account. Kranson says the Wells Fargo employees warned her the situation seemed fraudulent, but they ultimately processed the transactions. Kranson's mother then wired the cash to a local shop, Rinkor Rare Coins, to purchase several gold bars, worth around $80,000 each. Kranson's mother did as instructed. She picked up the bars and handed them to a courier the scammers had arranged. Kranson says his mother was also unwittingly used as a mule by the scammers. She helped them pick up gold bars that a woman in Pennsylvania had purchased and then delivered them to another courier
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