An 81-year-old widow was targeted by scammers just two days after her husband passed away. Photo / GoFundMe
Scammers have targeted an 81-year-old widow just two days after her husband passed away.
US woman Christine Hanson had put an obituary for her late husband into the local newspaper, and just to days later the phone started to ring.
The 81-year-old received a phone call from a man who pretended to be from Publisher's Clearing House who said she had won millions of dollars.
But after a month of ongoing calls, she discovered more than US$100,000 ($149,000) had been drained from her account.
"I got a phone call and the guy said he was from Publisher's Clearing House, and that I've won US$2.6 million and I've been entering their contests for years, so I didn't think anything about it," Hanson told WDAY.
"I mean it was right after my husband died, and they caught me at a bad time. I guess they do that to a lot of people."
Hanson said she felt foolish that they "caught her at a bad time".
During a month-long period, Hanson was told she couldn't receive the US$2.6m until she paid taxes on it and was persuaded to send seven boxes of cash to an address in Florida.
She was also convinced to take advances on her credit card, leaving her in debt.
Hanson's family were kept in the dark, with the family believing the scammers were intimidating and aggressive, threatening to call Internal Revenue Service if she didn't make payments.
Her daughter, Renee Anderson, said she was shocked when she was finally told what had happened.
"You're kidding right? Because we've had this conversation before. She tells me 'I just hang up on those telemarketers'.
"She would never have spent money like that, they're preying on her when she's not even thinking straight."
Her daughter is now using the incident as a chance to warn others, asking people to tell every funeral home, priest and pastor to be wary of potential scams.
The family said they didn't have much hope of recovering the entire amount that was stolen, but had started the fundraising page to help the widow pay off that debt.
A GoFundMe page has since been created to try and recoup some of Hanson's lost funds.