They Think They Are Speaking with Microsoft and the FTC but End Up Giving Gold to Strangers: $673,000 Extorted in 3 Days

Clallam County, a coastal area west of Seattle, has reported four distinct scams in just three days, totaling $673,000 taken from several victims. Local authorities announced this in a statement posted on Facebook, detailing the scripts used by the scammers.

The heaviest case involves an 84-year-old resident. Believing he had received an email from his daughter with an attached photo, the elderly man opened the message and found a fake Microsoft security alert inviting him to call a support number. The call was then forwarded to a fake Federal Trade Commission agent, who accused the victim of being involved in a child pornography and money laundering investigation.

Scaring him was not enough for the scammers: they also threatened him not to contact local police, claiming that even the local banks were under investigation. Believing his accounts were at risk of being seized, the man purchased gold worth approximately $420,000 in three separate transactions, then handing it over to a stranger waiting at the end of his driveway.

The Same Scheme, Different Channels
A second episode involved a 64-year-old resident who, after noticing his Coinbase account was reported as closed, tried to contact support. Convinced he was speaking with a real representative of the exchange, he was told that fraudulent activities had been detected on his account and was prompted to download a 'rescue' app that gave criminals remote access to his phone.

From there, it was a short step: the victim transferred about $200,000 in cryptocurrencies to a supposed safe wallet, which actually belonged to the scammers. As expected with cryptocurrency transactions, the money was never recovered. The other two incidents followed more well-known but equally effective variants: one victim lost $50,000 after clicking on a link in a malicious email, granting the criminals access to his financial accounts. Another person, contacted by a self-proclaimed Microsoft technician, purchased $3,500 in Apple gift cards, believing this was required to pay for a service.

Undersheriff Lorraine Shore, who signed the statement also reported by the Peninsula Daily News, describes the perpetrators as "professional manipulators who take advantage of fear, trust, and urgency". None of the victims realized they were being scammed while it was happening. In the case of the 84-year-old, the discovery came only after a confrontation with a bank official, by which point the gold had already changed hands. The sheriff's office urges anyone receiving urgent requests for wire transfers, cryptocurrencies, gift cards, or gold to stop and verify by calling a family member, their bank, or law enforcement before moving a single dollar.