Carver Woman Nearly Falls Victim To Insurance Scam
CARVER (CBS) - The first words on the note in a FedEx envelope returned to a Carver woman who was almost the victim of an alleged hoax said it all.
"You have been scammed!" the note read.
Carver Police said the incident started when the unidentified woman received a letter claiming to be from Publishers Clearing House. The letter claimed she had won $2.5 million and a Mercedes. Then she received a fake letter pretending to be from Geico.
That letter said all she had to do to get a 10-year Geico insurance policy was send $8,000 in cash to an Arkansas address.
The bottom half of the letter was the explanation for the fees covered by the $8,000.
Her husband thought it was strange, but agreed to send the money in cash via FedEx as the fake letter said.
A week later, she received a return note enclosed in the same envelope.
"Dear ma'am, you have been scammed! We do not partake in illegal activity. Keep your money & stop letting these people rob you of your hard working dollars while they sit on their (expletive) making calls all day," the note said.
The woman said she is grateful that someone in Arkansas was honest enough to return the money.
Carver police said that people running scams like these are hard to track down.
"Whoever that person may be and however they found out that there was a lot of cash inside, thank you for your honesty," Carver police said. "The people that organize these scams are very tough to track down, but with your help and sharing this story, you can help deter elderly and vulnerable people from believing what is not true."