LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Whether they come by phone, by mail or online, scams are running rampart around the world.
It's a constant cycle and recycle of ploys putting you at risk.
FBI Special Agent Michael Stansbury has become quite familiar with them over the last 25 years.
“It’s a global economy and a global criminal economy. A lot of the folks that are carrying these scams out, their on the other side of the world," Stansbury said.
"That makes it a much bigger challenge to reach back out to wherever these countries are.”
Stansbury works out of the FBI's Louisville Office and sat down with LEX 18 to give context to what goes into investigating ongoing scams.
“We really do look at monetary thresholds. That’s the number one thing. We have limited resources in what we can do so saying that we’re going to come investigate a scam where someone just lost $5,000 is probably not going to happen. Those monetary thresholds are a little higher," Stansbury said.
"However, the other piece is it can be a lot of low level victims who lost $1,000, $5,000. If there’s a significant number of those victims out there that these scammers are targeting, one group or organization targeting thousands of victims, of course we’re going to investigate that.”
One of the more recent scams to resurface is coercing people to convert their money into gold coins, a way Agent Stansbury explained helps erase the paper trail for scammers.
“There’s a lot of that going on right now. Gold and precious metals are a legitimate investment so people see that on tv but when someone calls and says ‘hey, I’m from the government, your accounts have been compromised. You’re finances are at risk, you need to move that out. The best way to do that right now is through gold or a precious metal.’ People will think those are legitimate investments and go ahead and do it," Stansbury said.
That woman's grandson, Stephen Warner spoke emotionally about how much he wants to see the person who put his grandmother through this brought to justice.
“It’s not even about the money anymore, we realize that’s not coming back," Warner said.
"It would be nice to be able to look him in the eye one day and try to figure out what’s going on mentally with someone that’s able to do that to an elderly lady.”
Agent Stansbury reemphasized the elderly remain a large target for scammers, particularly because they tend to be more trusting.
It's led to scammers instigating more victims into delivering their money in person to be stolen right from under their noses.
"This is fairly new to see in these type of scams in just a purely financial only,"
"Somebody might be hesitant to send money to an unknown person but if I’m meeting somebody here, I’m meeting the representative and I’m giving them this stuff. They’re a real person, I saw them and they somehow feel the trust.”
If you hear of any scams circulating the area, Agent Stansbury urges you to notify the authorities immediately, whether it's your local law enforcement or calling 1-800-CALL-FBI.
