Pierce County grandmother loses everything in $100k scam

A Pierce County grandmother says she lost more than $100,000 to a sophisticated phone scam at the worst possible time in her life. Charlotte Tripp's husband is in hospice care and may have only days or weeks to live. As FOX 13's David Rose found out, she says scammers have wiped out the money she was counting on to survive after his death. Charlotte Tripp should be focused on spending every possible moment with her husband of 17 years. He suffers from dementia and is now in hospice care at home after a rapid decline in his health. Basically he can go any day now, we're just waiting. Instead of focusing on his final days, Tripp says she's been forced to deal with a devastating financial crisis. It started after she says she accidentally entered her bank information on a fake website she believed I put my debit card number in there and it flashed a thing I've never seen before. It was like white and red big letters that said failed. Days later she got a phone call from someone claiming to be with her bank's fraud department. The guy said he was from Wells Fargo fraud department and that I needed to get to the bank immediately and withdraw $20,000. Tripp says the caller kept her on the phone for hours instructing her to withdraw cash, deposit money through an ATM using a QR code, and later obtain a cashier's check for almost $50,000. She says she followed the instructions believing she was helping investigators protect her accounts. By the time she realized it was a scam, the money was gone. So they not only took all the cash out of my checking account, which was probably about $32,000, plus all the money on the credit cards. They also took out a $23,000 loan in my name. They did that online somehow. The total loss added up to about $117,000. I feel stupid because I was so vulnerable and I should have known. But when you're in that state of mind, you're just trying to get it taken care of. Okay, I gotta do this, do this, do this. Tripp says the fraud has left her unable to pay her bills. She says she can't make her house payment or car insurance payment, and has even received a water shut off notice. What am I gonna do if I get stuck with $79,000 that Wells Fargo is telling me I owe because I was frauded, because I authorized it. Pierce County Sheriff's Deputy Carly Capetto says scammers often target people during vulnerable moments in their lives. This is a very unfortunate event that actually happens to more people than most people think. Capetto says one of the biggest warning signs is when a caller tries to isolate a victim. They'll tell you, don't go to a Wells Fargo teller because they're in on it too. Investigators say legitimate banks will never call and demand customers move money into a safe account. They urge people to hang up, call their bank directly using a known phone number, and talk to family members before taking action. If somebody is creating fear and urgency in you to move money, or transfer money, or to take money from you, it likely you should be asking yourself that could this be fraud? Tripp says she hopes others can learn from her experience. Just don't fall for somebody that says they're from someplace. Verify it, call them back, call the number that you find online. Verify that that person really works there before you do anything. As she prepares to say goodbye to her husband, Tripp says she's trying to hold on to hope that some of the money can be recovered. She started a GoFundMe page to help cover her expenses while the investigation continues. I've had days where I just sat down and just cried and cried and cried. Because I can't believe this is happening right now, at this time of my life when my husband's getting ready to pass away. That story is so infuriating. That was David Rose reporting. Tripp says she has since obtained the account number where the money was deposited, and has provided that information to investigators. She hopes it will help lead to an arrest or the recovery of some of the money that she lost.