WAKEMAN, Ohio — As your consumer reporter, I talk about impersonation scams a lot – and for good reason.
Last year, Americans lost $3.5B, according to the Federal Trade Commission, making it the most-reported fraud category for five years and counting.
"I thought that this would never happen to me. I'm too smart for that. I wasn't. And they almost got me," said Darlene Krieger.
Krieger is sharing her close call because she doesn't want you to fall for the latest scam circulating that nearly cost her hundreds of dollars.
It was my previous reporting on scams that Krieger said helped her snap out of a very elaborate scheme.
"Thank you for doing what you do because you're educating the public," said Krieger.
A call from someone who claimed they were with DIRECTV is how it all started.
"Looking at your account, we see that you've been with us a long time and you are a senior and we're going to give you a special senior loyalty discount," said Krieger.
The "discount," the man said, would cut Krieger's bill in half.
"You do want to save money, don't you, Darlene?"
But to get the savings, Krieger had to get in her car.
"He knew that I was within two miles from a Family Dollar store and said you need to go there and buy an Apple card," said Krieger.
The request for action quickly stalled.
"I knew thanks to you, because I watch your tips on TV. So, thank you," said Krieger.
That's when Krieger started messing with the man on the other end of the phone, saying she couldn't get a gift card because her car was in the shop.
"And then he started to get a little belligerent. No, it has to be today. You have to do it today. You have to do it within the next two hours," said Krieger.
There's that sense of urgency we always talk about. Scammers want you to act fast before you have time to question anything or call someone else.
The man made that very clear.
"Don't call any other number because I was going to call DIRECTV," said Krieger.
In a last-ditch attempt to convince her this was legit, the man had Krieger turn on her TV.
"The weird thing was is he did get into my Starz account, which convinced me that it was for real. These guys are good. They're good," said Krieger.
After hanging up with the scammer, Krieger called the digital television provider directly using the number on her bill.
"Are you offering a promo to seniors for $33? And they said no, but we're aware of the scam," said Krieger.
That didn't sit well with the 20-year DIRECTV customer.
"They were aware of it, let the customers know, hey, this could be happening,” said Krieger.
"Why not put a little notice in our billing? Beware of this scam," said Krieger.
Krieger reached out to us here at News 5 to get the word out to make sure you don't fall for this or any other scam.
"Mostly I want to say thank you, Mike. Thank you. Thank you for what you do look like making people aware," said Krieger.
I reached out to DIRECTV about Krieger’s case, and they sent me an email that reads in part:
“We remind customers never to share their account password or personal information, and that DIRECTV will never require payment by gift card or prepaid card. More information on how customers can identify, protect against and report scams is available at directv.com/fraud.”
