(WXYZ) — A Clinton Township woman is out $30,000, the same week she buried her husband and lost her job.
Christina Ihlenfeldt is hurting. She says she feels like everything was taken from her
“I realized that money was gone. It was money that I needed and that my husband had saved,” said Ihlenfeldt.
The same week she buried her husband and lost her job, online scammers pretending to be with the geek squad at Best Buy stole $30,000.
“This man sounded so gently and convincing that he was going to get in trouble if someone found out he made this kind of error,” said Ihlenfeldt.
It was an elaborate scheme, one Christina says she should have known better, especially after the person on the other line wanted access to her computer, which Christina allowed. It started with an email and a phone number to call, about refunding 300 dollars.
“In a panic voice, he said suddenly we deposited $30,000 not $300. They had literally gone into the transfer area of the bank system and they had moved funds from my husband's account. $30,000 from his account into mine. That was how they made it look like and appears mine had $30,000 that didn’t belong to me. And so I got the wire transfer put together."
Christina sent the money back to the scammer.
Best Buy sent us a statement about the incident saying in part.....”Best Buy does not request access to a personal device without a customer first contacting us to request service.”
Christina says she knows better, but that the scammers took advantage of a vulnerable person
“It’s miserable that those people, those men on the other end of that phone knew. They knew I was a widow and that I’m a good person. All I wanted to do was make sure they got their money,” said Ihlenfeldt.
Christina filed a report with the FBI. She says she's having trouble forgiving herself for making this mistake.
A GoFundMe has been set up to help raise money for Christina.
