Oconee County woman scammed out of $93,000, deputies say

by Janice Limon

OCONEE COUNTY, S.C. — An Upstate woman was scammed out of $93,000 and deputies are using her experience to warn others.

According to Oconee County deputies, the woman met the scammer, who claimed to live in Russia, online in December 2020 and also exchanged text messages.

Deputies said that the scammer asked the woman for money in March 2021, claiming his son was hospitalized after a motor vehicle accident.

The woman gave the scammer money using gift cards and bank transfers, deputies said. She told deputies the scammer changed his name frequently while also changing locations in terms of where he lives.

The scammer originally told the woman that he knew her because they had gone to high school together.

"The sheriff’s office recommendation is not to provide any money to anyone you meet online," Master Deputy Jimmy Watt, with Oconee County Sheriff’s Office, said. "We have seen variations on this kind of scam, from a sweetheart scam or someone who needs money for a family emergency. Scammers can be very adept at building online relationships with people. Also, a sure sign of a scam is someone who requests money through some type of prepaid card," Watt said.

Watt said scammers obtain personal identifying information and financial account information, when in some cases, that information is not provided to a scammer.

He cited a recent edition of The Deputy podcast, when Bailey Parker, from the South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs, said that this information is normally found on the Dark Web via security breaches.

The Oxford Dictionary defines the Dark Web as the part of the World Wide Web that is only accessible by means of special software, allowing users and website operators to remain anonymous or untraceable.

"The way that information gets there, I would take a guess of 95% of the time, is through security breaches," Parker said. "So, businesses we are using on a daily basis, whether it is the gas stations or grocery store or even the health care organization you go to, they are victims of security breaches. Hackers, and criminals in general, are targeting these large businesses because they know that they businesses have tons of your personal identifying information."

When these security breaches happen, according to Bailey, the criminals go on the Dark Web and sell it, use it for themselves, or do both. Bailey said the reason criminals like the Dark Web is because criminal activity is much harder to trace as well as the anonymity factor.

Anyone who thinks they have fallen victim to a scam should contact their local law enforcement agency immediately.

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Oconee County woman scammed out of $93,000, deputies say