Eureka Police and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service are investigating a scam that cost a 67-year-old Eureka woman $357,000. The woman’s home in the 18500 block of South Fox Creek Lane had been damaged by fire in January 2021, and the money she lost had come from her insurance company to cover the damage, Eureka Police reported.
A Department of Health and Senior Services case worker took the woman to the Eureka Police Station on June 14 to report that she had fallen victim to the scam. The victim reportedly had been contacted by someone claiming to be a Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) agent twice in late 2021, shortly after she had received the money from her insurance company, the report said.
The victim told police the scammer told her she was being investigated because a package she had ordered contained illegal drugs and bullets. The alleged scammer told her she and her family members would be sent to prison unless the DEA could verify her assets, according to the report.
The alleged scammer told the woman he knew she recently received money from her insurance provider and she needed to send that money to an address in Delaware to allow the agency to verify it was obtained legally. She was told the money would be returned to her after it was verified, the report said.
The woman said she sent a cashier’s check for $186,000 to the Delaware address on Oct. 26, 2021. The woman received a second payment from her insurance company in November, and the scammer allegedly called her again and told her to send the money to an address in Texas. The woman told police she sent a cashier’s check for $171,000 on Nov. 29, 2021, to the Texas address, according to the report.
As of June 29, none of the money had been recovered, and the person making the phone calls had not been identified, Lt. Tom Wille said.