Scammers Hijack Elderly Woman's Computer, Drain Her Accounts, and Show Up at Her Home

Fraudsters who took remote control of an elderly woman's computer in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, drained thousands of dollars from her bank accounts. They then called at her front door, posing as home tech support agents. They wore no uniform and turned up in no marked vehicle.

Police do not believe they picked the house at random. 'We believe this was a specifically targeted address,' Police Captain John MacCoy Jr said, adding that this was not someone going door to door touting for computer work.

The victim has dementia.

She did not report the theft. A bank teller in the next town did. North Kingstown officers were alerted after the teller flagged a run of large withdrawals to police in neighbouring South Kingstown. The victim lives in the town's Glen Hill neighbourhood.

The fraud ran from 29 July to 4 August. It began, investigators believe, with a pop-up advert on her computer warning that police would be sent to her home unless she rang a number shown on the screen. She rang it. The callers then talked her into granting remote access to the machine, and from there they reached her accounts.

Police have not said what the men did once they reached the house. MacCoy said the case involved several drop-off locations, and that detectives are still working to establish exactly where they were.

How much she lost has not been released. No arrests have been made and nothing has been recovered. Officers are looking for a man they describe only as Asian, and have no vehicle description. Anyone in the neighbourhood who saw something between those dates is asked to call 401-294-3316, extension 8211.

Couriers at the Door

In-person collection is routine in these schemes, MacCoy said, which manufacture urgency and then set meeting points where victims hand over large denominations of cash. His advice to anyone who takes such a call is to 'grab a name, call your local institution' before engaging any further. Younger people are caught too, he added, because the tactics are built to induce panic.

The FBI has been logging the same behaviour. Its Boston division, whose territory includes Rhode Island, documented 103 cases across New England between 2023 and May 2025 in which a courier collected cash or gold bars. Losses came to $26M (£19.2M), and roughly 98% of that was reported by people aged 60 and over. Thirteen of the victims lived in Rhode Island and lost $557,348 (£411,000) between them.

Nationally, the bureau counted at least 1,737 such collections over the same period, worth about $186M (£137M). Americans over 60 filed more than 201,000 complaints with the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center in 2025 and reported losses of roughly $7.7B (£5.7B).

The Same Script Runs in Britain

British forces classify this as courier fraud, and reporting is rising. City of London Police, the national lead force for fraud, logged 1,891 reports in 2025 against 1,721 the year before. Losses climbed from £19.5M ($26.4M) to more than £21M ($28.5M), an average of £15,311.08 ($20,750) a victim. People aged between 76 and 96 accounted for around 62% of all reports.

Detective Superintendent Ollie Little said courier fraud is 'a cruel and calculated crime that targets trust'. Offenders now stay in contact for days or weeks, the force said, and increasingly use messaging apps such as WhatsApp and courier services to arrange the handover.

Why Cash Falls Outside the Refund Rules

The financial exposure differs from a transfer scam. Mandatory reimbursement in the UK, in force since 7 October 2024, covers authorised push payments sent through Faster Payments and CHAPS, and is capped at £85,000 ($115,000) a claim.

Cash withdrawn at a counter and handed to a stranger is not a payment made through either system.

That leaves bank staff as the last practical checkpoint before the money goes, which is where this case surfaced.

Anyone who takes a call of this kind can check it by ringing 159, the service that connects callers directly to their own bank. Suspected fraud can be reported to Report Fraud on 0300 123 2040.