NEWS

South Jersey woman loses $10K in China-based scam

Daniel J. Kov
@danieljkov

VINELAND - Several people in China are accused of duping an elderly Vineland woman out of $10,000, police said.

The deception began Nov. 20 when the victim spotted a computer pop-up ad alerting her to a virus, the victim told police. The ad mimicked a Microsoft notification and the woman thought she was dealing with the software company when she agreed to pay $240, ostensibly for her computer to be fixed, police said.

One week later, the woman told police, she received a call from a man identifying himself as David Anthony, who claimed he was responsible for fixing her computer the week before.

Anthony told the woman that his company was prepared to refund her the $240, but she needed to grant him access to her bank account, which she did, according to her report.

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During the conversation, the woman said she saw what she believed to be a deposit of $5,240 made into her account, which Anthony told her was a mistake.

He meant to deposit only the $240 refund and told the elderly woman he would lose his job if he didn’t get that $5,000 back, she said.

So he requested she wire the money, which the woman said she agreed to.

The next day, Anthony called her back saying the transaction had not gone through, and again requested a $5,000 cash transfer.

The elderly woman later realized the initial $5,000 was never actually deposited into her account, and she ended up wiring $10,000 of her own money to several people in China, she told police.

Daniel J. Kov: (856) 563-5262; dkov@gannettnj.com