Help For Harvey
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Meet Harvey. He’s a 78-year old retiree living alone in Florida. I am his daughter Charli and I live in Utah. On August 10th, Harvey was targeted in a vicious internet phishing scam that robbed him of $148,500, his life savings.
A year ago he received a simple email from a company called NTS, that was described as an affiliate division of Microsoft advertising a product that would help keep his computer virus free and would allow him to have coverage for any tech problems. Think a version of AppleCare or Geek Squad. He never ended up using their service but had downloaded their program onto his laptop where it sat for over a year. Last week he received an email saying that they were going to auto-renew his service for $400, and if he wanted to cancel he should call them. And so he did. Nobody answered.
The next day, he got an email saying he’s been charged the $400 fee. He called again, this time someone calls him back and is very pleasant and tells him they can help him get that money back and cancel his account. And for his trouble, not only will they refund him $400, but they’ll throw in an extra hundred to make it $500. Seems generous, but that’s very kind of them to treat their customer that way, right? But in order to refund the money they need to get remote access to his computer, which doesn’t seem like a big deal, because this company is supposed to be a part of Microsoft after all. And in order to make sure the refund goes through they ask him to check his bank account online, but the moment he logs in they now have FULL control of his screen and the ability to manipulate his personal bank accounts and are able to transfer his own money from his savings account into his checking account without Harvey being able to see it happen.
And so instead of getting a $500 refund, they make a “mistake” and he gets a $50,000 refund. Of course, when Harvey sees that tens of thousands of dollars have suddenly come to his checking account instead of $500, he tries to do the honorable thing and return the money. However, the man on the phone, who is very convincing in telling Harvey how he’s going to lose his job over this tells him it will require him wiring the money to their bank, which he promptly drives over to Wells Fargo to do.
The next day that money is no longer in his checking account, and the $500 refund he was promised isn’t there either. So he calls the guy at NTS/fake-Microsoft back and he is extremely apologetic and promises to take care of it, and now Harvey suddenly finds himself with $100,000 in his checking account. “Uh oh, another mistake. Let me take care of it, and for your trouble we will give you a refund of $1,000. We are so sorry.” No problem Harvey thinks, he has time, he can drive over to the bank and wire the money back in two installments of $49,500 back as requested, because after all, the money in his checking account isn’t his, right? He doesn’t want money that’s not supposed to be his, and he doesn’t want this very nice guy who has been talking to him for hours and hours over the past two days to lose his job and for his family to be in jeopardy, and frankly, he wants the original $400 back from the auto renew that he did not want or need.
It wasn’t until well after the fact, that Harvey was able to uncover that they had transferred his own funds, his life savings, from his savings account to his checking account. The numbers on the manipulated screen, was his own sweat and blood earned and saved over 78 years of living. Over the course of these two days, the scammer stole his life savings.
The FBI is investigating. Wells Fargo was unsuccessful in preventing the wire transfers from being completed. Once the money was in Thailand, it was up to the Thai bank to return the funds at their discretion. Suffice to say, the money was not returned.
If you’ve ever had your home burglarized, you’ll know the feeling of violation. In this case, they violated his mind, and have caused financial and emotional devastation. We are fortunate that Harvey has an incredible daughter, who he can move in with, and a step-son that can help support him. There are others like him that don’t have that safety net.
If you have an elderly family member, please make sure they understand the potential dangers of internet scams, the danger of clicking on links that grant the ability to install malware and give remote access to their computer. The danger of trying to help someone who they’ve met online, getting an email and calling a number. These despicable humans who prey upon the kindness of the elderly. This money is gone forever, and we are simply grateful Harvey is still here with us. Nothing can replace a human life.
If you choose to donate, we thank you. I will assist my dad in managing these funds and they will be used to help offset future medical costs.
For the "gratuity" part of GoFundMe at checkout, you can select “Other” and put $1 or whatever you feel. It DOES NOT have to be a percentage. It is totally up to you.
