Utah woman scammed out of $70K prompts renewed reminders from police
by Pat Reavy ksl · KSL.comKEY TAKEAWAYS
- Provo police warn residents about financial scams targeting the elderly population after a woman was scammed out of $70,000.
- The 83-year-old was convinced to withdraw the money and hand it to an Uber driver, who unknowingly delivered it to a third party.
- The FBI says cyber-enabled crimes cost Americans $21 billion in 2025, with elderly victims losing $7.7 billion.
PROVO — Provo police are once again reminding residents not to fall victim to financial scams and to check up on elderly loved ones who may be more susceptible to such crimes.
The cautionary reminder comes as detectives investigate a case involving an 83-year-old woman who withdrew $70,000 of her money and gave it to an unknown person who claimed to be with the FBI, according to police.
On April 28, the woman received a call from someone "who falsely claimed to be a representative of her bank. The caller informed the victim that fraudulent activity had been detected on her account and that an unknown individual was attempting to cash a $70,000 check using her account," according to court documents.
The caller convinced the elderly woman that in order to protect her money, she needed to withdraw $70,000 herself and give it to the FBI "for examination," police stated.
The woman then made two withdrawals of $35,000 from two banks and was instructed to meet up with a ride-share driver in a parking lot in Provo and give the driver the cash. The ride-share driver then took the money to an unidentified man in Salt Lake City.
"A subsequent investigation determined that the Uber driver was not involved in the fraud and was unknowingly completing a legitimate ride request as part of their normal employment," according to a search warrant affidavit.
Detectives are now trying to determine who ordered the Uber to meet with the elderly woman. As of Friday, that investigation was ongoing.
Financial scams have been plaguing residents nationwide, including in Utah, in recent years.
According to the FBI's annual Internet Crime Complaint Report released in April for 2025, "cyber-enabled crimes defrauded Americans of nearly $21 billion, with cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence-related complaints among the costliest."
The agency's Internet Crime Complaint Center received more than 1 million complaints last year.
"Phishing/spoofing, extortion, and investment schemes were the most frequently reported complaints," the FBI wrote. "Americans over 60 reported approximately $7.7 billion in losses, up 37% from 2024. The Internet Crime Complaint Center received approximately 453,000 cyber-enabled fraud complaints, with reported losses exceeding $17.7 billion. Investment fraud remains the primary driver, accounting for nearly 49% of all scam-related losses."
The FBI has produced several public service announcements to help the public identify red flags and not give away their money or personal information.
Last year, Provo police made several social media posts to raise awareness about schemes targeting seniors. Some of the most popular scams include callers:
- Impersonating law enforcement and demanding immediate payment for unpaid fines or bail money for missing a court hearing
- Claiming a bank transfer was made by mistake and demanding the funds be returned
- Impersonating utility companies, claiming unpaid bills are due
- Making unsolicited offers to fix nonexistent computer issues and then gaining remote access to the victim's electronic devices
- Claiming a loved one is in jail in a foreign country and urgent payment is needed to release them.
The FBI says millions of elderly Americans fall victim to such scams each year. The agency lists several of those scams on its website, including romance scams.
Police encourage family members to keep an eye on their elderly loved ones' online activity in order to prevent them from becoming a victim or to nip a problem in the bud before it becomes a bigger issue.
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
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Pat Reavy
Pat Reavy interned with KSL in 1989 and has been a full-time journalist for either KSL or Deseret News since 1991. For the past 25 years, he has worked primarily the cops-and-courts beat.