NEW ORLEANS (WVUE/Gray News) โ A woman in New Orleans is fighting to recover thousands of dollars that were stolen from her in an online scam.
โI was horrified that it happened to me and I was so embarrassed,โ Tish Casey said.
Casey received an email from PayPal on Memorial Day saying that she had purchased cryptocurrency.
โI clicked on it and it was an invoice and the invoice was for a cryptocurrency purchase in my name, through PayPal,โ Casey said. "I don't know, the word cryptocurrency just caught my eye and the amount and I was like, 'Wow, wait a minute.'"
There was a phone number at the bottom of the email, so Casey called it right away.
She thought she was calling PayPal to tell the company there had been an error, but said it sounded like it was a call center.
โIt was very fast-paced, it was like, 'I'm going to ask you to do this,' and you were rushing to catch up with what they were saying,โ Casey explained.
Despite her reservations, Casey listened to the instructions the man on the phone was giving her.
First, she had to download an app so the person she was talking to could monitor her every move she made on her phone, convincing her that it was to help her through this process.
Then, he was directed to use his Venmo account.
Casey said that the person on the other end of the phone continued to give instructions and assured that if he followed the steps, they could solve his problem.
They told him to make Venmo payments to someone else, in the amount of $4,700. Another for $399. So $499. And $3,900.
Casey didn't know it at the time, but all the money was actually going into the scammers' account.
After sending money through Venmo, Casey was told to buy an American Express eGift card for nearly $3,000.
โAt that point, I was about to cry, I was able to grab my iPad and I googled PayPal cryptocurrency email scams and all this information came up while I was on the phone with the guy,โ Casey said.
Casey said she hung up and the weight of what she just did hit her as she tried to explain it to her husband.
โShe was legitimately hysterical and could barely tell the story and to her credit, she was very cool about it,โ Casey recalled.
They began calling their bank, PayPal, Venmo, and American Express, to stop the transactions.
Although he was able to close his PayPal and Venmo accounts and recover some of the money he paid to the scammers, he is still about $3,000 short.
According to cyber security expert Nam Nguyen, this is a classic phishing scam.
โThey are just casting the bait to see who might fall victim to it,โ Nguyen said. โThey are targeting the older generation, trying to induce panic.โ
In May, the Federal Trade Commission warned about scams like this on its website, warning that the scam can not only end in loss of funds, but could also result in identity theft.
Nguyen suggests these steps to check if an email you receive is legitimate.
First, hover your mouse over the email address it came from.
โYou could say something like customer service at PayPal something, something, something, dot com. Well, we all know that PayPal only has PayPal dot com, so that's probably the first telltale sign," Nguyen explained.
Then carefully read the body of the email.
โCybercriminals are getting smarter, but sometimes their grammar isn't that good,โ Nguyen said.
Then, before clicking a link, hover your mouse over it. It should expose the true link. If it doesn't match the link you expect, that's another red flag.
"There's nothing wrong with calling a friend and asking for help, really, someone might be able to think with a clear head and say here are the telltale signs, I don't think this is legit," Nguyen said.
Finally, if you ever receive an email that appears to be from a company about a problem, look for the company's phone number on their corporate website. Never call the phone number in the body of an email.
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