Coconut Creek Police are alerting residents to a new scam after an 80-year-old man in the city was tricked out of money through a fraudulent loan scheme.
According to police, the victim received a text message claiming he was eligible for a $10,000 loan. Believing the message was legitimate, he called the number provided and spoke with a scammer who convinced him to share personal information, police said.
The fraudster then placed fake deposits into the man’s bank account and instructed him to quickly purchase gift cards before the bank flagged the transactions, according to investigators.
The victim was told to provide the scammer with the gift card numbers, allowing the scammer to immediately steal the funds, police said.
Because the deposits never cleared, the man’s bank account was left overdrawn, the alert states.
Police said the crime falls under the “too good to be true” category of scams.
“If it sounds too good to be true, it is,” officials said in the alert.
The fraud case is under investigation, and no arrests have been announced.
Authorities urge any residents who receive similar text messages to delete them immediately and avoid providing personal or financial information to those who contact them by phone.
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