A Metro Detroit woman was scammed out of $30,000 in the same week she lost her husband.
Christina Ihlenfeldt is the first to admit she made a mistake.
“I’m sorry, I feel so foolish,” Ihlenfeldt said.
Shortly after her husband died, she received an email from what she thought was Best Buy’s Geek Squad. The email said their subscription was being auto-renewed, but didn’t want to be charged so Ihlenfeldt called the number listed in the email. The person on the other end said he’d refund her $300 and asked if her computer was running slow.
“I just thought, ’OK, he’s gonna look at my computer,’” Ihlenfeldt said.
She gave the person remote access to her computer -- that’s when he told her he had accidentally refunded $30,000, so he asked her to wire the money back to them.
“He says ’I’m going to get in trouble if the company finds out, so you know we need to act on this,’” Ihlenfeldt said. “I just lost my job and I was thinking, ’I don’t want this poor man to lose his job.’”
The grieving grandmother went to her bank and wired them the money and said the person on the phone never dropped the ruse.
She’s hoping they’re caught before someone else is victimized.
“If you don’t know what’s going on, or if you feel unsure, most of all, tell your bank,” Ihlenfeldt said. “When something like this happens, let them handle it.”
She has spoken with the FBI and is setting up a police report. He family has set up a GoFundMe account to help. You can donate here.
More: Metro Detroit crime news