Please visit this link to see how pervasive and convincing this scam is
A year ago he received a simple email from a company called NTS, that was described as an affiliate division of Microsoft advertising a product that would help keep his computer virus free and would allow him to have coverage for any tech problems. Think a version of AppleCare or Geek Squad. He never ended up using their service but had downloaded their program onto his laptop where it sat for over a year. Last week he received an email saying that they were going to auto-renew his service for $400, and if he wanted to cancel he should call them. And so he did. Nobody answered.
The next day, he got an email saying he’s been charged the $400 fee. He called again, this time someone calls him back and is very pleasant and tells him they can help him get that money back and cancel his account. And for his trouble, not only will they refund him $400, but they’ll throw in an extra hundred to make it $500. Seems generous, but that’s very kind of them to treat their customer that way, right? But in order to refund the money they need to get remote access to his computer, which doesn’t seem like a big deal, because this company is supposed to be a part of Microsoft after all. And in order to make sure the refund goes through they ask him to check his bank account online, but the moment he logs in they now have FULL control of his screen and the ability to manipulate his personal bank accounts and are able to transfer his own money from his savings account into his checking account without Harvey being able to see it happen.
And so instead of getting a $500 refund, they make a “mistake” and he gets a $50,000 refund. Of course, when Harvey sees that tens of thousands of dollars have suddenly come to his checking account instead of $500, he tries to do the honorable thing and return the money. However, the man on the phone, who is very convincing in telling Harvey how he’s going to lose his job over this tells him it will require him wiring the money to their bank, which he promptly drives over to Wells Fargo to do.
The next day that money is no longer in his checking account, and the $500 refund he was promised isn’t there either. So he calls the guy at NTS/fake-Microsoft back and he is extremely apologetic and promises to take care of it, and now Harvey suddenly finds himself with $100,000 in his checking account. “Uh oh, another mistake. Let me take care of it, and for your trouble we will give you a refund of $1,000. We are so sorry.” No problem Harvey thinks, he has time, he can drive over to the bank and wire the money back in two installments of $49,500 back as requested, because after all, the money in his checking account isn’t his, right? He doesn’t want money that’s not supposed to be his, and he doesn’t want this very nice guy who has been talking to him for hours and hours over the past two days to lose his job and for his family to be in jeopardy, and frankly, he wants the original $400 back from the auto renew that he did not want or need.
It wasn’t until well after the fact, that Harvey was able to uncover that they had transferred his own funds, his life savings, from his savings account to his checking account. The numbers on the manipulated screen, was his own sweat and blood earned and saved over 78 years of living. Over the course of these two days, the scammer stole his life savings.
The FBI is investigating. Wells Fargo was unsuccessful in preventing the wire transfers from being completed. Once the money was in Thailand, it was up to the Thai bank to return the funds at their discretion. Suffice to say, the money was not returned.
If you’ve ever had your home burglarized, you’ll know the feeling of violation. In this case, they violated his mind, and have caused financial and emotional devastation. We are fortunate that Harvey has an incredible daughter, who he can move in with, and a step-son that can help support him. There are others like him that don’t have that safety net.
If you have an elderly family member, please make sure they understand the potential dangers of internet scams, the danger of clicking on links that grant the ability to install malware and give remote access to their computer. The danger of trying to help someone who they’ve met online, getting an email and calling a number. These despicable humans who prey upon the kindness of the elderly. This money is gone forever, and we are simply grateful Harvey is still here with us. Nothing can replace a human life.
If you choose to donate, we thank you. I will assist my dad in managing these funds and they will be used to help offset future medical costs.
For the "gratuity" part of GoFundMe at checkout, you can select “Other” and put $1 or whatever you feel. It DOES NOT have to be a percentage. It is totally up to you.
Please visit this link to see how pervasive and convincing this scam is
Organizer
Charli Goodman
Organizer
Salt Lake City, UT
