Scammers posing as federal authorities took nearly $400,000 from the southern Indiana woman, according to a PBS Kentucky Edition report . The report says Americans lost more than $12 billion to scams in 2024, citing Federal Trade Commission data. Mary Ellen Strange never expected to become a scam expert. Now she’s sharing her story as a warning to others, and she’s teamed up with AARP to do it. Her story shows how one phone call can spiral into a devastating scam.
Strange hung up, but later wondered if someone hacked into her Amazon account. She looked up an Amazon fraud number online and called it. The number was fake, and the man who answered passed her to a supposed FTC officer.
In June 2024, carpet cleaners were in Strange’s house, and her dog was barking.
She says she usually ignores calls from numbers she doesn’t know, but in the commotion she picked up her phone. The caller said he was from Amazon’s fraud detection unit and that Strange’s name was tied to a money laundering scheme, according to AARP’s report .
Strange grew suspicious when her accounts were not locked, and her transfers still went through. The caller then went silent, and she realized it was a scam. Department of Justice’s Elder Fraud Initiative, joined an AARP support group, and lobbied Indiana’s members of Congress to change tax laws that punish scam victims.
In August 2024, the caller said the government was going to lock her accounts that weekend. Criminals stole about $378,000 over two months, according to AARP. Strange owed nearly $100,000 in federal taxes on the annuity money she took out.
She said it felt like a second blow from her own government.
Since then, she has spoken to many groups, including through the U.S.
