Scam Alert DME

Pauline Serevino of Middlesex Township said she doesn't want what happened to her to happen to anyone else.

In hindsight she realizes that she “wasn't thinking” earlier this month when a scammer convinced her to buy $3,000 in gift cards to “cancel out” $14,000 he claimed was stolen by someone who stole her identity and opened credit cards in her name.

On July 11, Serevino said she tried to electronically transfer money from a Venmo account into a checking account when she received a “403 Forbidden” error message. She said she looked on Venmo’s website to find a phone number to call to ask about the error, but couldn’t find one at first. Eventually she found a number and called.

“I talked to someone who said they were from Venmo. He said I can help and looked at the account. He said my credit cards were hacked and cards were opened in my name and my identity was stolen,” Serevino, 70, said.

The man told her that he could fix the problem by contacting Norton LifeLock, and said he could transfer her call to a technician who could help. She said the technician suggested that she buy $3,000 in gift cards to “cancel out the $14,000 that was stolen.”

Serevino said she went to a grocery store and bought gift cards using credit cards.

“He told me to go back inside and buy more. It went on all afternoon,” she said. She said she made several gift card purchases from about 1 to 5 p.m. and gave the scammer the access numbers on the gift cards.

Later, she said she called Norton and a representative told her that she was probably the victim of scammers using a fake Venmo website. She said she checked the balance on one of the gift cards and found it empty.

Serevino said she then reported the scam to the Federal Trade Commission.

She said she canceled the two credit cards she used to buy the gift cards because she gave the scammers both account numbers, and one of the credit card companies reimbursed her $500.

Serevino said she no longer uses Venmo. She said her husband, Dan, used to deposit money he makes from teaching piano at his Wexford studio into the Venmo account then she would transfer the money into their checking account. She said they found a different way to handle the money.

The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office recommends that people pause and take time to consider what they are being asked to do.

“Our general advice is to encourage everyone to be vigilant and take the time to pause and consider what is being requested,” said spokesman Brett Hambright.

If something appears too good to be true — such as winning a contest you didn’t enter, or seems odd, such as asking for a payment in gift cards — people should cease communications because it is likely a scam, he said.

“It is perfectly reasonable to just end a call or not respond to a text or email,” Hambright said.

If a request is made for personal information or payment, people should stop and call the entity that the requester allegedly represents and call their local law enforcement agency. In addition, people could call a relative who is more familiar and comfortable with the internet for advice.

The Attorney General’s office said it encourages anyone who feels they were targeted by a scammer to file a complaint with the office’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.