Support Marc's Family After $50K Scam

Hello, my name is Marc Pena and I'm here to share some unfortunate news that my parents have had happen to them this past Wednesday. I’m sure we have all heard that our elderly people get scammed financially and I’ve always wondered how the person getting scammed allows this to happen to them. When I found out this had happened to my dad, I was angry that he, being such an intelligent person, could allow this to happen to him. After talking to the police, the bank, and now a specialist in law enforcement, this happens every day to not only our elderly but everyone in general. These scammers are professionals and are able to control and manipulate people to do things that most of the time we would feel is wrong, with a little common sense. I’m hearing now that these scammers are most likely working from out of the country and they have people who are couriers that work in our cities. When talking to the officer who responded to the call that my parents had been scammed and lost most of their life savings, he told me that this is the third case that he himself has been working on. All the same way, the same $50,000, all in cash and all in person with the courier. The control that the person had over my dad on the phone was unbelievable to me. Many people who I’ve talked to about this have told me to start a GoFundMe for my parents. At first, I didn’t want to because of feeling embarrassed that this happened to my parents. I find it hard to ask for financial help because of that but here I am. This is the money that they live off of. They’re both retired and both receive a small amount of money from Social Security and my dad receives a little bit more from a pension. That’s it, that’s all they receive for income. I hate to say that because I know some people out there have it worse than them. Whatever income they have come in and use through the month may not be enough so they have to dip into their savings. As far as the savings money that they had, there was a little money left over from the sale of their home and the purchase of their home that they bought to be closer to me. I’m also here to bring awareness to this situation that is hurting our parents, family, and people we love. The pictures attached are some of the documents that the scammer sent to my dad to make things look legit. Now, I’ll share with you how all this happened with a person on the phone with my dad for over 7 hours and the steps that I know will be so wrong to you because you feel it would be common sense to just hang up the phone. My dad woke up Wednesday morning and went through his normal morning routine. When he was done, he went to check his email. There he saw an email from his bank stating that his account may have been compromised by a hacker. He clicked on the link provided and the bank said that he had a $500 withdrawal from PayPal. Since he doesn’t use PayPal, the bank said he was hacked and not to worry that they have someone to help him recover that money. This, by the way, is all over a chat box that was attached to the email. That chat ended and he received a call from a person who said his name was Barry Jones with World Bank and he would be helping him recoup his $500. From that time, and for the next 7ish hours, this person was on the phone with my dad. They sent over a form that had a header with PayPal's name on it but looking at this after the fact had happened, I noticed that this wasn’t the same PayPal logo. This form was completed online by my dad with the person on the phone. When my dad entered $500, an extra zero appeared, meaning $5000. My dad in turn tells the person on the phone that $5000 appeared, not $500. He instructs my dad to just correct it back down to the $500 amount. When he went to do that, another zero appeared so now he was at $50,000. Before he could say anything, the form is completed. I found out that the hacker was controlling his keystrokes. He had control of my dad's computer at this point. He says to my dad, “Oh no, you just took $50,000 from his company.” He told my dad to hold on and he needed to find out from his manager what to do next. After my dad held on the line for a little bit, this person comes back on the line and tells my dad that the IRS will charge my dad $9,000 in taxes if we don’t get this fixed and that his job was on the line. He convinced my dad not to worry, he would give my dad instructions on what to do to fix the problem. He sends over a couple of forms from the Government and the IRS, scaring my dad that he’s in tax trouble now. Now, this is where you would think common sense would kick into play but this person was able to convince my dad this is what needed to be done. He told him that he would need to go to his bank and take $25,000 out of checking and return home with the cash. This person had already transferred the money from my parents' savings to their checking account to do this since they didn’t have that kind of money in their checking account. My dad leaves the house to go get $25,000. He tells my dad that the teller will ask him why he’s taking out so much money and told him to say he’s going on vacation or he’s buying a car for cash. Sure enough, the teller asked my dad that question and he said for vacation purposes. $25,000 in hand, he drives home and the person is still on the phone with him. He’s telling my dad not to tell anyone because it’s dangerous to have that much money on him. When he got home, my mom asked my dad what’s going on and my dad was so adamant that he was handling business and that he couldn’t talk. She didn’t know anything that was going on but she called me at work and said that she overheard that dad got a call about possible fraud happening to the bank account. And mentioned that she heard $500 and PayPal. I said hand him the phone I want to talk to him. I heard him tell my mom no! I’m working on business. She said he was angry. I figured this was something he could handle and that I had to get back to work. Well, throughout the next couple of hours, this person was still on the phone and told my dad that a World Bank Agent would be coming to the house to pick up the money and have him sign some documents. My dad kept walking outside to see where this person was. After all this time had gone by, he was told by the person on the phone that the agent couldn’t locate the house and that we would need to meet at a different location. My dad said we can go back to the bank and meet there and the person on the phone told him no, that it was too dangerous with that much cash to do this out in a crowded public. He tells my dad to go to a parking lot without a bunch of people around. He does and about 30 minutes later he says the person will give you a password and if it matches what I gave you, then it’s safe to turn the money over. Sure enough, a person arrives and parks where he can see the car but no license plate information. The person on the phone now instructs my dad to go to a second bank and do the same thing. I know! Common sense should have come into place. But my dad said that this guy had him convinced that this was the right thing to do. Within an hour, my dad withdrew $50,000 in cash out of their life savings and handed it to a person with passwords. I’ve had a hard time wrapping my head around all of this because I know my dad knows better. He’s intelligent but in this moment he was convinced this is what needed to be done. I know a lot of people will read this and say well it’s his fault and he should have known better and before this happened to him, I would tend to agree with that statement. This has been really hard on my parents and we are all shocked that this could happen. I’m asking for help on this platform not only for them but maybe if you’re reading this you could share this with family and friends that this type of thing is happening in our communities. I know this is long but if you can find it in your heart and can afford anything, that would help. By the way, my parents aren’t people who travel or spend unwisely. This is money that they need to live off of. I thank you for your time and understanding that this can happen to anyone. I hope all is well with you and your families.