Jefferson man sends $20,000 cash to scam artist; then good news happens

Wayne Ford, Athens Banner-Herald
·2 min read

A Jackson County man who fell for a scam is expected to get his $20,000 cash back, Jackson County Sheriff Janis Mangum said Friday.

The 80-year-old Jefferson man fell prey to a scam perpetrated over the telephone on Feb. 28 in which he was threatened with arrest if he didn’t mail the cash to a location in Jackson, a city in Butts County.

Scam victims rarely get their money back, but in this case Mangum said investigators were able to reach out to UPS and were expected to retrieve the money Friday.

“They were going to do surveillance to see who picked it up, but UPS picked it back up before it could be delivered,” she said. However, Mangum said the case still under investigation.

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The victim reported to a deputy that he received the telephone call from a person who identified himself as being from Amazon. The caller said an unidentified person was using his Amazon account to purchase electronics, then he was transferred to a person, who identified himself as an agent with the U.S. Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agency.

After being threatened with an arrest for weapons charges, the man was told to send $20,000 cash by UPS to a business in Jackson, according to the report. Apparently to ease suspicion at the bank, the man reported to the deputy that he was told to tell the bank teller that he was getting the money for home repairs.

On the same day as he received the call the man took the package with the cash to UPS, according to the report, which did not detail how the man later realized he had been scammed.

Mangum said she has for years warned people about various scams, but she said most involve the offender telling people to send money by gift cards rather than cash.

Two days ago, Mangum said she dealt with a scam perpetrated over Facebook, in which a person’s page was hacked and the victim was directed to call Facebook at a particular number.

Mangum said there is no telephone number to call Facebook.

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This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Elderly Jefferson man fooled into sending $20,000 cash to thief