Donna Arel's nightmares haven't gone away. "They've put a scare in me for the rest of my life."
A strange voicemail about her Social Security card and a warrant for her arrest prompted her to call the number back.
"He claimed he was some FBI agent from Texas and told me not to hang up." Then she says the man asked if his agents had shown up.
Donna went out to her garage -- and there they were! Three men in the driveway...not ten yards from her. "They had guns, they had badges, they looked like pros."
No one talked to her and the men didn't stay long, but it was enough to get donna to do what the man on the phone said.
"If I'd hung up would these people have taken me or would they have shot me right here in my driveway? I did not know."
From there she made three separate purchases of expensive Target gift cards all on the scammer's instructions. Donna turned over more than $7,000 to him.
The number she got the call from is no longer in service. Police haven't been able to identify the men who came to Donna's home.
"I thought they were going to take me away. If you get any type of phone call like this, do not pick it up. It's very, very scary.”
No matter how real things look and sound, ANYTIME someone asks you to send money through gift cards, it is ALWAYS a scam.