Police warn fake feds are scamming seniors out of life savings

PASADENA, Texas (KTRK) -- Police warn that scammers are tricking seniors with deceptive computer pop-ups, posing as federal agents and convincing them to give up tens of thousands of dollars to protect their money.

Unlike scams in which thieves gain direct access to a victim's bank account and drain it, in these cases, the victims hand over cash to someone who comes to collect it in person.

"It's just horrific," Pasadena Police Department Detective Donna Wright said. "(The older community) have more invested, whatever it may be - life insurance payouts, maybe from a deceased loved one, so they have more money in the bank, and I feel like that is why they're targeted. Plus, they are more vulnerable because they believe the stories."

In one case Wright is working on, she said a woman in her 80s was looking up a Thanksgiving recipe online on Nov. 19 when she received a pop-up aimed at causing her to panic.

RELATED: 84-year-old woman who lost life savings to scammer thought she was 'helping the government'

"She went to print, and all of a sudden, her computer locks up; it has a siren blaring loudly and has a pop-up," Wright said. "After trying to shut her computer down, nothing was working for her, so she contacted the number (on the pop-up)."

Wright said the scam stretched three days, with the victim getting passed around from person to person, including some scammers posing as government employees.

Ultimately, Wright said, the woman was convinced her information was compromised and she should move her money out of her bank while she awaits a new Social Security number.

"She's very bright," Wright said. "But they made this story so convincing, it made the person least likely to do this, actually do this."

She said the victim told police she met with two people who collected about $75,000 in cash each, causing her to lose $150,000 to the scam.

When she met up with the first person to give them $75,000, Wright said the victim told police she took a photo of the man wearing a face mask, sunglasses, and a ball cap.

RELATED: 'That was everything I had': Grandmother trying to buy puppy for grandson loses life savings to scam

"She actually takes a photo of the first guy. I guess she was not wanting to give her money away," Wright said.

Wright said the woman told the scammer that she took a photo during the dropoff, but the scammer told her she was not supposed to photograph an undercover agent, so she didn't get a picture of the second guy.

Wright encourages families to talk to their loved ones around the dinner table this holiday about the warning signs that they're being scammed.

When it comes to the online scam her victim was targeted with, she said never to call a phone number on a pop-up.

"Hang up the phone. Don't panic if you get a pop-up on your computer. Close it, shut it down," Wright said. "Take it to a professional. Call your family. You have not been compromised, and if you have, let a computer expert handle that."

Another case that Pasadena PD Detective Jonathan Jernigan is working on involves a woman in her 80s who was scammed out of $95,000.

That scam also started with a pop-up warning on her computer, which led her to call a number and eventually resulted in her speaking with someone posing as a U.S. Department of the Treasury employee.

RELATED: Grandma tricks alleged scammer into coming to her house where police pounce, make arrest

"She was told that the stock market was going to crash and the banks were going to crash, basically, and that she needed to withdraw her money and send it to a third party so it would be safe until this financial crisis passes, and then she would get her money back, even with some interest," Jernigan said.

Jernigan said that the victim withdrew $95,000 in a cashier's check and mailed it via UPS to someone in Tennessee.

"Later on, the people, the scammers would actually call her and say, 'Everything's fine. We received your money. It's safe with us. Here's proof that your money's safe with us.' They would send additional emails. They would go a long way to try to ease these people into not disclosing what had happened," Jernigan said.

He said that oftentimes, victims are told not to contact the police, their banks, or their loved ones.

"Their purpose is to get them isolated from contacting anybody outside who can maybe talk some sense into them or maybe investigate a bit further," he said.

Jernigan said that the victim went to the bank and withdrew another $35,000 to send the scammer, but the victim's legitimate bank was suspicious and tried to warn her that something was wrong.

The woman, in that case, was eventually able to intercept her second payment and get her $35,000 back from the UPS store. However, Jernigan said it's unlikely she'll ever see the initial $95,000 she gave again.

"I believe it was the bank manager who convinced her to contact us," he said.

Jernigan also reiterates that if there's a pop-up on your computer warning that it's been compromised, do not call the number listed.

"Unplug your computer. That's the best you can do. You may lose data that's on there like you're working on something like a Word document or an email, but at the end of the day, that's a lot better than losing hundreds of thousands of dollars potentially," he said. "Be very suspicious of anything unsolicited. If you get a call from a tech company, tech companies don't reach out just randomly to people, or they don't have access to your computer to see that you need any type of help."

For updates on this story, follow Kevin Ozebek on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Contact 13 Investigates

Have a tip? A problem to solve? Send a tip below. If you don't have a photo or document to include, just hit 'skip upload' and send the details. (On mobile? You can open our form by tapping here.)