Jessica Mathews /news@whmi.com


The Ingham County Sheriff’s Office is advising of more scams circulating in which elderly women were defrauded out of significant sums of money.

Sheriff Scott Wrigglesworth says two women, age 70 and 81, were conned this week – and lost “jaw dropping sums of money”.

In both cases, scammers said the person’s bank accounts would be hacked and drained unless the person took action. One claimed to be from the Office of the Inspector General.

Wrigglesworth said both cases involved significant grooming and the victims were contacted by cellphone and email, drained their bank accounts, and turned the money over for “safe keeping”. The suspects haven’t been seen or heard from since. The victims lost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

In the first case, the victim’s financial advisor and bank both pleaded with her to not withdraw the money as it was likely a scam.

Wrigglesworth stressed that no local, state, or federal government or any reputable public or financial institution will ever do such a thing. He said these types of cases are very difficult to investigate, especially when they involve cash, but even more so after the fact. Arrests are also rare.

Wrigglesworth noted financial institutions cannot legally withhold people’s money when they request it. However, he encouraged them to continue to “see something, say something” and plead with people to not go through with transactions if something seems suspect. He further advised to call law enforcement and stall a potential victim before processing the transaction.

Wrigglesworth encouraged people to trust their gut, listen to the people you trust, and check with a family member family, a loved one, friends or local law enforcement before proceeding with anything that could be a potential scam.