GREENSBORO, N.C. — People now are more wary of scammers than ever, but they can still be convincing and even more persuasive.
A Greensboro woman thought one was telling the truth, when he described her house and car, right down to the dents. She paid up, because she feared she was in danger. But now, she has a warning for others, after she was duped for months.
Edwina Turner-Duff says, she's not one to fall for a scam. But, the scammer knew the last four digits of her social security number, and where she used to live. She was warned she'd be taken to court, if she didn't pay off an old credit card balance.
Turner-Duff got multiple calls from an unknown number, for weeks.
"I just ignored it, and they got persistent," she said.
One day, she called back.
"When the man got on the phone, he was talking and he knew that I lived here in Greensboro," she said.
Turner-Duff says he described the location of her home, and her car, all the way down to the color, make, model and even the scratches and dents. Shocked by this, she told the caller she didn't believe him.
Then came a threat.
"He said tell me, 'what would you do if your car cut off on the highway?' And I said, 'I would call my boyfriend, because he's a mechanic.' He said, 'you need to call him now and tell him to give you $1,200,'" she explained.
The scammers claimed to be from a law office, collecting debt on an old credit card, saying she owed thousands, but they'd start her off on a payment plan. She paid $100 once in January, and again in February.
After tax season, the "collectors" wanted the rest of the money, paid in full. Turner-Duff told the man on the line she couldn't pay.
"He said you're trying to treat me like I'm a fool," she said, "And at that time I knew that it wasn't a business, and he said you better come up with a lump sum of money or we will see [you] in court, and I hung the phone up."
Now knowing it was all a scam, she wants others to learn from her mistakes.
"At the minute you think they really know me," she said, "But then when you have time to calm down and think about it, you're like that doesn't make sense."
According to the BBB, these phony debt collectors are often the most common, and persistent. If one calls you, ask for more information, or simply hang up. Put a fraud alert on your account if you think the scammer has your personal information.