The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a phone scam that resulted in a 56 year old Raymond man losing $38,000. Deputy Chief Ben Houchin says the victim says a man with a foreign accent called and wanted him to withdraw the money from his checking and savings account.
“The gentleman identified himself as Jason Riley from the U-S Department of Social Security and he needed this money to help protect his accounts from being seized by the DEA.” Houchin says the victim put the $38,000 into a bitcoin account using a QR code that was sent to him by the scammer and deposited the money.
Houchin says in cases like this the scammer can steal the money while the victim is still on the phone, which makes recovering the money nearly impossible. He is reminding residents that law enforcement agencies will never call to ask for money to protect them.