Lincoln woman scammed out of thousands of dollars

LINCOLN, Neb. -- A woman was tricked into buying gold and withdrawing money from her bank accounts in Lincoln.

The Lincoln Police Department contacted a 68-year-old woman on July 19 at the NW Team Station, 1501 North 27th, in regards to a fraud that she was reporting.

The report said the victim reported receiving a phone call on July 11 from unknown person. The person told the victim that there was an unauthorized purchase of a laptop on her Amazon account. She was then told to follow some messaging prompts and was eventually sent to someone that identified himself as a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent.

According to authorities, the victim was told several credit cards and bank accounts had been opened in her name in several states. She was also told to withdraw as money as she could from her bank and it would be placed in a different account to verify that it wasn't laundered. She withdrew $25,000.

LPD said the victim was contacted again the next by the "DEA agent" and he told her to withdraw additional funds. She withdrew $5,000 and then told to place the funds in bags outside of her residence and an "agent" would pick them up while providing her with a cashier's check.

The report said the funds were retrieved but no cashier's check was left behind. She was contacted once again the next day and told to purchase $120,000 in gold. She purchased $119,294.84 worth of gold.

Officials said the victim received instructions two days later to leave the gold outside of her residence and an "agent" would pick it up shortly. She noticed the gold was gone an hour after she left it outside.

According to authorities, the victim became suspicious and contacted the police then. The total loss is $149,294.84.

LPD said they would like remind everyone that law enforcement will not request to be paid in cash, or precious metals, as part of an investigation at any time. They also said everyone should be extremely suspicious of anyone asking for bank account numbers and to contact their financial institution who will assist in verifying the legitimacy of the request before taking any additional action.