COLUMBIA, S.C. — A Columbia woman is speaking out about thieves taking over $40,0000 from her bank account in hopes of helping others prevent similar crimes.
“I am upset and I’m perplexed," said 79-year-old Margaret Davis, who is still reeling from finding her bank account drained.
The account, which was only used to pay taxes once a year, had over $40K in it. Almost all of it was taken by thieves. Davis and her family didn’t notice the suspicious activity in the account until it was too late.
Now, she says her future is uncertain.
"This money I was saving for home care, home healthcare, or going to a home if I needed to do that, is now emptied out, it’s gone, and I don’t have money to do that," said Davis.
In total, they say $43,000 was stolen through fraudulent checks cashed in other states.
The family filed a police report with Lexington County Sheriff’s Department on March 23rd.
Captain Adam Myrick says unfortunately these crimes are common.
"We get reports of those type of calls often, said Myrick. "Because this is a situation where scamming is unfortunately pretty prominent, and it is something that is seen quite a bit."
Myrick says preventing these crimes is the key as law enforcement can’t usually do much after it happens.
"Really we focus on the front end, and that’s the education, the outreach, and making sure everybody is informed what a scam looks like, feels like, and can sound like in those phone calls.”
Myrick suggests staying alert for phone calls, emails and texts that could be fraudulent attempts to steal information. He says it’s always best to contact the bank directly with any concerns… and suggests going in-person if you can.
As for Davis, she says she's not sure how she could've prevented the theft, besides checking her bank account regularly.
No arrests have been made in the case.