File photo courtesy of © Can Stock Photo / karenrFile photo courtesy of © Can Stock Photo / karenr
Midwestern

Huron County woman loses $8K to fraud

A scammer has set back a Central Huron resident $8,000 after the victim fell for a deceptive Google Play gift card scam.

A caller posed as a bank employee to inform the victim money had been stolen from her account and wired to India, but that the bank would contact the wire service to recover the money. Later that day, she was told the bank got her money back and an extra $1,000. In reality, the scammer has accessed her account and moved money from her line of credit. The victim was requested to pay back the extra money with $8,000 in Google Play gift cards, which she did.

She contacted her bank a few days later when the scammer called back for more.

Gift card scams are very popular because they continue to work.  Scammers will use different ways to trick people into providing them with the authorization codes. They may ask for the gift cards in exchange to pay taxes, bail money, debt collection or for physical items. Remember, you can only use Google Play gift cards to make purchases like apps and music on Google Play.

Read More Local Stories