Vermont Woman Recoups $1.3M 4.5 Years After a Scam

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[00:00:02] Bob: This week on The Perfect Scam.

[00:00:04] Jeanette Voss: I thought, oh my God, how am I going to do this? So I just didn't spend any money. Unplugging everything in my house, unplugging lamps and stuff like that. My, if I wanted to make some toast, I'd plug in the toaster, toast the toast, unplug it, take the toast out. Same thing with the coffee machine.

[00:00:28] Bob: Didn't you set your thermostat at a very low temperature?

[00:00:31] Jeanette Voss: 58.

[00:00:32] Bob: You spent January and February in Vermont with your house at 58 degrees.

[00:00:37] Jeanette Voss: Yes, for a couple years.

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[00:00:45] Bob: Welcome back to The Perfect Scam. I'm your host, Bob Sullivan.

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[00:00:51] Bob: It's winter 2025. Jeanette Voss is living alone in her Vermont home. It's a typically cold New England night, but she's got her thermostat set to about 60 degrees, and she's sitting in the dark. She won't even turn on her lights. She's trying to save every penny. She's wearing a lined shirt, a gift from friend Tricia Delano who is worried that Jeanette has lost so much weight that she looks like she's sick from some terrible illness. And in a way, she is. But as Christmas arrives, Jeanette is about to get a pretty shocking Christmas gift. Now let's talk about why Jeanette has to sit shivering in her dark home.

[00:01:38] Jeanette Voss: Well I lived in Vermont from 1980 to 1990, and then I was in California, in San Diego, till December of 2018. And I had decided in the fall of 2018, where was I happiest after I retired and stuff. I said, where was I happiest? And I said, Bennington. So here I am. I looked at real estate online, I thought, oh, I wonder what houses cost in Vermont? I was living in San Diego. And I went, what? Oh, I could buy three.

[00:02:11] Bob: (laughs)

[00:02:12] Jeanette Voss: So I bought one, and I'm very happy here.

[00:02:16] Bob: Right as Jeanette moves back to New England, she meets Tricia.

[00:02:21] Bob: Do you remember anything about your first impressions of her when you met her?

[00:02:26] Tricia Delano: Oh, absolutely. We were both a member of this group and I am a people watcher, and she struck me as someone that was very articulate, very well read, did not jump in with both feet, and it just gave me the impression of someone that you'd pick her out in a room. She has an aura of authority. So I was drawn to that because I've been told I'm like that, and I just knew she'd have a lot to say and she did. She's funny.

[00:03:08] Bob: Their friendship is a blessing during COVID when they stay in touch as best they can.

[00:03:15] Tricia Delano: We were able to get together and would be, I have a, I live up on top of a mountain and with a very expansive deck, so she would come and we would be 12 feet away from each other and visit.

[00:03:30] Bob: We were all still in the tail end of the COVID crisis on Memorial Day Weekend 2021, when Jeanette's lovely New England retirement turns into a desperate kind of hell.

[00:03:43] Jeanette Voss: I was watching a movie on Netflix on my PC, and took a break like an hour or two, and came back to finish the movie and I flipped open the top of my laptop, and all the sudden this screaming noise came out of it. And on the screen, it said, "Call Microsoft. Call Microsoft."

[00:04:08] Bob: So she called the number on the screen and the person on the other end of the line is able to get that awful blaring stopped. And then she's passed around a bit, and finally she gets someone who says he's from her financial institution, and after a quick analysis, he says she's been hacked. She's passed back and forth a few more times, and then finally...

[00:04:29] Jeanette Voss: And they said, "We can see where you made a, a betting, a gambling bet of $213,000." And I said, "I most certainly not." And they said, "Well, we've got an email confirming from you that yes, you did."

[00:04:45] Bob: Oh my God. Crazy wow, and I'm guessing that you're not a person who puts quarters in slot machines for $200,000.

[00:04:52] Jeanette Voss: Oh, well, I have been to Vegas, but...

[00:04:56] Bob: That's some high stakes poker there.

[00:04:58] Jeanette Voss: Yeah. No, I would not, I'm not a gambling person.

[00:05:03] Bob: So what did they tell you to do?

