HOUSTON – A local artist says he’s lost hundreds of thousands of dollars to someone claiming to be a federal agent trying to help him.
Creating art is a passion that 82-year-old Richard S. Hall had since he was a kid.
Now he says can’t afford to keep paying the rent for his Sawyer Yards art studio. In fact, he can no longer afford anything at all.
“My mortgage is in the rears, I’ve got papers for foreclosure, and my car will come up for repossession because I can’t make payments on that,” Hall said.
He said it all began in March when he got a call from someone pretending to be a federal agent working to protect his money from hackers that had infiltrated his accounts.
“He said ‘I want to help you get those out of there, see if we can track them and get rid of them, see if we can arrest any of them’. Sounded like an official thing you know,” Hall said.
Hall says he became convinced the man was legit.
“The way he talked he was really slick, and he had an Indian accent,” he said.
Over the next few months, Hall says he sent the man multiple wire transfers thinking the money was being safeguarded.
“So, he went into two bank accounts and into my IRA,” he said.
All in all, Hall says he lost $238,000 -- his entire life savings.
“He just wiped me out,” he said.
Making matters worse he says the man is still contacting him for more. The most recent text message was as early as this morning.
Hall says he knows of other elderly people being targeted also. Now he and the FBI are sounding the alarm, hoping to prevent this from happening to others.
“First and foremost we don’t want anyone to lose any amount of money and so this is a scam. The big red flag is, know that no law enforcement or government entity is going to call you, text you, or email you asking for money,” said Christina Garza, Public Affairs Officer with the FBI.
As for Hall who once had a comfortable nest egg, he’s now scraping to get by.
“It destroys me, I have no money,” Hall said. “I’ve got to sell my house and take the money off my house and go somewhere. I don’t want to be around here. I’m just so disgusted.”
Hall does have a GoFundMe account set up. To donate, click here.
If you need to report being scammed to the FBI call 713-693-5000 or visit the office at 1 Justice Park Drive. You can also submit your claim online.