During their conversions, the scammer, pretending to be Jolie, advised him they know someone who invested in bitcoin and that he should as well. — AFP
A Trenton man in the US came to the police department telling officers he has been swindled out of as much as US$200,000 (RM850,099) due to what he believes was a scam that came about after he liked a photo of Angelina Jolie on Instagram.
Police spoke with the man on May 2 and he explained how he became connected with the Hollywood actress.
According to a police report, the man first conversed via text message with a woman he thought was Jolie back in September 2023.
During their conversions, the scammer advised him they know someone who invested in bitcoin and that he should as well.
Over time the resident would purchase Apple cards and send the photographs of them to the scammer totaling nearly US$150,000 (RM637,574).
It wasn’t until recently that the resident began to think he was being defrauded and began looking for legal help. Apparently making matters worse, the resident contacted someone who he thought was a news reporter via text.
The person he contacted told him they have a “victims of crime” group that includes attorneys and reportedly directed him to a certain lawyer. That alleged attorney sent a photo of himself holding his driver’s license with a picture of himself as proof of his identity.
He then requested the resident pay for his services in bitcoin as well and even provided a receipt for some of the services totaling US$17,350 (RM73,746).
The resident told officers someone most recently withdrew just over US$31,000 (RM131,765) from his bank account, and he believes it was the alleged attorney trying to get paid.
He said he was able to prevent that from going through and now has a fraudulent claim filed through his bank. The resident was unable to produce most of the receipts of the transactions.
He also was unsure of exact dates and names of some of the people he spoke with through the ordeal. – The News Herald, Southgate, Mich./Tribune News Service