[00:05:06] Jeanette Voss: Oh, they told me that my Social Security number had been gotten, and that any, I had to liquidate any holdings I had, so anything associated with my Social Security number. So yeah, so that was my retirement, my bank accounts, any stocks I had, just anything with my Social Security number.

[00:05:30] Bob: She's told she has to liquidate all her assets, put them in a place for safekeeping until the government issues her a new Social Security number. But not to worry, the security folks from her financial institution will be with her every step of the way. First task, cash out her CD, her $200,000 CD.

[00:05:55] Bob: Were you at the bank getting the CD out within a day or something?

[00:05:57] Jeanette Voss: Oh, yes, uh-huh. I was scared.

[00:06:00] Bob: Of course, yeah, and they...

[00:06:02] Jeanette Voss: On so many levels.

[00:06:04] Bob: She gets the cash, and she's told to wire the $200,000 to an account the security team gives her.

[00:06:12] Jeanette Voss: And then I'd take them down to the bank and wire transfer to the scammers what, whatever information they gave me for where to transfer it. And they were sending it to cryptocurrency places, coin, Ethereum, and stuff like that, and I knew about crypto, but not much. And because they said that they would take my money, we had to get my money out of my account and send it to them so they could put it in an electronic wallet until they got me my new Social Security number, and then everything would be transferred back to me with my new Social Security number. That was the deal.

[00:06:57] Bob: She finds herself on the phone constantly with the security team.

[00:07:02] Jeanette Voss: Yeah, it was every day, I was on the phone with the scammers every day, sometimes for hours every single, 7 days a week.

[00:07:08] Bob: Oh my God.

[00:07:10] Bob: As they work through moving her cash from her bank accounts into these other safe places, she's told she can't trust anyone, not anyone at the bank, not her friends, not even the phone company

[00:07:23] Jeanette Voss: They told me my phone was hacked too. So they told me how to get a phone. So I went down to Walmart and got this phone and a couple of months’ worth of phone time on it. And I called it the bat phone because oh, I'm on the bat phone.

[00:07:41] Bob: So this is a special number that only they called.

[00:07:44] Jeanette Voss: Yes.

[00:07:45] Bob: Wow. My God. And so when you would talk for hours, what were you talking about?

[00:07:51] Jeanette Voss: We'd be talking about crypto accounts and how that worked and of course, I was questioning, questioning everything I knew at the time. I didn't know the extent of the things at that point, but I was asking questions, I said to them, you know, "How do I know you're real?" At one point and the guy, the same guy I talked to for six months, he said, "Jeanette, why would I, if we weren't real, why would we spend so much time with you?"

[00:08:18] Bob: After they've successfully put her CD funds into that other account, she's told that now it's time to deal with her retirement money. She'll have to move back too.

[00:08:29] Jeanette Voss: I called, and my financial advisor and I had worked together when I was in California, part of my job, I worked for the HR department, and because we had stock, sold stock at our company, the company had to provide financial education. So that's how I met my financial advisor. He was one of the educators.

[00:08:52] Bob: Ah, uh-huh.

[00:08:52] Jeanette Voss: And we'd known each other for years. So when I called and requested withdrawals, he didn't question, he thought it was weird for me, 'cause he knows how I am, but he thought, oh, Jeanette, she's met someone in Vermont, and she's buying real estate. So you know it, he didn't question it too much.

[00:09:16] Bob: And how much did you liquidate from those accounts?

[00:09:19] Jeanette Voss: Oh, uh, $500,000.

[00:09:21] Bob: Wow.

[00:09:23] Bob: She has other holdings too outside of what's in her retirement account.

[00:09:27] Bob: Roughly how much was that?

[00:09:31] Jeanette Voss: About a quarter million dollars.

[00:09:34] Bob: Wow.

[00:09:34] Jeanette Voss: Yeah.

[00:09:35] Bob: So altogether how much money was this?

[00:09:37] Jeanette Voss: $950,000.

[00:09:40] Bob: It all feels really strange, really disturbing to Jeanette.

[00:09:45] Jeanette Voss: It felt like I was money laundering.

[00:09:48] Bob: And there are moments when she starts to question what's going on, especially when one day she can't reach the security folks.

