PENNSYLVANIA (WHP) \u2014 Scammers posing as federal law enforcement officers have stolen about $6.5 million from victims across the country, and Pennsylvania State Police said there could be more victims who don\u2019t even realize they\u2019ve been scammed.<\/p>\n
The scheme has hit close to home. An 87-year-old woman from Mechanicsburg reportedly lost about $1.5 million in gold, while a 74-year-old woman from Rixford lost about $259,000 in gold and cash.<\/p>\n
Now, state police are warning people that a phone call from someone claiming to be an officer\u2014even one with a legitimate-looking number\u2014doesn\u2019t mean the person can be trusted.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, a lot of numbers can be spoofed. Someone\u2019s calling you saying that they\u2019re in law enforcement. They may not be,\u201d Trooper Megan Frazer told CBS 21.<\/p>\n
The scam often starts with a pop-up message on someone\u2019s computer. The person is then contacted by someone pretending to be a federal agent.<\/p>\n
The scammer claims the victim\u2019s identity or Social Security number is connected to criminal activity. They may also say the victim\u2019s bank accounts have been compromised.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when the pressure begins.<\/p>\n
Victims are told to withdraw their savings, buy gold bars or coins, and hand them over to a courier for supposed safekeeping.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re going to try to scare you,\u201d Frazer said.<\/p>\n
And scammers don\u2019t necessarily need to hack into someone\u2019s accounts to make their stories convincing.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven if you Google your name, unfortunately, there\u2019s so much information online, even social media. There\u2019s so many ways that scammers can find out your information and your family\u2019s information,\u201d Frazer said.<\/p>\n
She said scammers can also use personal interests shared on social media to play on someone\u2019s emotions.<\/p>\n
What should you do if you get a suspicious call?Frazer said people should never assume a caller is legitimate simply because the number appears to belong to law enforcement.<\/p>\n
Instead, look up the agency\u2019s phone number on its official website and call directly to verify the information.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019ve already handed over money or gold, contact your local police department immediately.<\/p>\n
\u201cUltimately, you\u2019re going to contact your local police department, and we\u2019re going to make a report. But you also have to take further steps in making sure that you protect yourself,\u201d Frazer said.<\/p>\n
Those steps include contacting your banks, protecting your Social Security information, and changing compromised account information.<\/p>\n
But recovering stolen money can be difficult, especially if it has been sent overseas.<\/p>\n
\u201cMajority of these scams, unfortunately, go overseas, so it\u2019s kind of a dead end for law enforcement,\u201d Frazer said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PENNSYLVANIA (WHP) \u2014 Scammers posing as federal law enforcement officers have stolen about $6.5 million from victims across…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":310527,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-310526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310526\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/310527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}