How a 78-year-old NJ resident almost lost $25,000 to scammers

An alert Uber driver is being credited with saving a South Jersey senior citizen from losing nearly $25,000 to scammers.

• Scammers pressured a 78-year-old woman to withdraw all of the money she had in a bank
• Police say their own phone number was spoofed to make the scheme appear real
• Don't be the next victim -- protect yourself and your relatives

The Washington Township Police Department says the scam began last month with a text message claiming the victim's iCloud account was compromised. That message contained a fraudulent link, which led to a phone number in Hawaii.

When the victim called, an unknown woman told her she needed to pay a fee to fix the issue and she was asked how much money she had in her bank account. The scammers instructed her to withdraw the entire amount.

As the victim was picking up the cash at the bank, she received a second call, this time from a number that appeared to be the official phone number of the Washington Township Police Department (856-589-6650). A man pretending to be a police officer told her to contact another scammer, who posed as a banker named "David."

Police say scammers pressured her to get the cash as quickly as possible and deliver it to a location on Fries Mill Road in the township. She took an Uber to the drop-off point, but that driver, sensing something was wrong, stepped in.

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The driver asked the victim if she knew who she was meeting and if she was carrying a large sum of cash. When she confirmed, the driver warned her that she was being scammed and immediately drove her back to the bank to re-deposit the money.

Authorities are reminding everyone that scammers are becoming much more sophisticated and they're using technology to make their calls appear legitimate, even going as far as spoofing real police department phone numbers.

The Washington Township Police Department is inviting residents to a free senior scam prevention seminar on March 27th at 11 AM at the Senior Center at 315 Greentree Road. To sign up or for more information, call (856) 589-6664.