[00:09:57] Jeanette Voss: I called the number. Something came up and I needed to be in touch with them before our regularly scheduled daily call, and I called the number and it, you know the, this number doesn't work. And I'm like, ah, I'm screwed, or words to that effect. And I thought, oh my God, oh my God, and I got and about within the hour I got a phone call back from the guy, the regular guy. I said, "Oh my goodness, I was so freaked out because the phone didn't work." And he said, "Oh, we had some technical issues. We had to, I had to use a different line." "Okay." So he kind of talked me off the ledge and we went back to talking to him every day. I apologized...

[00:10:43] What were you apologizing for?

[00:10:44] Jeanette Voss: Because I called him so late. I'm thinking, oh my God, he's in India. He had an Indian accent. Working for the software company we had call centers. Accents didn't even blip on my radar, it's just like, okay. So he had an Indian accent, and I thought, okay, yeah, it's probably the morning there. But I was apologizing for disturbing him.

[00:11:10] Bob: You were apologizing for disturbing him. Wow. Okay.

[00:11:13] Jeanette Voss: Yeah. Who knew.

[00:11:15] Bob: And so finally, as November arrives, remember this all started on Memorial Day, Jeanette is told her transfers are complete and...

[00:11:26] Jeanette Voss: Then they said, "Okay, your Social Security card is, is coming, so you know, that'll be the last part of it." And so days and days went on and on, looking out the window... where's the mailman? And nothing's happening. I even put a note in the window above the mailbox saying, I, I'm here, thinking that oh, it's a Social Security card, I may have to sign for it. Silly me. I had this big sign in the window. Nothing came, nothing came, nothing came, and nothing came.

[00:11:59] Bob: She has a sign in the window for the mail carrier, but nothing comes. And that really changes the way Jeanette looks at the world.

[00:12:09] Jeanette Voss: And then within that time I tried to call them about something else and the phone didn't connect, and I thought, okay, they must have had another technical issue, la-la-la ... and then it sunk in, and I knew that I had been scammed.

[00:12:26] Bob: Then it sunk in.

[00:12:30] Jeanette Voss: When I knew I was scammed, that was Thanksgiving weekend, like the Wednesday of Thanksgiving of 2021.

[00:12:37] Bob: Oh my God. Like literally...

[00:12:39] Jeanette Voss: So it went from Memorial Day.

[00:12:40] Bob: So Thanksgiving Eve, you're suddenly, oh my God, what a terrible holiday.

[00:12:44] Jeanette Voss: Yeah.

[00:12:45] Bob: Do you remember where you spent that Thanksgiving?

[00:12:48] Jeanette Voss: I think here by myself, thank you very much. Yeah.

[00:12:53] Bob: Oh God, just sitting there thinking, and at that point you haven't even been to the police yet, right, I'm guessing or...

[00:12:58] Jeanette Voss: I hadn't been to the police.

[00:13:00] Bob: 'Cause you had to wait the whole long weekend probably to get the phone call.

[00:13:02] Jeanette Voss: Right.

[00:13:03] Bob: Oh, what a terrible weekend that must have been for you. Oh God.

[00:13:06] Jeanette Voss: Well, compared to the previous six months and then the following four years, yeah, it was right up there.

[00:13:14] Bob: She does, however, have her friend, Tricia.

[00:13:18] Tricia Delano: She called me and asked if I would come to her house. She had something she needed to tell me. And she wouldn't tell me over the phone.

[00:13:27] Bob: You probably thought the worst.

[00:13:28] Tricia Delano: I wasn't sure what to think. I try not to jump in with the what-ifs, but I could tell by her voice it was very serious, and I cleared my calendar and drove up.

[00:13:41] Bob: Tricia arranges to see Jeanette right away, and Jeanette tells her the whole story, $950,000 has been stolen. And that's basically all Jeanette has. She's broke.

