After a lifetime of working, raising a family and being there for her neighbors, Carole Robinson is on the cusp of losing everything.
All because of a scam.
In late October 2021, the Freehold widow received an email from what she thought was McAfee, the virus protection software company.
It said her annual subscription had been renewed for $499.99, charged to her Wells Fargo bank account.
It’s not something she wanted, she said, so she called the number provided in the email.
“It was bogus,” she said. “A scam.”
The mistake cost her $420,000 and a lot of heartache.
Robinson is one of more than 31,000 New Jerseyans who reported identity theft to the Federal Trade Commission in 2021. So far in 2022, nearly 17,000 more people in the state have reported to the agency that they, too, were victimized.
The overall number of victims is probably much higher because many people don’t report the frauds to authorities.
After receiving the email, Robinson called the phony representative to ask for a refund.
“He said no problem, he could take care of it,” she said. “He asked if he could access my computer to remove the file. I said yes, as I have over the years done this with no problem.”
Once he had access to her computer, he pulled up what appeared to be Robinson’s Wells Fargo account, where she had checking and IRA accounts.
“He asked me to type my name in and when it came to the refund amount, which was rounded out to $500, it magically became $50,000,” she said. “I…
