A mother and daughter were left “with nothing” after hackers stole almost $200,000 (around £160,000) from them by intercepting their emails. Vickie Ragle, 69, and her daughter, Sarah, had saved up for years to buy their dream home, which they were finally in the process of doing.
The duo were scammed out of $198,662.81 which was intended for their dream home.
Vickie, a single mother with two children, worked as a teacher for 42 years and was ready to buy the house and enjoy her retirement.
Her daughter Sarah is a travelling nurse and they were in the process of buying a townhome in Colorado, US.
The pair were devastated to find out this couldn’t be their reality anymore.
Vickie said to Fox31 Denver: “Not only do you not get the house, you have nothing left.”
On a Wednesday, the hackers sent an email purporting to be the title company saying they needed the funds within 48 hours or they wouldn’t be able to purchase the house.
The email stated: “Attached please find the final closing statement. The amount due to close is $198,662.81.
“Polite reminder, as we require funds to be remitted 48 hours prior to closing.
“Kindly advise when you will be ready to remit the closing funds so I can forward the title instructions for your actions.”
But two days later when they headed to the title company to pick up their keys, they explained they hadn’t received the funds.
Upon hearing she had lost her life savings, Vickie broke down and said: “All I could think is now I’m homeless and broke.
“I’m 69 years old and now I’m broke and homeless.
“I walked out of there and I threw up.” Her daughter Sarah had to carry her out.
She continued: “At some point, the chain of emails I got were hacked and I started getting fraudulent one but I didn’t recognise it.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do if I tell you the truth.
“We’ll make it. We’ll get it figured out.”
A GoFundMe was set up by one of Sarah’s co-workers to help the pair raise money. Currently, they have over $139,000 (around £100,000) out of $200,000 of donations.
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