Ordinary People, Extraordinary Stories of Overcoming Fraud

“Too many fraud victims stay silent,” said Paul Greenwood. “There are so many lessons we can learn from victims.”

While serving as deputy district attorney in San Diego, Greenwood specialized in elder fraud. Now in retirement, he has continued to serve as a consultant in elder abuse cases. In a recent segment of AARP Virginia’s Tuesday Explorers series, Greenwood spoke with fraud victim Mary Ellen Strange about her recent experience.

Strange, a retired nurse and health care information technology consultant, currently lives in her hometown in New Albany, IN; but was residing in Louisville, KY, at the time she was scammed

“I usually don’t answer phone calls from unknown numbers,” said Strange, but on that fateful day in June 2024 she was distracted by carpet cleaners in her home and picked up the phone.

The caller identified herself as being with the Amazon Fraud Protection Unit and asked Strange about a purchase she had made and shipped to New York. Strange replied she had not made the purchase.

The caller then told Strange that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection had an affidavit in her name stating she was transporting $94,000 across the border. Furthermore, the caller said they found 18 bank accounts and 96 drivers licenses in Strange’s name, and her name was also associated with drug trafficking and money laundering.

Strange replied that this news was preposterous and hung up. Later, however, she began to worry, not so much about the outlandish claims but about the possible misuse of her Amazon account. She Googled Amazon Fraud Protection Unit and called the number that appeared on her search.

This was Strange’s first mistake, as the number in her search was fake. Had she gone to Amazon directly to contact customer service, her subsequent nightmare could have been avoided.

The person who answered the phone identified himself as Will Austin and gave Strange his employee identification number. He confirmed the information she had been told by the original caller and with additional allegations of child pornography.

Strange denied all the allegations. Austin advised her these were serious federal crimes and transferred her to another individual who identified himself as Officer Edwards from the Federal Trade Commission.

Edwards told Strange her information was available on the dark web and reassured her he believed in her innocence. He explained she had two possible courses of action.

The first option was for her to go public and hire an attorney to pursue arrest warrants. This would require locking down all her accounts and it could take ten or more years to reach a resolution.

The second option was to pursue what he called an ‘alternative dispute resolution’ which would be 100% confidential. Edwards would personally take care of her case.

Strange felt everything “seemed legitimate” at this point. The first option “caused confusion and panic” for her. By working with Edwards she wouldn’t have to lock down her accounts, so she chose that option.

Edwards said she needed to begin documenting all her money. She was to go to her bank and make cash withdrawals of $10,000 or $20,000. Edwards warned her the bank would question why she was making such large withdrawals, and she was instructed to say she was doing home remodeling.

Edwards was on the phone which Strange kept in her purse when she visited the bank, and he urged her not to let anyone know he was on the phone. Strange later wondered if he was recording the transaction and possibly training someone else.

Strange was instructed to visit different branches of her bank to make the withdrawals with Edwards on the phone telling her where to go. At the end of the day, her bank noticed her withdrawal history and refused to give her more cash.

Greenwood asked why she was required to make such large cash withdrawals. Strange replied that she was told to prove the money was hers and did not come from money laundering.

The fraud protection office at her bank called her and expressed concerns for her safety. They asked questions about her remodeling project, such as what was being done and the name of her contractor.

Strange felt “backed into a corner” and trapped. She closed her accounts and received a cashier’s check for the remaining balance which she used to open an account at another bank.

Greenwood asked how the scammers got the cash. Strange indicated that Edwards arranged for a cash pickup of $30,000 at her home. He was on the phone with her during the money exchange event, describing the car as it arrived. She was to approach the car from the passenger side, placed the package in the back seat through the window, and took a photo to send it to Edwards.

“It was all carefully orchestrated,” said Strange. There were no words spoken and the car just drove off.

Greenwood asked if she or her neighbors had door cameras that might have seen the car. Strange replied that the car was too far away for camera capture. She later learned that neighbors’ cameras picked up the car, but unfortunately the license plates were not visible.

Strange was next instructed to buy bitcoins, gift cards, and gold coins. For the bitcoins, Edwards sent her to a gas station and stayed on the line while he talked her through the $7,000 transaction. In response to a question from Greenwood, Strange said no one questioned an elderly woman feeding $100 bills into the bitcoin machine.

She bought the gift cards at Walmart, CVS, and Target. Edwards had her open them up and take a photo to send to him. She recalled thinking this was a little strange.

After Strange pulled funds from her retirement annuities, Edwards instructed her to buy $270,000 in gold bars. Greenwood asked if the gold merchant questioned her purchase. Strange said he did not, but advised her to buy coins instead because the bars would lose value faster.

Strange told him she needed to talk to her “financial adviser,” but Edwards was adamant she should purchase the bars.

The gold merchant later said she seemed calm but felt her “financial advisor” wasn’t very savvy.

Throughout the process, Edwards kept reassuring her she needed to be patient and she would get all her money back.

On the first Saturday in August, Edwards told her all remaining balances would be locked down. He told Strange to keep $2,000 for her immediate expenses.

On the following Monday, Strange was informed she would be visited by three men. The first, from the Social Security Administration, would present her with a new Social Security number that had the same number except the last four digits would be different .

The second visitor would be a representative from the Federal Trade Commission who would give her a no objection certificate clearing her of all charges, along with copies of all documents related to her case.

The third person would be from the Department of Treasury with a check returning all her money.

Monday came and went without any sign of the three men. Strange called her nephew, a retired FBI agent, who put her in touch with the local FBI office.

Greenwood asked when she realized that something was wrong. Strange said Edwards built trust by calling her every day; only before the end she was getting nervous when he told her to “pay it all off, don’t worry about it.”

Strange had planned a trip to Normandy and was concerned about issues with her passport. Edwards said he “took care of it” so she would have no problems with passport control.

“He made me feel comfortable that he had my best interests at heart,” said Strange.

When Greenwood asked if she ever felt tempted to share her story during this period, she replied no because she was sworn to secrecy.

She recounted one incident when she was on the phone with Edwards and he needed to put her on hold. At the time Strange was sitting with her dog on her lap and began talking to the dog. Edwards immediately came back on the phone and demanded to know who she was talking to. He threatened the case would go public if she spoke to anyone about it.

Greenwood asked Strange what she would share with bankers to assist people in her situation.

“When I was asked by the bank about what I wanted to do with the money, I felt trapped,” said Strange, especially since she knew Edwards was on the phone.

She recommends banks have a written notice to hand to patrons if fraud is suspected.

“If the government asks you to send money, it’s a scam. If you are asked to clear your accounts or buy cryptocurrency, gift cards, gold coins, or gold bars, it’s a scam. If you are threatened and told lies, it’s a scam,” she said.

And finally, “Don’t trust Google to obtain the correct customer service numbers,” said Strange.

Strange learned about AARP’s Fraud Watch Network through a newspaper article and now works to tell her story to help educate others. Sometimes she gets emotional but mostly tries to “keep it real” to make her experience relatable.

“Your story is especially impactful,” Greenwood concluded. “Thank you for having the courage to share it.”

To watch a video of this presentation, visit AARP Virginia’s YouTube channel.

AARP Virginia is featuring fraud prevention programs throughout the month of April. For a list of all events, visit www.aarp.org/local.