[00:00:03] You just need to understand, my wife is an incredibly smart, smart woman.
She’s not easily fooled.
She is trusting, but everything just aligned just right in such a weird way.
[00:00:19] Michelle: Welcome back to AARP’sThe Perfect Scam.
I’m Michelle Kosinski.
This is a terrible scam, posing as protection from a scam.
More than a million reports to the Federal Trade Commission in the last five years common.
And the total losses are even worse.
More than 450 million dollars.
So this scam is obviously working, and that’s why it’s on the rise.
I repeat, 1-888-952-5554.
[00:02:17] Michelle: So let’s get to our story.
This one starts out West.
A bucolic little town in northern Utah hugged by the majestic Wasatch Mountains founded by cattle ranchers.
The kind of place where neighbors look out for each other.
A place that feels safe.
Michelle is pretty frazzled and not getting much sleep.
She felt like that she was doing, you know, her due diligence to do that.
[00:04:14] Michelle: There was more.
Terrified, Machel listened to the man describe what was next.
So he transferred the call to a man who identified himself as Uttam Dhillon from the uh DEA.
And he did the same thing.
He said, you know, “It’s, it’s completely reasonable for you to question this.
So um, go to the DEA website and look me up.”
The man had a, had an Indian accent.
So it was clear, in her mind, that she was talking to this man from the DEA.
Can you see where this is headed?
You have to confirm you act normal.
you could’t have any unusual activity in your account."
And they even sent her a copy of an arrest warrant.
They told her exactly then what she needed to do.
[00:07:01] Michelle: God.
And that meant gather everything up.
And so she was in the process of doing that.
She was gathering everything from other banks and putting it into one account.
Uh, she was cancelling CDs and taking penalties, everything associated with it.
[00:07:34] Michelle: We are talking more than $150,000 here.
So we had we had been active savers.
[00:07:58] Michelle: They had planned well for their future.
But how do you plan for something like this?
Machel felt she was doing the right thing to protect her family.
You cannot tell anybody.
So, she knew that her family was in jeopardy.
[00:08:48] Kyle Anderson: She went and wire-transferred the first big payment.
[00:09:27] Michelle: Machel, at this point, is terrified.
So she is now well on her way to emptying every account she and Kyle had.
They even coach her about what to say at the bank.
And that she was to tell them that she was buying electronics.
Um, it was like she’d gone through hell and back.
Um, have you done this?
And it, it made me sick to my stomach when I looked.
It was like, it’s like they had violated her.
[00:11:04] Michelle: But don’t think these scammers were finished.
[00:11:11] Michelle: They were going to take every penny they could.
You just need to understand; my wife is an incredibly smart, smart woman.
She’s not easily fooled.
Uh, she is trusting, but everything just aligned just right in such a weird way.
[00:12:09] Michelle: They got everything.
However, these guys were not finished.
And she said, “Yes.”
And they said, “Oh, we were afraid of that.
We’re going to have to secure your home.
Your home’s not safe either.
And so that, it could get caught up in that seizure.
Send us the value of 40% of your home.
We estimate, you know, you should probably get us another $200,000.”
And she said, “I couldn’t do that.
I would have to take out a mortgage.
This is important and so, you should probably ask friends.”
And, and so she went to him.
And uh, he said, “Machel, are you sure this is legit?”
And she said, “I am.
I can’t really talk about it, Allen, but yeah, I am.”
And uh so he said, “Well I only have $65,000 liquid.”
And so she said, “Okay.”
And he started the wheels churning to get it.
And that’s when the inspiration came; now this has gone too far.
This, I mean this doesn’t seem like it’s legitimate anymore.
[00:13:50] Michelle: Oh, God.
[00:13:51] Kyle Anderson: She found what she needed.
So she knew at that point that she had been scammed.
[00:13:56] Michelle: I can’t even imagine what it feels like at that moment.
She was churning inside.
She was unbelievably miserable.
[00:14:08] Michelle: Machel then says, “Everything’s fine.”
But Kyle, deeply concerned now finally pulls it out of her.
[00:14:15] Kyle Anderson: I said, “Okay, tell me what’s going on.”
And she started to cry.
And I said, “Are you sick?”
And she said, “No.”
And I said, “Are one of our kids, are one of the grandkids sick?”
And she said, “No.”
And I said, “You’ve had an affair?!”
And she, she said, “No, I haven’t had an affair!
I’ve given away every penny that we own.”
[00:14:55] Michelle: I can feel her pain at this point.
[00:14:58] Kyle Anderson: Yes.
Yeah, and so I just, I just said, “Honey, no one’s dead.
Uh, no one’s sick.
It’s just money, and we’ll be fine.”
[00:15:08] Michelle: Well did you go; did you just go white at that point?
[00:15:12] Kyle Anderson: I did.
As a matter of fact, I felt like throwing up.
I felt, but again, I just felt like I needed to support her.
[00:15:18] Michelle: Yeah.
[00:15:29] Michelle: Oh my gosh.
You’re, you’re such a great husband to hear this.
[00:15:45] Kyle Anderson: They could see the transfer; they could see everything about it.
And it’s, it’s like the clearing house for, for these kind of things.
And there was nothing, there was nothing that we could do."
So their community has rallied around them while they take things day by day for now.
Kyle is not running for office again so he can go back to work fulltime.
She’s even working on possibly starting her own business determined to replace what was lost.
She’s also testified before members of Congress to shed more light on these kinds of scams.
[00:16:50] Michelle: Is she okay?
Is she still rattled?
[00:16:52] Kyle Anderson: She’s rattled.
The bruises haven’t completely healed, that’s for sure.
[00:17:15] Sean Reyes: So many of these white collar criminals, I believe, are sociopaths.
[00:17:45] Sean Reyes: People are so welcoming.
[00:19:08] Michelle: His best advice is verify.
Something like that could be what saves you from a life-altering loss.
I have seen families absolutely devastated.
[00:20:40] Kyle Anderson: Oh, without, without a doubt.
Are you sure this is a real pair of shoes?"
Kyle thinks he and Machel are going to be okay.
Their plans have changed, but out of the ashes of their life savings has come a new mission.
[00:22:59] Kyle Anderson: You know, we had our cake and it was nicely iced.
So, you know, we’re in a much better position.
So, we just need to help everybody.
When you get a call from the Social Security Administration, you should just hang up, immediately.
So don’t believe it, just hang up.
This goes for everyone, and it’s easy to fall prey.
It might say it’s some big scary government agency, but even that can now be easily faked.
And that’s a big red flag.
That’s always a pain and sometimes the waste of a perfectly good afternoon, right?
But it’s better than sending money to a scammer overseas and never seeing your savings again.
Be sure to find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
For AARP’sThe Perfect Scam, I’m Michelle Kosinski.
He tells Machel that her family is in danger, and she needs to act quickly.
Especially not her husband, Kyle, a member of the Utah House of Representatives.
Kyle shares how he found out about the scam that stole his familys lifesavings.
