Duxbury Police say 93-year-old scammed into giving thousands to person impersonating feds

DUXBURY, Mass. — Duxbury Police are warning the public to watch out for scammers after a 93-year-old resident was scammed into mailing out $17,500 in cash to people she does not know.

At 6:53 p.m. Monday, police received a call from a citizen who stated that she believed her 93-year-old mother had been scammed.

The victim, a resident of Tussock Brook Road, had received an alert on her computer stating that the computer was compromised and infected with a virus, police said. The alert instructed her to contact Microsoft Support so she called the number that appeared on her screen.

The suspect gave a lengthy explanation to the victim about the compromised files on her computer, and claimed it involved her bank Rockland Trust and the Federal Trade Commission, police said. The scammer advised the victim she would be receiving a call from a federal agent, who would give her instructions.

A person then called the victim giving her the details on how to address the issue, police said.

The victim had mailed $17,500 in cash via UPS following the instructions from the fake federal agent, police said.

Police contacted UPS and were able to track down the package, which was en route to Logan Airport with a final destination of New York. Police coordinated with UPS to have the package brought back to the Kingston UPS Shipping Warehouse, where it was secured and returned to the victim, police said.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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