Elderly Woman Hit By Scam

An elderly Newport woman has become the victim of fraud and in a big way. The 93 year old woman’s daughter told police that her mother was contacted back in early June by a man who identified himself as Robert Miller from the IRS. Miller told the victim that through their records he had seen she had lost money recently on investments and that he could help her make her money back. He told her she just needed to send several checks to multiple people. The victim was convinced to send two $16,000 checks to an address in Norfolk, Virginia. Over the next couple of weeks, Miller had the victim send checks in the amount of $25,000, $31,000 and $32,000 to the same Norfolk address. The checks were made out to three people, checks out to three separate people named Marchia Hopkins, Mack Hopkins, and Dwayne Walker. The elderly victim was scammed out of $120,000. The bank’s fraud department is investigating this case.

According to the FBI, this kind of scam is one of the top 12 scams targeting the elderly in 2024. The FBI says the elderly are often a target of scammers because most are financially secure and most are also very trusting. In a case like this, it is good to remind seniors that no one from the government is going to call them on the phone asking for money. Or, in this case offer to help seniors recoup investment losses. Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.