A metro Atlanta senior citizen says his Vanguard retirement and investment accounts were drained by a crook posing as a federal agent.
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The scammer was pretending to help the victim recover money already stolen from him.
The victim asked us to hide his identity, because he has not even told immediate family about the theft.
“I had right around $280,000 in Vanguard,” he said.
RELATED STORY: Victims say they’re still being taxed by IRS on money stolen by scammers
The crooks started by emailing him claiming he had bought virus protection software and had not paid for it.
“He said, well, it shows that you owe this amount of money and you’re going to have to go to your bank and get this money out and then I’ll tell you where to go. So, I did what he said,” the man said.
Later, realizing he had been scammed out of $6,000, he thought it was an answered prayer when the phone rang again. This time, someone on the phone said they were from U.S. cybercrime and were calling to help.
“He said, I can reverse that. That money that you put in,” the Georgia man told Channel 2 Consumer Investigator Justin Gray.
Instead, the crooks remotely took over his computer, gaining access to his Vanguard passwords.
Threat researcher Willis McDonald demonstrated to Channel 2 Action News how easy it is for a criminal to take over a computer.
“Someone could do this in a matter of seconds and can be working on gathering credentials, gathering personal information,” McDonald said.
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The cybersecurity firm Guardio found a 573% rise in tech support scams when comparing just 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?” McDonald said.
This man did get his original $6,000 back, but that convinced him to do as the imposter said and log into his Vanguard account and other websites while the criminal was watching on a mirrored device.
“So, I got on the phone and call Vanguard, and they told me about all these withdrawals, and I say I didn’t do that,” he said.
Georgia’s Division of Aging Services sent Vanguard a letter saying the state is investigating this as potential elder exploitation.
The victim has also filed complaints with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and other regulatory agencies.
But a Vanguard employee told him in an email: “due to the transactions having been requested online using your confidential login credentials, Vanguard is not able to assist further.”
“It was like my heart sank and I felt like I was in a deep pit,” he said.
The best advice for anyone of any age is if someone calls you claiming to be with a bank, investment firm or the government, you should hang up.
Just slow down and call back to the actual number for the company.
Channel 2 Action News reached out to Vanguard who tells us in a statement, “The safety and security of our clients’ assets and sensitive information is Vanguard’s top priority. We continuously invest in state-of-the-art technologies, processes, and trainings to stay ahead of ever evolving and increasingly sophisticated threats. And we routinely share advice and education to help investors protect themselves and their loved ones from scams and financial exploitation.”
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