Senior scam that used spoofed calls, gold pickups leads to Nashville arrest; $268K stolen

PUTNAM COUNTY, Tenn. (WTVF) — A Nashville man has been arrested in connection with a fraud scheme that cost two Putnam County residents over the age of 70 more than $268,000, according to the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office.

Investigators said the victims were targeted after one received a fraudulent pop-up alert in September that appeared to be from Microsoft. The alert instructed her to call a phone number, where scammers claimed her computer was compromised.

Authorities said the victim was then told to call the customer service number on the back of her debit card. Investigators said that call was intercepted through phone number spoofing, allowing a scammer posing as a bank employee to convince the victims their accounts were under federal investigation for child pornography found on