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Sacramento woman loses life savings in elder abuse scam involving in-person thieves. Victim Renee Thomas shares her story to warn others. Sacramento County grand jury urges more financial abuse detectives. #elderscam #financialabuse #crime #Sacramento #fraud #shorts
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Stripped of her life savings, a
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Sacramento woman is speaking out tonight
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after falling for an elder abuse scam.
0:07
She tells us it cost her thousands of
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dollars.
0:10
Like your reporter Madison Ki joining us
0:12
now in studio getting answers on why
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Sacramento Countyy's grand jury says not
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enough is being done to investigate
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these types of crimes. Madison, I'm just
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going to say I'm just downright mad to
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hear this.
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I mean, so is she, as you can imagine. I
0:25
mean, this fraud though wasn't just over
0:28
the internet. The 74year-old victim says
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one of the two thieves came right to her
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home to collect that cash. Renee Thomas
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is paying a steep price for trusting a
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stranger.
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I feel stupid. I'm very, very angry.
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Now she's lost more than $28,000 in a
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scam.
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That money was my full nest egg. That
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was my life savings. Renee says the
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scammer sounded convincing and
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trustworthy when he reached out to her
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through email and WhatsApp private
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messages, saying he worked for PayPal
1:00
and that she was a victim of fraud. She
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says he used scare tactics to convince
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her to go to two different banks and
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withdraw cash.
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He terrified me. He made me afraid that
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my information was being used for money
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laundering. She was instructed to send
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him pictures of the cash and receipts
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and to wrap the money in a cardboard
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box. A second man, who was supposed to
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be a social security financial officer,
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then came to her house that same day to
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pick up the package in this white
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Toyota. They used her favorite color,
1:35
purple, as a password.
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He gave the password
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and I handed in the box.
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Renee is a former bank teller but fell
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for it. She now knows it was all an
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elaborate ruse to take her money.
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I don't want other people to fall into
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traps like this.
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Renee filed a police report, but the
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Sacramento County Grand Jury says these
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types of crimes are often overlooked and
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only a small percentage are prosecuted.
2:01
The grand jury is recommending that
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local law enforcement hire specialized
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financial abuse detectives by the end of
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the year. Something that Renee agrees
2:10
with. detectives would be good because
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it's going to take research.
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And she has some strong words for the
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men who stole her money.
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What you're doing is wicked and evil.
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Wicked and evil. Those are strong words.
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Now, so far, the city of Sacramento has
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not responded to the grand jury
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recommendations. But the sheriff's
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department says they used to have 12
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detectives assigned to elder abuse
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crimes, but now because of budget cuts,
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there's only eight who are responsible
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for investigating other types of
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criminal cases here. So those cutbacks
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may be having an impact.
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We should point out how brave Renee was
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to tell her story as well.
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Yes. I mean that is so scary. And what
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stood out to us about this particular
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case was just the fact that a second
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person actually came in person was not
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just online. So very scary stuff.
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Would be believable especially when they
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have your password. Yeah. And you're
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thinking, "Okay, I trust you." Right.
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Unreal.
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All right. Thanks, Madison.
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