10 May 2023
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — An elaborate scam that started with a phone call conned a Wichita woman out of more than $15,000.
Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett said the 68-year-old woman got a phone call from someone claiming they were from Amazon. The person told the woman her account showed she just purchased a cellphone.
When the woman told the caller she did not buy a phone, Bennett says the fake “Amazon representative” claimed they were transferring the call to the woman’s bank.
The next person on the line, supposedly with the woman’s bank, said he would transfer her to the Federal Trade Commission to report the scam.
Bennett said this is where the scammers convinced the woman to move everything in her bank account to cryptocurrency.
The district attorney said there is a simple way to avoid this scam.
“Don’t allow anyone to transfer you to your bank,” Bennett said in a news release. “Call your bank directly by using the phone number on your statement or the back of your debit or credit card.”
He also said the government would never ask someone to move money into cryptocurrency.
If you think you are the victim of a scam, report it to the police or the sheriff’s office.
If you have questions, contact the District Attorney’s Consumer Protection Division at 316-660-3653 or [email protected].