Scam Costs Elderly Rochester Couple $14,000
Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News)- An elderly Rochester couple is out $14,000 after falling victim to a scam.
Rochester Police Captain Casey Moilanen said the scam, reported Monday, began on May 5 when the 78-year-old woman and 83-year-old man received a voicemail indicating their bank account had been compromised. The person who left the message was impersonating someone from PayPal.
The scammer told the couple to withdraw money from their bank account and put it into an account set up by PayPal. The couple withdrew $15,000 and went to a Holiday gas station where they each deposited $7,000 into a sham account that the scammer had access to. Moilanen said the couple likely converted the money into Bitcoin then deposited the money.
Moilanen said the couple planned to contact the scammer again Monday to work out depositing the remaining $1,000 and had attempted to withdraw more money from their IRA. He said the scam stopped when the couple’s daughter found out about the withdrawals.
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