SAN DIEGO — In today’s world, most of us have somewhat of an idea to make sure we are not victims of fraud whether it’s not clicking on certain links or not answering certain calls, however, hackers are sneaky. One woman told News 8 she was almost a victim of a new type of fraud and wants to spread the word.
Last Thursday, Julia Legaspi, who’s 67 years old, got a typical-looking receipt from PayPal in her inbox.
"It looked so legit," said Legaspi.
Legaspi said she noticed a few things that didn’t align but she decided to contact PayPal using a 1-800 number provided in the fake statement and thought the person on the other end of the call was going to help sort things out for her.
"The guy was asking [to] log onto your account so we could return the fraudulent charge," said Legaspi.
What she didn’t know, was the guy on the other line was trying to get her personal information, the number she was referring to was a fraudulent number.
She said she realized something didn’t feel right when the person on the other line asked for her PayPal and bank account numbers.
"Before I gave them my banking information to return the charges," said Legaspi.
Legaspi said she was able to stop the transaction from going through. But unfortunately, not many people are as lucky.
According to the FBI, millions of elderly people are targeted because of many reasons, and $3 billion dollars are lost every year from scams affecting the elderly.
There are many ways to keep yourself safe one of the biggest ones resist the urge to act quickly. Scammers will create a sense of urgency to produce fear and lure victims into immediate action.