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Northeast Wisconsin scam victim duped out of $28,000 tells her story: ‘It’s so devastating’

Northeast Wisconsin scam victim duped out of ,000 tells her story: ‘It’s so devastating’

(WLUK) — It’s an important warning from several law enforcement agencies in Northeast Wisconsin as they have we have seen an increase in what they call age scams.

Authorities in Brown and Outagamie counties say tens of thousands of dollars have been lost by victims of the scam over the past two weeks.

From computer security alerts warning of a bank account breach, to phone calls claiming to be a relative in jail who needs to be released, the perpetrators create elaborate stories, deceiving elderly residents of Northeast Wisconsin out of thousands of dollars.

“The scam starts out different almost every time, but ultimately it ends with someone coming to their house to pick up a large amount of money,” said Sgt. Det. Michael Horst of the Brown County Sheriff’s Office.

The Brown and Outagamie County Sheriff’s Offices, along with De Pere and Ashwaubenon police, issued an alert Wednesday after they said they found themselves investigating a number of similar crimes over the past two weeks.

Horst said, “What I’ve seen locally here in northeast Wisconsin, I’ve seen it range from $5,000 and I think the highest is $40,000.”

FOX 11 spoke with one of those crime victims, who did not want to be identified.

The victim handed over $28,000 in cash after spending hours on the phone with someone they thought was a representative of their bank. “It’s so devastating and then you’re so embarrassed that you fooled yourself,” the victim said.

They really made you feel like they were helping you. At first, their conversation was very, very real.

Authorities say that’s exactly what these scammers are trying to do — and how, in these most recent cases, they tricked people into withdrawing money from their bank accounts before handing it over to a “courier” who showed up at their homes.

“These are such complex scams that involve capturing the person’s emotions. A wide variety of things happen when they just get caught up in the scam and withdraw the money,” Horst said.

Investigators say there’s no way a bank or law enforcement agency would ever ask for cash like these scammers do — and people shouldn’t even accept these types of requests.

Horst offered the following advice: “Verify all information, don’t hand over large sums of money to people you don’t know or can’t verify, and if this happens to you, please report it immediately so we can give a quick answer.”