Scammers Using Pre-Paid Cards to Get Money fro

SOUTH COLUMBUS (Ben Garbarek) - An elderly South Columbus woman said she was scammed out of thousands of dollars. The Better Business Bureau said this happened in a new way scammers are using to target people.

Berta Kirby, 81, said she bought several Green Dot Money Pak cards after someone called claiming to be the IRS. The cards are like pre-paid debit cards. She said the person on the other line said her taxes were filed incorrectly and she owed thousands of dollars.

"I got so nervous my brain wasn't functioning right," Kirby said. "He said I had 24 hours to do it or they're going to do this and that, take my home and everything I had."

After the call she said she went to the Kroger on Parsons Avenue and bought $4000 worth of the Green Dot Money Pak cards. She said she then called the scammer and gave him the numbers on the back of the card. Then she said she was told to go to the Great Southern Kroger on South High Street and buy $3000 more worth of the cards.

Kroger said an employee stopped the transaction because something didn't seem quite right.

"Otherwise it would have continued on," said Sharon Kirby, Berta's daughter-in-law. "They would have gotten $7000 instead of $4000."

The Better Business Bureau said scammers used to rely on wire transfers to send money. The BBB said now the scammers use cards like this.

"Anytime you're asked to send money through a wire transfer or a Green Dot Money Pak that is like sending cash," said Joan Coughlin of the BBB. "It's gone. It's untraceable and you're never going to be able to get it back, so that's the red flag there."

Berta Kirby said she hopes no one else will have to learn this lesson the hard way. "You can rest assured, I'll never do it again," she said.

Kirby said she's filed a police report as well as alerted the Attorney General's office.

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