Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. According to a police report, a Mount Pleasant man reported losing approximately $99,000 in what appears to be a complex banking fraud involving a caller posing as a Wells Fargo employee.
On October 20, Mount Pleasant Police Department officers arrived to Town Hall when a man walked in to report the scam. At the scene, the victim told police that on October 17, he received a phone call from someone representing himself as “David” from Wells Fargo Bank.
The caller stated a $1,000 charge had been made to the man’s account and offered to assist with the problem.
Following their talk, “David” informed the man that he needed to “run a CPU” and “clean things up” on his computer. He then told the man to send $10,000 to finish the process, according to the report.
Instead of sending the money online, the individual wired it through his bank and unintentionally added an extra zero, resulting in $100,000. When he phoned “David” to report the mistake, the scammer promptly returned the $100,000, according to authorities.
The following day, the man noticed that $98,900 had been withdrawn from another of his bank accounts. Wells Fargo verified that the money was sent in two different transactions, one for $50,000 and the second for $48,900, and that the bank did not initiate the transfers.
Shortly after, the caller called back from a different number, alleging the “CPU was running slow.” When asked about the missing payments, the individual stated that “David” informed him that “everything is legitimate, and the money will show up in your account.” The victim notified authorities that the money had not been returned.
The man stated that he has since changed his account numbers and safeguarded any information the caller may have accessed. Police said they are waiting for copies of the bank statements to continue their investigation.
There have been no arrests reported.
