An Uber driver in northern Arizona arrived for a pickup outside a woman’s home over the weekend and found her waiting on the sidewalk with a walker, a bag, and a phone. She approached his car and asked whether he was the “courier.” She had been waiting, she thought, for a courier sent by her bank.
According to the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office, the woman is in her 90s and lives in the Village of Oak Creek, southeast of Sedona. A caller had reached her earlier and told her someone had hacked her debit cards and personal information. The caller ID, deputies said, displayed what appeared to be a legitimate Wells Fargo phone number.
The caller told her to put her cards in a bag. He told her to wait for a courier who would come pick them up. He also told her not to tell anyone what she was doing.
The Uber driver who pulled up at her location, Michael, is a former police officer. He recognized the script in the woman’s question. He told her it was a scam right away, keeping her from handing off all of her cards and identifying information to a complete stranger. She had fallen prey to a scam targeting older adults.
How the Driver Recognized the Scam
Michael was on his way to a routine Uber pickup near the woman’s home when she approached his vehicle. She asked whether he was the courier, and when he told her he was an Uber driver, he also asked her whether someone had directed her to give gift cards to a stranger, a variant of a scam he had seen before.
The woman replied that she couldn’t talk about it because she’d been told to keep “some kind of confidentiality.” Michael recognized the sneaky instructions and the courier hand-off as the signature of a scam in progress. He advised that it was a scam and that she shouldn’t go through with it. She handed him the phone, and he said he heard someone disconnect on the other end, a telltale sign that there was indeed a scam involved.
The Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office listed the warning signs associated with this kind of scam: callers claiming to be from a bank, spoofed phone numbers designed to appear legitimate, claims that cards or personal information have been hacked, instructions to keep the call secret, and a directive to wait for a “courier.”
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has issued similar warnings, advising customers who receive surprise calls about hacked accounts to hang up and call the bank back using a phone number they already trust, like the one on the back of their debit or credit card, rather than any number provided by the caller. It also advises them to avoid clicking links or sharing personal information unless they’re absolutely sure they’re talking to the bank.
Luckily, the woman didn’t get to give the stranger her cards or her personal information. She credited the Uber driver’s intervention as something close to divine timing. She reportedly said that she believed he’d actually been sent to help her.
What to Do If You Were Scammed
If you’ve already shared any debit card or credit card information with a suspected scammer, the Federal Trade Commission recommends contacting your card issuer to report the exposure or any unauthorized charges. You can also try asking whether the transaction can be reversed.
Anyone who gives out their Social Security numbers should also consult the federal IdentityTheft.gov website for recovery steps. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center also advises any older fraud victims to contact their banks, take steps to protect their credit, report the incident to police, and file a complaint at IC3.gov. Even if you aren’t part of the elderly community, it’s still well worth remaining vigilant.