PLEASANTON — It started when a local woman answered an Instagram ad touting a free book about investing in the stock market, and it ended four months later, when she called police to report she’d been scammed out of $1 million, authorities said.
The plight of this Pleasanton woman is only the latest internet scam to affect a Tri-Valley resident. Police haven’t announced any arrests but say they’re still investigating how a woman was led to agree to pay $1 million to multiple couriers who went to her house close to a dozen times from June to August, occasionally calling in advance to confirm the pickups.
The woman reportedly believed she was going to learn from a professor who could predict stock market trends, and that she’d eventually join an investment project. She was told to pay the