Victim of Elaborate Cybercrime-Elder Fraud Scheme

My name is Effie. On Tuesday, March 5th, 2024 my mother Lee Erickson, age 73, was the victim of an elaborate cybercrime and elder fraud scam (tech/customer service, bank, and government impersonators) that not only devastated what little savings she had, living on social security income, but also forced her to lose work to address all of the many elements of rebuilding and reclaiming her life.

Since my father's unexpected passing just two years ago, in April of 2022 (married 49 years), she's been fortunate to find part-time work as a companion and non-medical caregiver to other elder members of our community. However, now that she's working again she has to pay taxes which we were scrambling to figure out how to pay when this scam occurred.

The trauma and depravity of this scam comes literally on the heels of many of her own medical health crisis in this same timeframe: recovering from two heart attacks (the last one the day my father died), congestive heart failure, pulmonary edema, pleurisy, RSV, and most recently a total left hip replacement and bilateral cataract surgeries. She's financially crippled by this incident and working diligently to rebuild her life on so many levels, while being impassioned to use her story to help educate and inform others of this experience to bring awareness and a means to an end of these heinous crimes.

To say she was vulnerable is a given, but the fact that people out there actually prey on, isolate, and psychologically manipulate individuals such as her - elders in our communities - is sickening. The amount that we are seeking in this GoFundMe is only for the amount that she irreversibly lost from savings, not reflective of loss of work to reclaim her life and digital security.

Since the incident, she's been working hard to replace her DMV Real ID, her internet modem/router, closed and set up all new bank accounts, updated all financial institution accounts, and is in the process of getting a new phone number and SIM card. We have filed reports with the Springfield Oregon Police Department non-emergency line (they can't do anything about this), the FBI (ic3.gov), Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Oregon State Attorney General's office, AARP, and local news.

The strain of all of this, of course, is that the stress of this incident is manifesting real concerns with her cardiac health and further follow-up is needed to ensure she is going to be okay.

Thank you for your support in helping us spread awareness in hopes that her story can help prevent this from happening to others.

Lee's first public interview aired on KEZI Wednesday, March 13th in the 4pm, 5pm, and 6pm news:

Here is the KEZI article they wrote about her story:

If you have opportunity to share her story or help her recover from this loss in any way, bless you.