A growing scam… Every day many people are the target phone scams. While some realize very quickly that they are dealing with thieves, others suspect nothing and lose a lot of money. This is the case of a 96-year-old woman, residing in Clamart, in the Hauts-de-Seine. Monday August 7, 2023, The Parisian returned to his story. Abused by two crooks between July 2021 and January 2022, this ex-teacher lost 194,000 euros. “It’s not that I feel guilty, but I foolishly trusted. I was too gullible”, she regretted. It all started with a call from a bogus Orange service. For The Parisianshe explained: “I was told that I had 500 euros unpaid and that they risked cutting my telephone line, I was worried. But the person reassured me by explaining to me that I was going to be contacted by a lawyer who could help me settle my dispute. At the end of the line, a certain ‘Carole’, was particularly benevolent in order to gain the confidence of her victim.
Under the influence, she puts her apartment up for sale
During the summer of 2023, it was then that she thought she was doing well that this nonagenarian withdrew 38,500 euros in three installments from Crédit Mutuel. “Pactole that she hands over to ‘Carole'”precise The Parisian. Not backing down from anything, the scammer convinced her to open a second bank account at Société Générale in order to make ten transfers of 10,000 euros to Belgium. For several weeks, she also withdrew almost daily the sum of 500 euros. The 96-year-old woman would then have given more than 25,000 euros to an accomplice of ‘Carole’. Overwhelmed, she then put her apartment up for sale. And for good reason, the fake lawyer demanded no less than 45,000 euros and suggested that he buy back all of his life insurance. Eventually, a friend realized she was being scammed. “We realized that she was under the influence“, said a former employee of this bank. If the old lady filed a complaint in February 2022, it was dismissed. Believing that the bank had been negligent, the friend of this nonagenarian lamented: “We are talking about a little old lady of 96 who was able to leave several times with tens of thousands of euros in cash, it is absurd.”