DECATUR (1080 KRLD) - A highly observant bank employee may have prevented a Wise County woman from losing tens of thousands of dollars.
It all started recently when an elderly woman received a call from a man identifying himself as "Mr. Goldman."
"'Mr. Goldman' said he was representing an international governmental agency," Wise County Sheriff Lane Akin tells KRLD, "and that international governmental agency had determined that she had inherited $2 million.
"But in order to receive that money, they told the victim via mail that you'll have to pay down 20% of that $2 million," Sheriff Akin continued.
20% of $2 million comes out to $400,000.
The woman agreed to a payment plan
"She sent a check to the folks (for more than $10,000), but then the bank had flagged the check to some extent," says Sheriff Akin. "When the check came through having not been endorsed, they called the victim and said, 'Hey, we've got some concerns about this, and we don't think this is righteous,' which is what prompted her then to call the sheriff's office."
The sheriff's office is looking for 'Mr. Goldman," but Akin says there's no guarantee that he's even in the Western Hemisphere.
"At this point in the investigation, we don't really know who, if anyone, lost any money — if it was the victim, the bank, or the bank on the other end where the check was apparently attempted to be passed," says Sheriff Akin.
Akin has some strong words of advice for everyone, especially the elderly, who are frequent targets of scammers.
"If you get an offer that sounds too good to be true, very likely it's fraud," he says.