An Air Force veteran said it will be a lean Christmas and New Year after he was scammed out of $6,700.
Veteran Harry Garner is embarrassed. For years he thought a company he paid good money to was updating his Mac computer. Then, Garner claims the business told him it was going out of business and promised him a refund.
Turns out, the only true thing was Garner got scammed.
Garner is a survivor. After retiring from the United States Air Force, his doctor told him he had three months to live because of a heart condition.
“He didn’t tell me which three months,” Garner said.
That was 16 years ago and yet he said nothing prepared him for what came later. One day in early December, he got a call from what seemed to be a legitimate company called Tech Support America. And for Garner, they had a good offer.
“For two or three years, they have been updating my computers. I have Apple computers and they said they were representatives of Apple,” Garner said.
But a few years later, Garner says a company representative said they were going out of business. So, he wanted to refund garner $700 dollars he paid for services through 2025.
But there was a catch. The rep said their business bank account and his personal bank account could not wire money to each other.
“They told me the two accounts weren't compatible, but they said we will transfer $6,700 into your account,” Garner said. “You go to Best Buy or go to Wells Fargo and get three $2000 gift cards.”
Garner said Tech Support America even showed him a phony receipt reflecting they had deposited the money into his account.
“I thought that was little strange, but since I’ve been dealing with them for two or three years I said 'Well OK, I’ll do that,'” Garner said.
So he got three gift certificates as the company requested, each for $2,000. And Garner called the representative with the numbers on the gift cards.
“I used my credit card. Now I’m on the hook $6,700 to Visa,” he said.
And what about his bank account?
“The bank said it never was deposited,” Garner said.
“You feel terribly for someone who is unknowingly kind of roped into one of these things,” said Don O’ Brien, Investigative Manager with the Better Business Bureau Serving Eastern Missouri and Southern Illinois.
“If someone says they need to overpay, you that should be a really big red flag,” said O’Brien.
O'Brien says other red flags include the claim that bank accounts are incompatible, and the request to pay an organization by gift card instead of credit card.
“I’ve heard some elderly people get scammed like this, they just can’t take it and they take their life," O'Brien said. "That’s a shame, they’ve got people in the world that would do something like this.”
Garner has filed complaints with the state and federal government and hopes the organization that took his money gets punished before they hurt someone else.
We contacted Tech Support America about the claims made in our story and have not received a response.
We also reached out to the Illinois Attorney General’s office and will let you know what they find.The Better Business Bureau says this company has an "F" rating and is not accredited.
