Lowe's employees in Dedham save senior citizen from $10,000 gift card scam
DEDHAM - Police are crediting workers at a local Lowe's store with saving a senior citizen from being scammed out of $10,000.
Dedham police said the senior who was visiting Massachusetts got a pop-up message in her email, telling her to call a number. On the phone, she was told that her bank account was used to buy child pornography, and she'd need to pay a fee to unfreeze her account using gift cards.
Fortunately, two Lowe's workers at the Dedham store where the woman was trying to buy the gift cards realized something wasn't right.
"The person on the phone continued to manipulate the senior until the Lowe's employees recognized the scam and convinced the senior to not purchase any gift cards," police said.
Dedham police added that the home improvement store workers also helped the senior citizen get in touch with her bank to make sure her accounts were safe.
According to AARP, "Con artists have latched onto gift cards as a convenient form of payment in their scams." The organization says one in three adults say they or someone they know have been asked at some point to buy a gift card to pay a bill, fee or some other debt.