CHESTERTON: A 53-year-old Chesterton resident was defrauded of nearly US$35,000 (RM164,360) after she was convinced her Apple account was hacked, the Chesterton Police Department said in a statement.

The woman was informed by scammers she needed to deposit the amount into a Bitcoin ATM.

Police said the woman was browsing on her iPad when “she got a full-screen popup informing her that her Apple account had been hacked”, with a link to click for “rectifying the situation”.

After clicking the link, the woman received a phone call from “Anthony Brown” with “Apple Security”.

“He thanked her for acting so promptly to rectify the situation and her asked her what bank she uses,” police said. “She told him and he told her that she was going to transfer her to a ‘secure line’ to speak with someone from her bank.”

“‘Garrett’ took over the call and told her it looked like US$35,000 (RM164,360) had been withdrawn from her account to purchase child pornography in Russia and China,” police said.

The Chesterton resident insisted she’d never do that. The scammer informed her if she wanted to dispute the charge, she’d have to back the dispute by withdrawing US$35,000 (RM164,360) out of her bank and depositing it into a Bitcoin ATM, police said.

The woman was given two hours to complete the task, which police said is a component of a scam. She then withdrew US$10,000 (RM46,960) from her account at her bank’s Chesterton branch. She withdrew the remaining US$35,000 (RM164,360) from her bank’s Valparaisobranch.

Once the woman arrived at a Bitcoin ATM in Portage, she was informed the CoinHub ATM code had expired.

“The scammer provided her with a new one and the resident and her son ‘stuffed the US$100 bills into the machine’,” police said.

“‘Garrett’ told her it would take up to 72 hours to get her money back,” police said. “When she told him she was US$400 (RM1,878) short of the demanded US$35,000 (RM164,360), he told her not to worry about the US$400 (RM1,878), to just consider it a reward for taking such prompt action.”

The woman was also told to expect to receive a call from a Federal Reserve Agent in one or two days. Police advised the woman “not to field anymore texts or calls from anyone about this, as it’s a scam and the only reason the scammer would get back in touch would be to try and trick her into giving out more money”, police said.

When asked by police, the woman said English didn’t appear to be their primary language.

The woman’s bank informed her making a withdrawal and then doing something “unwise” with the money is not covered by fraud protection, police said. When she asked police if there was a possibility of being refunded from a law enforcement angle, she was informed it would be unrealistic to give her hope.

“She realises that, most likely, the US$35,000 (RM164,360) is simply gone,” police said. – The Times, Munster, Ind./Tribune News Service