76-year-old retired man left homeless after getting scammed out of $800k | FOX 13 Seattle

A King County man went from having $800,000 in his bank account to being homeless in just a few days due to a scam, family and investigators said.

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[bcatblues]

If this happened to my 70 something year old father, I would have him living with me, not in a hotel.

[Jetsetfastfood]

Live close to your elderly parents and protect them.

[charliej]

I believe scammers have folks working on the inside at some of these banks. Someone knew he recently sold his house and had $800K in his account. The fact that they asked for that exact amount is suspect. I saw one story where the scammer knew one woman’s four most recent charges down to the penny.

[sws-vlogs]

He had *800k*, but wanted 17 Million and lost his 800k in the process. *Don't be Greedy*

[illgetanimated]

My bank's fraud department calls me the minute I purchase anything out of the US and I love them for it!

[northyland]

After 70 or 80 the brain stops working right... Scammers know this... This is how scammers make a living off of old people who get confused.. I seen a 80 year old woman try to buy gift cards from my store to "pay her phone bill". I strait up told her, "your being scammed". I refused the sale. Her response, "i'll just have to go some place else to buy the cards" I begged her to call family to help. I think she still got scammed because she had so much trust in the scammer.

[CarStory]

He believed he won $17 million from a text message? The banks needed to ask him questions about the withdrawals for those large amounts. This should never have been allowed especially from the bank account of an elderly person without investigating where the money was going.

[AC-oshe]

I used to work at a bank, and we were trained to warn people when we suspected scams, but people always knew better than us apparently. You can't stop most people from making dumb desicions. I hope they find the scammers and can give him at least some of his money back.

[krewciaI]

Before watching the vid, I thought it was some elaborate scam. But no, how do you fall for the oldest and dumbest scam out there? $17 million in free money, really? Cmon man

[tlnjbeh]

His daughter is RIGHT ! Those damned banks should have caught this. We tried to move MUCH less money than that, and we got GRILLED by our Credit Union. Wanted to know if anyone was FORCING us to move the money, the list of questions went on and on. I now sit back and am thankful for those questions.

[foreignname]

Greed on both sides, the scammer and the victim.

[buckystarfinger]

I'm an old geezer and ain't no way I'd be that stupid. Greed

[WorldOfWonder]

How sad. I hope somehow he can get some of his money back. This stress can not be good for his health. Thank you for doing this story so others can learn from it.

[vigorousboredom]

I know an elderly lady who received a phone call just like this claiming that she won millions of dollars but she needed to pay a tariff in order to receive her "winnings" so that her winnings could be wired to her bank account in the United States. However, she worked at a bank as a credit manager and wasn't dumb. She told the scammer that she would make him a deal he couldn't refuse. She told him to go and take out a loan for the amount of the so-called tariff for over $100, 000 and pay it himself with the loaned money and that she would split the winnings with him 50/50 once he paid the tariff and she received the winnings.

[hj-xbtr]

I love all these people saying things like "didn't anyone tell him that this was a any of you actually tried to convince someone in their 70s that they don't know what they're doing? Good luck

[pwu]

A case of stupidity and greed.
You can't win lottery if you don't buy a ticket.
He didn't buy a ticket. It should have been obvious.

[letty]

I feel bad for this innocent man.
I hope they get the justice they deserve.
This can happen to anyone so be cautious.

[Kharkovkid]

It happened to my childhood friend and neighbor's father. The exact same Lotto/Tax scam. The son went off and became a Charter Boat captain in the Caribbean. His elderly father lived alone in San Antonio, in an upper middle class neighborhood. The Son got an emergency call from the Dad's forty year neighbor, telling him, that his Dad's yard was un mowed, the electricity had been cut off and his Dad had just tried to borrow $7, 000 from his neighbor. The loss was North of $560K. The Son had to move back to take care of his Dad but the damage was already done...

[KNByam]

Not easy getting old. My father fell for the IRS scam and called me crying.

[chrisiss]

Congratulations, *Chargebacktools* I am relieved that you are out there fighting these thugs. We must take every precaution to protect the elderly and the general public from these despicable con artists. Congratulations to YOU!! You deserve the Nobel Peace Prize for ensuring our security