HARTSELLE, Ala. (WHNT) — Curtis and Carolyn Lemaster lost the savings they built over 62 years of marriage to one phone call.
“I could’ve kicked my own butt really, because I had realized then what had happened. And they got all my money,” Curtis said.
When Curtis turned his laptop on Friday morning, he received a pop-up message that said he needed to call Windows. That message provided an 833 area code, saying it was the phone number for Windows customer support. Thinking his laptop needed to be fixed, he called the number.
“It said don’t turn your computer off, call Windows,” Curtis said.
The person on the line then told Curtis that they had hacked his computer and placed obscene, illegal materials on it. If he did not comply with their requests, they told him the police would arrest him for having said materials.
Being an 83-year-old disabled veteran, Curtis said he was rightfully nervous about this request and that the caller sounded urgent. Then, he was told to buy gift cards and lie.
“Told me to go to Lowe’s, buy a credit card, and tell ’em my son had just bought a house and needed money to buy furniture,” Curtis said. “But then he said, ‘Don’t tell them anything else.’ He stayed on the line for four hours while I’ve done everything he told me to do.”
Curtis spent $8,000 on Lowe’s gift cards on Friday, draining his checking account.
“Just your entire life to have it ripped out from underneath you by somebody who doesn’t even have a real job,” Curtis’ granddaughter, Brittany Burgess, said.
To make matters worse, Curtis and his wife care for their 60-year-old daughter, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and autism at a young age. He told News 19 she is unable to live on her own, and that her medication and doctor’s appointments on top of his and his wife’s get very expensive.
Without their money, making ends meet to cover everyone’s needs will be difficult.
Karen Reeves, the president of the North Alabama BBB, said this is a scam they’ve seen several times, but there are red flags to look out for. One of those is what Curtis mentioned: the urgency.
“A sense of urgency, that is the big thing,” Reeves said. “Scammers don’t want you to have time to think through a situation. The other red flag is either wanting them to go out and wire money, or, the most recent thing we’re seeing is gift cards.”
Reeves said store employees are being trained to question someone if they’re trying to purchase gift cards with a large sum of money to prevent these scams. When Curtis first went to the Lowe’s in Hartselle, management would not let him purchase the cards. The scammers told him to try another location, and that is where the sale went through.
Burgess set up a GoFundMe for her grandparents to try to help cover some of the funds they lost.
The BBB has a scam tracker to refer to if ever questioning the legitimacy of a message.
The post Gone in an instant: Elderly couple loses critical savings to a scammer appeared first on WHNT.
