The heartless scammers have convinced grandfather to hand over more than $1 million worth of Apple gift cards to a stranger online, believing he’d get a fortune of gold in return, after not long he was dead.
Grandfather Adrian Heartsch who was 77-year-old has spent his life working day and night as a truck driver so he could support his family and enjoy retirement.
His son Simon Heartsch has said that his father was going to go caravanning where he bought a great big GMC truck, and huge caravan, and was setting up to tick off some of his bucket list.
“My father was very particular and always careful with his money. Unless he knew exactly what he was paying for – he wouldn’t pay for it,” Simon said according to 9 Now.
Simon added that he never would have guessed Adrian would be susceptible to a scam.
How did Adrian Heartsch got scammed?
The woman named herself ‘Vida’ got talking to Adrian. By the time, Adrian was lonely, so he was vulnerable in that way as his son Simon said.
Vida referred to Adrian as ‘Handsome’, ‘baby’ and ‘my love, as month after month, Vida convinced Adrian to send her Apple gift cards, claiming he’d get more money in return.
Adrian was believing that he was getting in excess of $20 million worth gold bars or gold bullion.
Vida continues to convince Adrian that she would come out and live with him and they would live happily ever after.
Adrian’s son Simon discovered the evidence that his dad was being scammed while he was sick in hospital.
Adrian has said that this has been going on for three years, he told the police that he could shop all the shops locally there and get up to $10,000 a day.
$10,000 a day in Apple gift cards and it had been going on for years. His life savings, his caravan and his truck, were gone. After not long Adrian got sicker and sicker and died a month after learning he’d been scammed.
Cyber expert Simon Smith has managed to provide one. He said that he was basically able to send a specially-crafted link to the scammers and that actually came back with their location.
“These people are operating from Ghana.” Cyber expert Simon said.
Simon wants others to keep a close eye on their vulnerable loved ones, to save them from falling victim to scammers like ‘Vida’.