TRACY, Calif — An elderly woman in Tracy said a man pretending to be her brother-in-law tricked her out of her entire life savings.
Raenell Liggett, 69, is a retired widow living on a fixed income. She's also the caretaker for her adult son with disabilities.
"I feel bad that I fell into this scheme," Liggett said.
She said she received a call from someone claiming to be her brother-in-law two weeks before Christmas. The man said he'd been involved in a car accident.
“He said he was on his cell phone and he hit a lady and she had broken her leg. He was being detained. He was in court and they were doing a court settlement," she said.
She said the man on the phone asked for $12,000 to settle things in court and get out of jail.
“I wanted to help him," Liggett said.
You've probably heard about schemes where people are asked to wire money to far away countries, but this caller asked Liggett to mail him cash. Altogether, she sent $12,000 in cash to a random address in the state of Georgia.
Liggett said she didn't think to verify the situation with family until two days after that first call. That's when the man posing as her brother-in-law asked for even more money, but Liggett had already sent him all of her savings.
“That’s when I called my daughter and told her what was going on. She goes, 'Mom, it’s a scam. Don’t even answer the phone anymore,'" she said.
Her actual brother-in-law was not in trouble, not in jail or in court.
Liggett had been tricked.
“I’m very upset. I’m very vulnerable. I hate answering the phone," she said.
She filed a report with the Tracy Police Department, who told her not to expect to get her money back.
"This happens to people all the time. They’re professionals and they’re probably doing it to somebody else right now," said Joe Coffey, a family friend.
Coffey set up a crowd funding website to help Liggett replenish her savings.
"Some really large donations and that’s what’s really heartwarming," he said.
They reached more than a quarter of their goal in about a week.
“I’m just so grateful that I have people around me that are supporting me," Liggett said.
Police said elderly people are often targeted and at-risk in these kinds of schemes. Many tricksters will pose as family members in trouble.
- Police say you can avoid this by following these tips:
- Don't answer calls from unknown numbers
- Never send money to people you don't know
- Always call the family member in question to verify the facts
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