Advice from personnel at a Shelbyville bank may have saved a woman from further trouble after a scammer cheated her out of $1.300, police said.
The victim received text messages from someone claiming to be from the FBI informing her she owed $1,300 and would be arrested and jailed if it wasn’t paid. The FBI does not contact people by texts.
“Many” texts convinced the woman she had to pay, police said. She transferred $1,000 through Walmart to a “Velma Ayala” in Houston, Texas, then was told she’d sent it to the wrong name and to resend to “Vilma” Ayala. She was also told to send photos of her banking information.
The texter contacted her again with orders to send $300 on Amazon and Apple cards and photograph and send photos of the backs of the cards, she told police.
At this point she had to visit the bank, where staff members expressed concerns about her transactions, changed her account numbers and advised her to notify police.