Scammed out of a life’s savings

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Tuesday, January 14th.

Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: losing a life savings.

The Federal Trade Commission says consumers reported losing $76 million paying cash to government impersonation scammers in 2023, almost double the amount lost that way the year prior.

But even that is the tip of a fraudulent iceberg.

REICHARD: WORLD associate correspondent Rachel Coyle has the story of a woman who fell prey to one such scam.

CONNIE GRUNDMANN: Look at that amount that I put in a box and put in the back of a car of somebody I had no idea who it was.

RACHEL COYLE: It was $50,000, cash.

GRUNDMANN: But I truly believed it was his logistics driver to take it to Washington, DC.

The total she lost was much higher.

GRUNDMANN: We had just been deceived and scammed of $98,400.

That’s Connie Grundmann’s entire life savings. It started on a balmy spring Wednesday in South Carolina. She turned on her laptop to order her husband’s medication.

GRUNDMANN: My computer started flashing. It was Microsoft alerts.

The warning covered the screen with no way to turn it off. A phone number flashed:

GRUNDMANN: “Call this number now.” I was shaking so badly I was scared so badly.

That common response made Connie vulnerable to the scammer’s tactics. John Street is a Biblical counselor and a professor at The Master’s University. He says fear can cloud a person’s judgement.

STREET: It becomes like an emotional roadblock in our thinking, where normally they would be a very logical type of a person. They make good decisions, but when the adrenaline is running, and they become really desperate, then they make horrible decisions.

Connie dialed the number and a woman posing as a Microsoft agent answered.

GRUNDMANN: She kept saying something … You've been hacked.

Connie didn’t know it was the beginning of an intricate plan to steal her money.

The woman on the phone listed a number of vile activities supposedly associated with Connie’s computer.

GRUNDMANN: She kept saying, This is not good! I need to transfer you to the FTC. Please hold.” I was scared. I’m still scared.

Connie was then connected to a man who called himself Alvaro Bedoya. He told her to verify his identity online. His name and picture are on the Federal Trade Commission’s website. Except that was not the man Connie was speaking with.

GUNDMANN: He told me the Federal Trade Commission needed to secure our funds from these foreign addresses on your computer. I was still in panic mode. And I have never had any contact with the Federal Trade Commission. I didn't know how they operate.

She didn’t know they don’t call you or have you call them. “Bedoya” had various methods to make it appear legitimate, such as providing a password to use every time they spoke.

GRUNDMANN: So, I fell for the scam.

On day one, he started small: purchase $400 in gift cards and give him the numbers. Then, make multiple withdrawals from ATMs, totaling $3,200.

GRUNDMANN: I was instructed to deposit all of those monies into the Bitcoin.

From there, the money went straight to the scammer.

The FBI reports that 37,000 tech support scam victims lost close to $1 billion in 2023. Actual losses are likely much higher, as many victims are too embarrassed to report the crimes. The numbers for 2024 aren’t released yet, but Connie is among them.

On day two, the scam became more complicated. Since Connie didn’t bank locally, “Bedoya” told her to open a checking account at a local Wells-Fargo. Then use various ATMs around town for $4,800. By day three, she had withdrawn $40,000 cash using her new checking account. Connie could tell from her interactions with multiple bankers that they were concerned.

GRUNDMANN: But he never used the word “scam.” They kept saying “money laundering.” And I still to this day don't understand money laundering, other than they’ve washed it out of my hands.

All of it went into the Bitcoin machine.

Just six days after the scam began, Connie wired her final $50,000 from savings into her new checking account—and withdrew the cash.

From the banks’ perspectives, Connie was a willing participant. Videos confirm she made the cash withdrawals.

GRUNDMANN: He said, “Get a box, wrap the cash, and address it to the U.S. Treasury Department. My logistics driver will come to your house and pick up the money. Walk slowly to the car. Ask for the passcode and drop the box in the back of the car.” I think I knew at that time, this was not right.

Professor John Street says it’s possible to recognize when fear is in charge, and take back control:

STREET: One of the ways that we can recognize fear is I will want to be reactive. Do the first thing that I think is the best, rather than carefully thinking. But you have to stop and regain your thoughts, and not allow your thoughts to be flooded with fearful panic.

Connie watched the car drive away, sick to her stomach. Days went by and the money never showed up in her account. She looked more closely at the documents and texts he had sent—and noticed glaring grammar and spelling errors. Humiliated, Connie had to admit she had been scammed.

GRUNDMANN: The mental torture has been spiritual warfare, big time.

Connie held out hope that she might get her money back. An agent with the Secret Service says that's not likely—recovery is low—but encourages victims like Connie to report their losses anyway.

She looked to Scripture for comfort:

GRUNDMANN: I kept hearing and seeing the word “restore, restoration.” And I kept thinking, Well, God's going to work this out, and we're going to get our money back. No, the restoration is for me, my relationship with Jesus Christ.

A wire-bound notebook detailed verses, music, and messages that helped her. She asked for prayer from her church family. Her initial embarrassment morphed into opportunity.

GRUNDMANN: I want Him to be glorified through all this, that if I can get the word out so that other people will see the red flags long before I saw them.

After many hours on the phone, weeks of work, mailing documents to her banks, Connie did manage to get some of her money back from one bank, just shy of $5,000.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Rachel Coyle, in Boiling Springs, SC.

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