[00:13:56] Tricia Delano: I remember sitting down at the table she had in this dining room area. There were papers all over it. And Jeanette's very organized. And she sat across from me and started telling me the story and I finally just said, you need to breathe, one step at a time. And when she finished, the first thing she said to me, she looked at me and she must have shrank down so small when I looked at her. And she said, "Will you still be my friend?" And I was taken aback by that because it was the first inclination that I had what this did to her as a human being, and it broke my heart, it absolutely broke my heart. And immediately I started going through all these things in my head, okay, how on earth did she get wrapped up in this? Why did she not tell me? She checks with me on the silliest little things, but she didn't check with me on this. And so I had a whole wash of emotions right at that moment, but I knew that I had to keep them inside because she was already as low as you can get, and I just said, we're going to figure this out. I needed 24 hours to let this sit with me, and I asked her if I could tell my husband because it's not something I can keep from him, not something this big, because he's, he's in the tech world, and he is an IT guy. He's an executive. Maybe there's something he knows that that can help. And I just went home and I felt like throwing up to be honest.

[00:16:00] Bob: Just for her to ask, will you still be my friend, that's so painful. God.

[00:16:05] Tricia Delano: Oh, painful. It, and the look on her face.

[00:16:09] Bob: Jeanette's main concern that day is, will Tricia still be her friend. The answer is a loud yes.

[00:16:17] Tricia Delano: Yeah, I had lunch with her the weekend after it happened, we had lunch, and she had sunglasses on. It was sunny out, and I didn't depict that much of a difference in her demeanor. She was a little more quiet. Had we been inside, if I had seen her eyes and her expression, I would have known something was up. And but she never mentioned it until six months later.

[00:16:42] Bob: And you guys were talking almost every other day on the phone, right?

[00:16:45] Tricia Delano: Yeah, yeah, yeah. She was scared to death. They had her convinced that, they were professionals, they had her convinced if she said anything. And Jeanette's a rule follower. I'm a rule follower. She's a rule follower to the nth degree, so she followed everything right to the letter. She was the perfect candidate for them. And it's disgraceful.

[00:17:12] Bob: And sensitive ear, a nonjudgmental hearing, that's what Jeanette needs most at this moment at her lowest point.

[00:17:21] Jeanette Voss: She just rose to the occasion. She helped me in so many ways, just helped me figure out how to do things. I'm sure she was stunned. She was angry. There have been points throughout this process where I could tell she was angry, not at me, but at the situation, and that was good because I...

[00:17:42] Bob: It felt really good to have a friend get angry on your behalf, doesn't it?

[00:17:45] Jeanette Voss: Yes, because I couldn't do that. I had so much going on that I, between taxes and applying for services and this kind of stuff. My brain was full. So that was great. And, and it's just been great, she's been a great supporter. and she also provided me with a sense of normalcy, it was like she didn't, it didn't change how she felt about me.

[00:18:16] Bob: She wasn't judging you.

[00:18:17] Jeanette Voss: Right.

[00:18:18] Bob: Yeah.

[00:18:18] Jeanette Voss: Just because I'm poor, very poor. It didn't change anything.

[00:18:24] Bob: Tricia has one really important piece of advice for Jeanette.

[00:18:29] Tricia Delano: And I said, okay, and I said, did, we've got to call the police. What will they do? I don't know what they'll do, but we've got to do something. And that started the ball rolling. And I have to say, I was pretty darn shocked that the little police force in Bennington, Vermont, the one officer, Amanda Knox, she actually, I don't mean to sound slighting, you know to the Town of Bennington, but you don't think that some of these small town police officers have the wherewithal or the experience to know who to contact next. And she did.

[00:19:18] Bob: Tricia convinces Jeanette to call the police and fortunately that day it's Amanda Knox's turn to pick up the phone.

[00:19:27] Amanda Wagner: So we have like patrol phones. There's probably three or four of them, and when we're writing reports, which we don't do all day long, it's hit or miss. So Jeanette just caught me at the right moment where I was in the office probably typing a report, getting some paperwork in. The phone rings and the dispatcher will say hey, can you talk to... they're having a problem with this. And we just pick the phone up and we take the call, and it can go anywhere.

[00:19:55] Bob: It might be someone whose cat's in a tree, right?

[00:19:56] Amanda Wagner: Yep. Yep, it could be a barking dog, and it could be like life or death.

[00:20:02] Bob: And in this case, it's just about life or death.

[00:20:05] Amanda Wagner: And Jeanette's problem was she lost a lot of money to somebody that got access to her bank account.

