Learning from loss: Scam victim, detective share tips to protect others

“The reality of ‘Oh my God. What did I just do?’” hit,” Hippe said. “I hate this. It’s never going to leave me.” 

Hippe received a text message asking her if she had recently charged something. She responded “no” to that text and was subsequently contacted by someone claiming to be a part of a Huntington Bank fraud alert investigation team, working with the FBI. The person told her that they were investigating bank employees at local branches for transferring money out of customers’ accounts. 

“He told me that my accounts had been compromised,” Hippe explained. He told her that he could see wire transfers were set up to transfer her money out of her accounts. To protect her money, she was advised to withdraw all of the money from her account and to put it on a “safe” Chase card that the scammer loaded onto her phone. 

The scammer told her that there was a $20,000 withdrawal limit, so Hippe headed to Maplewood and subsequently White Bear Lake. 

“I was in front of the bank, and I was freaking out, but he told me there was an undercover cop inside the bank, so I was safe,” she recalled. “He made me feel comfortable … I was not thinking about a scam. It was not even in my realm.” 

Hippe said she was convinced it was legit because the person knew all her account numbers. “He was playing on my fear. That’s what got me going first was the fear that somebody was going to take all of my money,” she said. 

She said another convincing factor was that he was able to load the “safe” card onto her phone. She realized it was a scam when Jasmine called her and called the sheriff’s office right away. 

“I told them this is what happened, and I want you to meet me at the bank tomorrow so I can get my money out of the ATM, and he said, ‘I’m sorry, but that money is no longer yours, it’s gone.’ That broke me.” 

Hippe is retired and Ted is hoping to retire soon, too. “We work all our whole lives to support ourselves and our families ... We are looking at him being retired sooner than later, paying our house off and being in a good spot, and now we have to start from zero again,” she said.  

“I don’t want to go anywhere. I don’t want to buy anything online … I’m freaked out about paying my bills. I’m not comfortable,” she explained. 

Perhaps a positive is that Hippe has learned a lot through this process about scams, what to watch out for and how to protect herself and her family going forward. She offers the following tips: 

• Stay vigilant on your accounts and check them weekly. 

• Change your passwords frequently and don’t use repeat passwords. 

• Check your credit reports. 

• Check your homeowner’s insurance to see if it offers identity theft protection. 

• Be aware of what is going on in the news. 

“I just want to bring awareness,” she said “I want people to be aware of what is going on out there … It is happening to too many people, and it breaks my heart.”

Press Publications reached out to Hippe’s bank. “While we cannot comment on specific customer accounts, we take allegations of fraud seriously and conduct a thorough review,” said Kris Dahl, a spokesperson for Huntington Bank. “We remain committed to educating customers on safeguarding their finances and recognizing fraud and scams. Fraudsters continually evolve their tactics, often using sophisticated methods to deceive individuals.”

Scams circulating today 

Sgt. Joe Zerwas, who is part of the investigations division with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, said there are several scams circulating right now, but the main three are: the grandparent scam, scammers posing as police and IRS-related scams. 

The grandparent scam is when someone claims that your grandson/granddaughter is in jail, and that you need to pay money immediately to get them out. “People fall for it all the time,” Zerwas said. “… They make it sound like it’s an urgent matter, so they don’t call their grandkid.” 

The police scam is when someone calls you and claims to be with the sheriff’s office and demands that money be paid or a warrant will be issued for your arrest. Often, they will use an app on their phone to change how the number shows up on your caller ID, and they use the real names of sheriff’s office employees. 

The IRS scam is when they claim that you are delinquent on your taxes. If you don’t pay the money immediately, they say, a warrant will be issued for your arrest. Often they will make up a badge number and a case number to make it sound legitimate. 

“They talk people into paying their taxes with an iTunes or Apple gift card,” Zerwas said. “These guys are very good at what they do. They do this all day long every day, so they know what to say and what not to say to get people to buy in.” 

Zerwas added that 75 to 80% of the scams that are reported to the sheriff’s office involve gift card payments. “Once the money is transferred, it is gone. There is no way of recouping it,” he said. “They have instant funding with those gift cards versus waiting for a transfer from a bank.” 

One thing that all the scams have in common is a sense of urgency.  Zerwas says the scams continue to become more believable and more demanding. 

“A lot of times when it sounds too good to be true, it is too good to be true,” he said. 

Zerwas urges people to pay attention to who is contacting them. For example, if someone from Xcel Energy contacts you and demands money or your power will be turned off, are you an Xcel customer? If someone calls you and claims you have won a sweepstakes, did you enter a sweepstakes contest? 

Should someone fall victim to a scam, they should report it to the sheriff’s office right away. Zerwas explained that although many people report a scam, he guesses many don’t call because they feel dumb or embarrassed for believing it. 

“Make sure you report it; otherwise they are just going to victimize someone else,” he said. “If there is a way we can track them down, at least we can prevent them from doing it again.” Zerwas noted that “the vast majority” of these scams lead overseas, which can make the recovery of lost funds nearly impossible, but there are some success stories. 

