Penny's Amazon Scam Debt Relief
Donation protected
https://abc11.com/amazon-scam-gift-card-troubleshooter-fraud/10406766/
My mother, Penny Shaw, a 69 year old who has been held hostage by COVID in a single apartment was recently held hostage by a different kind of threat. If you have any elderly parents you know how trusting they are and at the same time, how vulnerable they can be. My mom was tricked by scammers to purchase $16,000 worth of gift cards.
First, they sent her an email to her yahoo account asking if she purchased two expensive products (a camera and laptop worth around $3,000) and if she didn’t, she needed to call 1-833-xxx-xxxx. Panicked, she called the number and emailed back asking them to remove the items from her purchases. The two “nice, trustworthy” gentlemen, by the names of Gary Cole and Mark Bridge, told her they would take care of it. They said that there was a crime with blood that was tied to her social security number that involved money laundering and drug trafficking and two men "Miller and Rodriguez" were after her but in order for them to block the men from finding her they needed her to go out and buy gift cards.
She was literally held hostage for 6 hours a day (11am-5pm) where they forced her to stay on the phone and go out over the course of 3 days (2/23, 2/24, 2/25) and buy $500 gift cards for Target, Best Buy and Walmart. She went to Walgreens, CVS, Harris Teeter, Food Lion and Target in two different towns where they would tell her how many to buy each time totaling 32- $500 gift cards worth $16,000. They also had a location tracker on her and knew where she was at all times. She doesn't know how they could track her but they would tell her where to turn for each store. She told them she didn’t like that this! She asked them to STOP! But they insisted it was the only way to get her original money back and keep her safe from the crime. If she didn't comply the men would come after her and her family.
They prepared her for when the bank called/credit card company called (Citizens Bank) and told her what to say to them, essentially threatening her not to tell them anything was wrong. Her bank called her regarding fraud but the men told her she had to authorize the payments for the gift cards. Based on what the men forced her to do, she had to lie and say the thousands of dollars she was taking out in gift cards was authorized. She used her debit card and 3 credit cards to buy the gift cards.
The men also forced her to go out at 6:30PM one evening when it was dark and pouring rain. She does not drive in the dark due to her vision and could have died while driving. She said she told them she can't drive but they threatened her once again that if she didn't comply they would not help her. At this point, she was stuck and didn't know how to stop the process but did as told and almost crashed multiple times.
She called me in a panic on Friday, 2/26, after they called again requesting more gift cards. She told them it needed to stop and that she had no more money to give them and wanted them to leave her alone. She hung up and would not answer the phone.
She is now out around $16,000 from gift cards. We had to shut down her credit and debit cards and the bank is weary of her getting her money back since she was duped into saying what the men told her to say to the bank about authorizing the payments.
She is now traumatized and terrified because she changed her cell phone number but they started calling her land-line multiple times a day. In addition, she lives off social security and has $84 in her checking account. She didn't eat for 3 days while this was happening and is now not sleeping out of fear.
Anything contributed is so greatly appreciated! Having overcome throat cancer, she is highly limited as to what jobs she can apply for due to significant breathing problems. But she is out there looking nonetheless. This will help ease her pain
My mother, Penny Shaw, a 69 year old who has been held hostage by COVID in a single apartment was recently held hostage by a different kind of threat. If you have any elderly parents you know how trusting they are and at the same time, how vulnerable they can be. My mom was tricked by scammers to purchase $16,000 worth of gift cards.
First, they sent her an email to her yahoo account asking if she purchased two expensive products (a camera and laptop worth around $3,000) and if she didn’t, she needed to call 1-833-xxx-xxxx. Panicked, she called the number and emailed back asking them to remove the items from her purchases. The two “nice, trustworthy” gentlemen, by the names of Gary Cole and Mark Bridge, told her they would take care of it. They said that there was a crime with blood that was tied to her social security number that involved money laundering and drug trafficking and two men "Miller and Rodriguez" were after her but in order for them to block the men from finding her they needed her to go out and buy gift cards.
She was literally held hostage for 6 hours a day (11am-5pm) where they forced her to stay on the phone and go out over the course of 3 days (2/23, 2/24, 2/25) and buy $500 gift cards for Target, Best Buy and Walmart. She went to Walgreens, CVS, Harris Teeter, Food Lion and Target in two different towns where they would tell her how many to buy each time totaling 32- $500 gift cards worth $16,000. They also had a location tracker on her and knew where she was at all times. She doesn't know how they could track her but they would tell her where to turn for each store. She told them she didn’t like that this! She asked them to STOP! But they insisted it was the only way to get her original money back and keep her safe from the crime. If she didn't comply the men would come after her and her family.
They prepared her for when the bank called/credit card company called (Citizens Bank) and told her what to say to them, essentially threatening her not to tell them anything was wrong. Her bank called her regarding fraud but the men told her she had to authorize the payments for the gift cards. Based on what the men forced her to do, she had to lie and say the thousands of dollars she was taking out in gift cards was authorized. She used her debit card and 3 credit cards to buy the gift cards.
The men also forced her to go out at 6:30PM one evening when it was dark and pouring rain. She does not drive in the dark due to her vision and could have died while driving. She said she told them she can't drive but they threatened her once again that if she didn't comply they would not help her. At this point, she was stuck and didn't know how to stop the process but did as told and almost crashed multiple times.
She called me in a panic on Friday, 2/26, after they called again requesting more gift cards. She told them it needed to stop and that she had no more money to give them and wanted them to leave her alone. She hung up and would not answer the phone.
She is now out around $16,000 from gift cards. We had to shut down her credit and debit cards and the bank is weary of her getting her money back since she was duped into saying what the men told her to say to the bank about authorizing the payments.
She is now traumatized and terrified because she changed her cell phone number but they started calling her land-line multiple times a day. In addition, she lives off social security and has $84 in her checking account. She didn't eat for 3 days while this was happening and is now not sleeping out of fear.
Anything contributed is so greatly appreciated! Having overcome throat cancer, she is highly limited as to what jobs she can apply for due to significant breathing problems. But she is out there looking nonetheless. This will help ease her pain
Organizer
Robert Knell
Organizer
Fuquay-Varina, NC