[00:20:14] Bob: And do you remember roughly how much?

[00:20:17] Amanda Wagner: It was about $950,000.

[00:20:19] Bob: Oh my God. That's far from a barking dog.

[00:20:22] Amanda Wagner: Oh yeah, that is somebody's life savings. It was a huge amount of money.

[00:20:28] Bob: And do you remember what her state of mind was at the time?

[00:20:32] Amanda Wagner: I think she was very like, unsure. She really thought she did something wrong, and I was just on the other side of the phone, you are the victim here. You need to report this. And it was kind of that, wow. I've seen, probably the most I've seen is 50,000, so when she said 950,000, I was like, oh wow, we have a big case here. So I definitely convinced her to please make a report.

[00:21:00] Bob: Was she crying? Was her voice shaking?

[00:21:02] Amanda Wagner: No, she is, she's such a sweet individual. Very loving, very kind.

[00:21:08] Bob: So she was like, I don't want to bother you, but I did lose a million dollars.

[00:21:11] Amanda Wagner: Yeah, like she felt, "Hey, I'm sorry to bother you right now, but I have a situation." She didn't really know what to do and she thought she was in trouble. Because it can feel like you're in trouble because maybe you did, you thought you did something wrong in that situation, and maybe she slipped on something, allowed access when she knew she shouldn't have, I don't know.

[00:21:31] Bob: Amanda persuades Jeanette that she's a victim, and she really should move forward with the report, and that sets in motion a chain of events that, well, Amanda doesn't hear from Jeanette again for a full four years; we'll get to that. But meanwhile, Jeanette fills out that report and within days, the FBI calls her.

[00:21:54] Jeanette Voss: And they wanted to meet with me. I said, okay, you can come by, and then I thought, I don't trust that they'll really be the FBI. So I called them back and I said, "Can we meet, we're going to meet at the police station."

[00:22:06] Bob: That was smart.

[00:22:07] Jeanette Voss: That was fine with them.

[00:22:08] Bob: That was very smart. Had you ever talked to an FBI agent before?

[00:22:11] Jeanette Voss: No. No. Never did I dream I would.

[00:22:14] Bob: No, and for someone who never has, what is that like?

[00:22:17] Jeanette Voss: They were very official. They were friendly, but you could say that they were being official, and that's what I needed. So that was good.

[00:22:25] Bob: Tricia thinks it's a good sign that the FBI gets involved so quickly.

[00:22:30] Tricia Delano: Yeah, that was stunning, and to have the FBI contact her and it's like, okay, so there has got to be more behind this. And sure enough, we all come to find out that Vermont was hit pretty hard with the scams against elderly people that particular year. And so Vermont must have had, the whole state must have had a, a, a wide-open file for scamming. But there had to have been a couple that were just enough, close enough to the same type of thing that Jeanette went through to give them a lead on it.

[00:23:08] Bob: So the FBI takes her laptop, they take all her notes. There's a few more phone calls, but then there's a whole lot of silence.

[00:23:15] Bob: Was there a point in this part of the process where almost everybody who has this experience, there's a moment where, okay, you realize the money's been stolen, but still part of you thinks, oh, maybe I'll get it back. And then there's that drop dead moment where you realize, no, the money's just gone. Did you have that experience?

[00:23:34] Jeanette Voss: I had that experience from the get-go.

[00:23:37] Bob: Hmm.

[00:23:38] Jeanette Voss: I never expected to get one cent back.

[00:23:42] Bob: So now faced with an empty bank account and virtually no money, Jeanette starts making drastic changes to her life.

[00:23:51] Jeanette Voss: And I thought, oh my God, how am I going to do this? So I had to, my only income is my Social Security check. Anyway, okay, so I just didn't spend any money.

[00:24:08] Bob: But you had to take some pretty drastic steps. Can you give me some examples of the drastic things you had to do?

[00:24:12] Jeanette Voss: Unplugging everything in my house, well except for the refrigerator and things that had to run all the time. Unplugging lamps and stuff like that. My, if I wanted to make some toast, I'd plug in the toaster, toast the toast, unplug it, take the toast out. Same thing with the coffee machine. My, I didn't use my room lamps, I was using my flashlight on my phone like a candle back in Victorian days. Ooh, walking around the house in the dark with the candle. Unless I needed something, I would plug in a lamp, turn it on, look at whatever I needed to, and then turn it off and say, and be done with it, yeah.

