Senior Scammed Out of Life Savings

Dear all:

This is very hard to write. Certainly, the news could be worse. But at the moment and for the past year and a half, I have been living through a personal crisis, constantly strategizing while at the same time refusing to believe that it will not all be OK in the end because that is what one does to keep on keeping on.

In May of 2022, I was the target of a scam through PayPal. In an unknowing collaboration with virtual crooks, I was wiped of the whole of my retirement savings in what is known as an APP or Authorized Push Payment Scam. A dear friend has composed the following which aptly describes my situation:

Senior Scammed Out of Life Savings - Please Help

My old friend and college roommate Janet is a kind, decent, and caring woman who has lost all her life savings in a scam that cleaned out her bank account.

Janet spent her career as a teacher and researcher, which had allowed her to build a modest nest egg that she expected would see her through her years after retirement. Janet lives frugally on her Social Security and a small pension, but the savings that she had carefully built over the years are now gone. She responded to what she thought were inquiries from PayPal, only to fall prey to a scam that was able to access her bank account and emptied it.

Janet is single and has only a few family members. They have helped out as much as they are able, but since she’s in her seventies and retired, she has no way to rebuild her lost financial security. She had hoped the bank would reimburse her, or there would be some way to recover the funds, but was devastated to find that her bank refused and no state or federal agency could help her. She’s run out of options to recover the money that was stolen.

Janet has continued to look for ways to earn money, although it’s impossible to replenish now what took so many years to save and we know the income from these piecemeal efforts will never recoup what she has lost.

So the goal of this appeal is to help her rebuild some part of those savings. I would like to raise some funds to help alleviate the worry of facing her senior years with a little more financial security than she now has. As one of her oldest friends, I thought that I could help her put together this appeal. Please give whatever amount you can. Any amount would be greatly appreciated.

I will add the following:

I am circulating this GoFundMe campaign that my friend has been kind enough to help mount on my behalf. Some of you already know about this very unfortunate event in my life, though horror and embarrassment have kept me from telling others. I am still reeling but am now further along the path of coping with this emergency. Unlike many, I do at the moment have my health and the means to live in a relatively low-cost way in my French village (Hérault region) as opposed to what might be possible in Paris, another big city, neighboring Provence, or back in the U.S. for that matter.

We are mounting this campaign not expecting any degree of assistance from anyone in particular. Certainly one can’t always know about others’ personal tragedies and financial challenges. That said, I would very much appreciate any contribution that you might wish to make to our campaign.

We would also be grateful for any other ideas as to friends, networks, or other ways to help us grow this fund since crowdfunders work by spreading the word to as wide a range of trustworthy donors as possible.

Here’s the link: https://gofund.me/b79e9b0b

If anyone feels suspicious of this appeal, sadly understandable in this day and age when such schemes are flourishing, do feel free to contact me directly by email or private message. Please rest assured that this is not a scam itself, since that would quickly lead to my arrest, deportation, and imprisonment! I just don’t know how else to convince you that this is a sincere and legitimate appeal coming to you directly from me, and not from colleagues of those PayPal crooks; except to ask you to be in touch with concerns or questions. Please know that this has not been circulated widely either to the public or to my friends or their friends, which I hope might work to minimize security issues. I can assure you that any funds raised will be used to balance accounts and replenish savings to ensure a more secure future and not for immediate enjoyment. Someday I hope to be in a position either to repay or to pay it forward.

The following link from the BBC might give you some idea about this kind of scenario if you are unfamiliar, except that American banks have not joined the consortium described.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-48385426

Thank you kindly for any help you feel you might be able to offer.

All the very best,

Janet