A few months ago, a detective received a call about a woman who believed she was scammed. The scammer had sent texts and phone calls pretending to be from the bank the woman utilizes. The scammer utilized high-pressure tactics, a sense of urgency and an elaborate scheme to convince her to transfer money into a new account. Unknown to the woman, this new account was directly linked to the scammer. 

As soon as the detective received this call, she began to work to track down records, identify accounts, freeze funds and ultimately was able to recover the scammed money that remained in the account. The detective was able to present a check to the woman and her family with the money that was recovered earlier last month. 

For more information about scams, visit www.ag.state.mn.us/consumer/Scams. 

Managing Editor Shannon Granholm can be reached at 651-407-1227 or whitebearnews@presspubs.com.

Types of scams

Tax scams

Under this scam, a con artist calls you posing as a representative of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), United States Department of the Treasury or law enforcement agency and demands a large payment on back taxes or some other purported debt. The con artist will often threaten you with arrest, jail or legal action to pressure you into making an immediate payment. Sometimes, the con artist will ask you to provide your bank account information, which they can use to empty your bank account. Other times, the con artist may instruct you to send the payment via a wire transfer or a reloadable card. After the money is sent, the scam artist disappears, and the money is typically lost for good. 

Fake check scams

While these scams take a variety of forms, they typically begin when the scam artist sends you a real-looking check that is fake. You are instructed to deposit or cash the “check” and send some money back to the scam artist or a third person. After the money is sent, the check given to you bounces. By then, the money is generally lost for good. If you receive a check from someone you do not know, and that person asks you to send back some portion of the proceeds from the check, use extreme caution. You are almost certainly being targeted by a fake check scam. 

Reloadable card scams

For years, scam artists conned people into sending them money via money-wiring services like Western Union and MoneyGram. Increasingly, however, scam artists are asking people to forward them money using reloadable cards. These cards are sold at stores and have a serial number that is used to transfer funds from the card. You can designate how much money to load onto the card at any given time and can use the card to make payments to companies or transfer funds to another card. If you provide the card’s serial number to a scam artist, however, the scam artist can drain all the money from the card. 

Computer scams

These scams generally begin with a call or email from a con artist posing as a representative of a well-known company, such as Microsoft or Norton. The scam artist typically claims your computer has been infected with a virus or is not working properly because of an error. The scam artist then says that he can remove the virus or fix the error for a fee if you allow him to remotely access your computer, usually by going to a website. In some cases, the scam artist uses this access to steal personal or financial information on your computer, which can be used to commit the crimes of theft or identity theft. Other times, the scam artist may attempt to install malware on your computer, which may allow the scam artist to control the computer remotely, or rogue applications that display fake security alerts to convince you to pay for a useless service. 

Lottery scams

Lottery scams typically begin with an unexpected email, letter or phone call from a scam artist who claims you have won money in a lottery or sweepstakes. This seemingly good news might quicken your pulse, but do not let it override your good judgment. Invariably, the scam artist will ask you to send money to pay purported taxes, insurance or other fees to claim the winnings. Or, the scam artist may ask for your bank account information, supposedly so your winnings can be directly transferred into your bank account. The scam artist uses this information to empty your bank account. Once the money has been sent, contact with the scam artist is cut off, and the money is lost for good.

Phishing

Phishing scams take many forms and target people using several forms of communication, including email, phone calls, text messages and fake websites. In most cases, the scam artist impersonates a bank, government agency or other legitimate company to lure you into disclosing your personal or financial information, which is then used to commit the crimes of theft and identity theft. 

Intimidation scams

Scam artists may impersonate the IRS or Minnesota Department of Revenue to intimidate people into making payments on supposed back taxes. The scam artists often threaten people with arrest, lawsuits and imprisonment, and demand they make immediate or unconventional payments. These criminals will say anything to try to get people to send them money and may call over and over to wear down potential victims.

Preparer fraud

Many taxpayers use tax professionals to help them prepare and file their tax returns. Most preparers do great work, but some bad actors promise guaranteed refunds and then charge exorbitant fees or “skim” money from their client’s refunds.

Tax relief companies

In some cases, tax relief companies provide anything but relief. The most unscrupulous operators use deceptive marketing tactics and charge hefty up-front fees but then fail to deliver the promised help. To make matters worse, these companies sometimes make mistakes that end up costing taxpayers even more money.

Refund anticipation loans and checks

Although these loans sound like a slick way to get your refund quickly, they typically come with high interest rates and costly fees. In most cases, the IRS and the Minnesota Department of Revenue can deposit taxpayers’ refunds directly into their bank account or onto a prepaid debit card within three weeks without any added fees.

Sham charities

Sham charities—often created after a natural disaster—prey on the generosity of citizens. These scam artists solicit cash donations and goods but then provide little or no charitable assistance. Sham charities also sometimes falsely claim that donations are tax deductible. Be aware that only donations made to IRS-qualified charities are tax deductible.

— The Office of Minnesota Attorney General’s Office