Steve Lopez: They each lost almost $80,000. How to avoid becoming the next scam victim
LOS ANGELES -- Neal checked his email one day and saw that he was being charged several hundred dollars for a software subscription he didn't want.
The 79-year-old Brentwood retiree called the phone number in the email and allowed a stranger to take remote access of his computer to "fix" the problem. Within 24 hours in late January, two wire transfers from Neal's Los Angeles bank account ended up in Hong Kong, with Neal having been duped into believing the payments were to correct accounting errors and make him whole.
Just like that, he'd lost $79,500, nearly wiping out an account he and his wife had intended as a down payment in a retirement center.
"Makes me ill, just thinking about this," said Neal, who is kicking himself because he used to work in financial services and should have known better. He later realized the email was from a
