Local Radar

Edgefield resident has bank account drained from foreign country
web posted December 29, 2005

EDGEFIELD – An Edgefield woman received a rather bad Christmas gift while shopping, her bank card was rejected at the check-out at Wal-Mart just two days before Christmas. She returned to the Edgefield SRP Credit Union to discover $795.30 had been taken from her account. The Edgefield County Sheriff’s Office was notified and Deputies Willie Callaham and Sgt. Marty English arrived a short time later.

According to information provided by the SRP Credit Union to police there were fourteen transactions that were coming from a foreign country. That country was not identified in police reports. Police received a copy of the transactions and the matter has been passed on to investigators. SRP Credit Union was said to be investigating the matter as well.

The woman had no idea who could have stolen the money. The crime is a felony under South Carolina statute. The responsible person possibly could be facing Federal felony crimes as well however finding the person(s) responsible in another country is unlikely and extradition would never be waived or sought due to the amount of money involved.

Many of these crimes are the result of Phishing scams run over the internet. The victim receives an e-mail purported to be from your Credit Card Company or Bank. Often times they claim that due to fraud being attempted on your account you need to change your password or some other aspect of your account. The e-mail looks official and appears to have come from your financial institution. A link is provided that takes you to a supposed web site under the URL of your institution, all looking official.

However the actual site is designed to steal your financial information and then steal all your money. Financial Institutions remind their customers that they never request your information via e-mail. If you receive such an e-mail pick up the phone and report it to your bank or credit card company.

It is not known if the woman in this case was the victim of such a scam. We just wanted to remind our readers of the internet scams and how to protect yourself. 
 

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