[00:24:55] Bob: Now my understanding of Vermont is that it's cold there.

[00:24:59] Jeanette Voss: Frickin' cold. That's the, yeah. Yes, I had, I went, I got heating assistance through the state, thank you very much, which was about $500 a heating season. I had to qualify, re--, requalify every year which was stressful, justifying that yes, I really am poor, and yes, I really need this, and yes, here's my income, and yeah, just over and over again. But I was able to do that and so that was good.

[00:25:33] Bob: But, but even with that assistance, it, didn't you set your thermostat at a very low temperature?

[00:25:37] Jeanette Voss: 58.

[00:25:39] Bob: You spent January and February in Vermont with your house at 58 degrees.

[00:25:42] Jeanette Voss: Uh-huh, for yes, for a couple years.

[00:25:47] Bob: As time passes, Tricia starts to worry a lot about her friend.

[00:25:52] Tricia Delano: Oh my gosh, yes. Jeanette knows how to live frugally. And I had, our parents were Depression era children. We've learned about frugality throughout life. Our parents spoke about it a lot and that's another thing we had in, in common is just the age group and, and whatnot, but she went from pretty much being able to go out to eat whenever she wanted and whatnot, she got her budget down and we went through the budget. I got her connected with Oil & Utility Assistance, and then I, she told me how much she was budgeting for food, and it wasn't very much. I said, "No. You need more. You need more." And sure enough, I went with her to one of her doctor's appointments, and I hadn't seen her in a couple of months, and I was floored. She stood up and she was walking and she must have lost 25 pounds.

[00:26:54] Bob: Oh my God.

[00:26:55] Tricia Delano: And she's a, yeah, she's a tall woman, and not heavyset, and sideways it reminded me of when my mother was sick with cancer. I almost fell over. And I spoke with her physician, and I said, "What was her weight last time? I am really concerned about this. She has dropped a lot of weight." And so we got her doing Ensure drinks, I had her buying bagels, I'd bring her donuts, but she wouldn't even turn lights on in the house.

[00:27:33] Bob: But I'm glad you made that comparison though, because it, it is a terrible illness going through something like this.

[00:27:37] Tricia Delano: Yes. It, it literally was eating away at her body.

[00:27:44] Bob: Maybe these steps sound extreme to you, but they won't when you hear about the tax bills Jeanette was facing.

[00:27:51] Jeanette Voss: Because I had to sell all this, my stocks and stuff, it looked like I was very wealthy. The IRS charged me, they charged me for however much money it was, hundreds of thousands of dollars. I had, I believe it was almost $200,000 in tax money that I owed between the Feds and Vermont State.

[00:28:17] Bob: $200,000?

[00:28:19] Jeanette Voss: Because I sold a lot of stocks and stuff.

[00:28:23] Bob: Oh my God. And your house is 58 degrees and they say you owe $200,000?

[00:28:26] Jeanette Voss: Uh-huh. Uh-huh.

[00:28:28] Bob: Wow.

[00:28:30] Bob: She's eventually able to reach a settlement with the IRS, but she has no such luck with her property taxes, so she still owes a lot in taxes despite staying in her freezing-cold home. And she lives like this for more than four years. But eventually that conversation with Amanda and her report with the FBI, it bears fruit.

[00:28:55] Tricia Delano: There is an arrest. We were like, what?! We were shocked. And great!

[00:29:03] Bob: Jeanette is assigned a victim advocate. As part of that process, she's asked to fill out forms for restitution. If investigators find some of the money the criminals stole, maybe Jeanette will get some.

[00:29:16] Jeanette Voss: Oh yeah, I would check in with her every month. If I didn't hear anything, it was very month. So we did this, give me ack my money form, which was great. I signed it in August of '23.

[00:29:28] Bob: Okay, so in the interim, did these guys you know go to trial and they were convicted or...

[00:29:32] Jeanette Voss: Apparently, they went to trial and two, the two of the three of them were in jail for four months. I thought, okay, that's better than nothing. It doesn't matter to me. But at least they went to jail. And then the leader or the, the head guy of the scam was sentenced to do an additional 7 years. So they released him and he forgot to show up for jail.

