EL CAJON, Calif. (KGTV) - An El Cajon mom of a disabled teen says an internet scam cost her half of her savings.
“I just remember being baffled. Why [am] I being charged?” said Jana Flick.
Flick says several unauthorized Netflix charges on her bank statement sparked an internet search last week.
“It was basically panic and confusion … I Googled Netflix customer service. An ‘800’ number popped up,” said Flick.
Flick says when she called the number, the person who identified themselves as a customer service representative said her phone had been hacked, and asked her to download an app to help secure her phone, which she did.
“I trusted him. I had Googled the number, and I thought that was the number I was calling,” said Flick.
The representative said he would connect her with her bank for security purposes. The bank representative then revealed a surprise: additional charges involving child pornography.
“I'm a parent. I freaked out,” said Flick.
Flick says the bank representative said she could cancel out the charges by creating duplicate transactions at a Bitcoin kiosk.
Flick withdrew nearly $17,000, drove to a kiosk, and transferred the money into a Bitcoin wallet she thought she owned.
Soon after, she realized the money was gone.
“My stomach dropped … I feel like I'm a failure. I let everyone down. I should have known better,” said an emotional Flick.
The money lost was about half of her family's savings, money set aside to buy a wheelchair-accessible van for her 15-year-old son Brayden, who has cerebral palsy.
Brayden is about 80 pounds and growing. Right now, Flick says it's getting more difficult to place him in the seat of her SUV before putting the wheelchair in the back.
Sadly, Flick's story is not uncommon.
Eva Velasquez, President of the Identity Theft Resource Center, says the tech support scam involves fake customer service numbers and sites that pop up on internet searches.
"They're simply designed to get you to get in touch with them so that you feel that sense of, I initiated this contact, so I must be talking to the right people. Then you give away your data, your information, and oftentimes your money,” said Velasquez.
For Flick, that was money for her son that she spent years saving for. She has filed a police report.
“Please be cautious with these customer service numbers. You hear about these stories. I thought it could never happen to me,” said Flick.
A GoFundMe campaign has been set up for Flick’s family to help them purchase a wheelchair-accessible van.
Velasquez says if you do see odd charges, call your financial institution.
If you want to contact a company, go directly to their website and look for customer service contacts.
Finally, she says anytime you're asked to remedy a fraud case by going to a Bitcoin kiosk, it's likely a scam.
A Google spokesperson issued the following statement:
“Our systems are designed to surface official customer support resources at the top of Search, as they do on this topic. To keep people safe on Search, we have strict policies and advanced spam-fighting systems that keep Search 99% spam free and help combat scammers' attempts to deceive people. We encourage people to be cautious when looking for important information like this, and make use of tools like About This Result (the three dots next to search results) to learn more about the sources they are finding.”
