Florida Resident Loses $159,500 After Scammer Posing as Bank Fraud Agent Orders Wire Transfers and Parking Lot Cash Drops

A Florida resident has lost $159,500 after a scammer posing as a bank fraud investigator talked them into wiring money and handing over cash in parking lots.

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office says the scam started on October 7th, when someone claiming to be from the victim’s bank fraud department called and said a bank employee was under investigation for stealing, reports Hoodline.

The caller then had the victim wire money to different bank accounts several times, including a single transfer of $80,000.

The victim was also told to withdraw cash and hand it off so the bills could supposedly be tracked as marked money, to make the scheme look like a legitimate sting operation rather than a scam.

Over the next three days, the victim took out $79,000 in cash and gave it to different people in different parking lots. In total, the scammer siphoned $159,500, combining the wire transfers and cash handovers.

The sheriff’s office featured the case in its first Scam Free Saturday post, a new social media effort to warn residents about common fraud schemes.

The office says its Economic Crimes detectives are working to hold scammers accountable as fraud schemes keep changing.

The sheriff’s office has not said whether anyone has been identified or charged in the case.