A 76-year-old Martinez man was scammed out of $81,000 by people claiming to be with McAfee Virus Protection.
The man told deputies his McAfee account was not working, so he googled the customer service number and spoke to a person who said he was due a refund, according to the incident report.
The man gave the scammer permission to remote into his computer, where the scammer showed him his account with the refund, according to the report.
When doing so, the scammer showed an amount $11,700 over the refund due and told the man he needed to wire that amount back to him, according to the report.
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The man wired $11,700 from his Wells Fargo account to Mo Zhuoxin in Hong Kong, according to the report. When he realized the money was never in his account, he called back and spoke to another scammer who also remoted into the man’s computer and did the same scam.
The second time, the man was asked to send $69,015 cash so he would not have to pay tax on the amount due back, according to the report.
The man said he did not think it was a scam due to the fact he called them, not the other way around, according to the report. After the final amount of cash was sent, the man was not able to make contact with anyone at the number used in the past for McAfee.
After all of the transaction fees and postage charges, the Martinez man was out $81,060.
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Elderly Martinez man scammed out of $81,000
