A retired teacher and her daughter were scammed out of nearly $200,000 when they bought a home in Colorado after hackers hijacked their email conversation with the real dealers.
Vicki Ragle, 69, was in the process of buying a mansion in Lakewood for herself and daughter Sarah with her savings when the scammers tricked her into handing her the huge sum.
Vicki had exchanged legitimate emails with the lender, broker and title company, though it’s unclear how the hackers were able to intercept them.
Two days before they were due to close, Vicki received an email supposedly from the title company asking for $196,662.81 due to close.
She duly paid the full amount – only learning about the scam two days later when they went to the title company’s office to complete the purchase, where the staff told them they had not received the money.
The FBI, along with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and the Lakewood Police Department, now launched an investigation into the incident in February.
Vicki Ragle, pictured with her daughter Sarah, said: ‘All I can think about is that I’m homeless and broke right now. I am 69 years old and now I am broke and homeless.”
A fundraiser to help the Ragles recover their losses had raised nearly $15,000 by Wednesday afternoon
“We were going to close on Friday, everyone was laughing and excited. We signed hundreds of papers and then the title woman said, “Let me check your money,” Vicki said KDVR.
“The title lady said, ‘Where did you send the money?’ And I said, “I sent them to you,” and she said, “We don’t have them.”
She tearfully added, “All I could think about is that I am now homeless and broke. I am 69 years old and now I am broke and homeless.”
Sarah Ragle had to carry her mother out of the title company officers after they realized they had been scammed
In an email to the Ragles two days before the deal was due to close, the scammer posed as the title company and said they had “prepared the closing documents.”
“The amount to close is $198,662.81. Polite reminder as we require funds to be transferred 48 hours before closing,” the scammers wrote. The Ragles were unperturbed by the messages because of the previous conversation with the actual staff.
Vicki added: ‘We were supposed to close on Friday, but on Wednesday they told me they need the money in 48 hours or it won’t happen. I said, ‘OK, I’ll call in an hour and then we can do that. They emailed back saying, ‘Don’t call because I have a lockdown, but here’s the information.
‘At one point the e-mail chain was hacked. I received fraudulent e-mails and I didn’t realize they were fraudulent e-mails.’
After the money was paid, the Ragles even got a reply to “acknowledge receipt of the money.”
One of the emails sent by the scammers, who were able to infiltrate the email chain with the actual team working on the sale, then asks for the money
Sarah Ragle, a nurse, with her mother Vicki, a retired teacher who lost her savings because of this
Vicki worked as a high school teacher for 42 years and only retired in July. The money for the house was lifelong savings. She had also bought new furniture for the house.
a GoFundMe page has now started for the Ragles and had raised $14,616 of the $200,000 goal to make the money back by Wednesday afternoon.
Victoria Detlefs, the friend who launched the page, wrote: ‘Recently, Sarah and her retired mother tried to buy a house where they could live for the long term, but they got scammed with all their savings.
“When Sarah and her mother realized what had happened, it was too late to get their money back. Sarah and her mother were heartbroken and also lost the house they hoped to buy.
“Despite all this, Sarah has continued to show up in times of need for others, lending a helping and caring hand.
“I am raising money in the hopes that Sarah and her mother can ‘restore’ something from what has been lost and in the hopes of showing support for someone who has only supported and cared for others. Everything helps. Thank you for your kindness.’
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation said billions of dollars are lost each year to such “business email compromise” scams.
Scammers “take advantage of forging or counterfeiting an interested party’s email account to change the real bank account to one they can control,” according to the CBI.
The FBI said it received 504 complaints last year about corporate email compromise in Colorado, which cost victims nearly $54 million.