Elderly Widow Loses $661,000 in Tech Scam: FBI Warns of Rising Fraud Rates
Marjorie Bloom, a 77-year-old widow, fell victim to a tech support scam and lost $661,000. The scam involved a fraudster posing as a "fraud investigator" from PNC Bank who convinced Bloom to liquidate her savings and transfer the funds to cryptocurrency to protect them from criminals. However, the scammer disappeared, leaving Bloom devastated and realizing she had been defrauded of everything. This type of fraud is increasingly common and targets older adults, who lost $588 million to tech support scams in 2022. Older adults are particularly vulnerable to fraud due to their limited understanding of technology and online safety.