[00:30:01] Bob: Oh boy.

[00:30:02] Jeanette Voss: So he, and I, he went back to Vietnam on a, probably a fake passport is what the government thinks.

[00:30:09] Bob: Wow.

[00:30:11] Jeanette Voss: Smart guy. Obviously if I were given the choice, I'd get out of Dodge.

[00:30:14] Bob: Wow, but how does that feel for you?

[00:30:18] Jeanette Voss: I have no feelings about it. I can't have feelings about it. He did some jail time. Good, you know.

[00:30:24] Bob: Did someone say, oh, we did seize some cash. Or did you know there was money somewhere?

[00:30:28] Jeanette Voss: D--, DOJ was just investigating and when they told me they could only get back to me what they could trace, I knew that they found $650,000. They could trace my wire transfers is what it turned out to be.

[00:30:44] Bob: But at that moment, it must have been amazing for you that there was money that you might get back.

[00:30:48] Jeanette Voss: Well, yeah, but I didn't believe it. I'm sorry, I couldn't believe it. Until it was in my bank account, I was not going to believe it.

[00:30:57] Tricia Delano: I remember we, we were talking about it, and she would cop--, copy me on all, all the correspondence, so I had a file as well. So I think I learned through that. I don't think she told me. I think there was one thing I had read and I called her and I said, "You do understand this, this is leading me to believe that they may have recovered some of the funds. I don't know how much, but something's better than nothing." And she just said, "I'll believe it when I see it."

[00:31:31] Bob: Even still, Tricia encourages Jeanette to keep checking with the victim advocate.

[00:31:37] Tricia Delano: "You email her every single month, you ride them until you get it. That is your money." I said, I thought for sure, and I know this sounds terrible, but I'm old enough to have seen enough at this point that I didn't think our government would give it back to her. I thought they would tax her to death left and right, and give her a, like a stipend from it, and using the excuse that it, it cost this many man hours and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So this is, this is what, what is left. I thought on the high end she might get about $20,000.

[00:32:23] Bob: But by the time December 2025 rolls around, she hears something even more intriguing from the FBI.

[00:32:31] Jeanette Voss: I found out, my victim specialist contacted me and she said, oh, I heard from the Secret Service money laundering, all the agencies were sending me a letter saying that I was going to get money back, and here's the electronic transfer form, an ACH form to have my bank fill out and send back.

[00:32:57] Bob: She fills out the direct deposit information, but Jeanette, sitting in her cold, dark house, her faith in humanity still shaky, she is very suspicious of everything that's happening to her.

[00:33:10] Jeanette Voss: So I'm waiting for this letter to arrive. It doesn't come and it doesn't come. The 10th, and it's now the 13th, and I'm thinking, okay, well snow or whatever. And I thought, okay, it was so good that my victim specialist sent me the form and a copy of the letter on email, so I know that it's coming. And it didn't show up and didn't show up. And I thought, oh my God. Is this part of the scam? Is it that deep that it's, like I'm right at the finish line and oh my God. And okay, so that's what I was thinking. That was, yeah, like the 20th of December.

[00:33:53] Bob: And then, Christmas Eve rolls around and my guess is you never heard of a Christmas gift quite like this before.

[00:34:02] Jeanette Voss: So my routine is that every morning I get up and I look at my bank account to make sure that the pennies in my checking account are there so they cover what I have out. And then I look at my credit cards, and I have a routine. So then the 23rd, Christmas Eve eve, I looked at my checking account, you know all, thank God things were perfect, and I kind of glanced at my savings account, and it, the balance started with the 1, and I thought, okay, that's where, oh, that's right, that's where I had that check from yesterday, that threw it over to a 1. And when I got out of the bank and off the bank line and went to the newspaper and I was like, wait a second, where, what was that in my savings account? And So I went back and I saw I had a million dollars and a million-thirty-three-thousand-dollar deposit from the government. And I went, what?

[00:35:04] Bob: That's amazing.

[00:35:06] Jeanette Voss: And my life changed in so many ways in that overnight deposit. I was literally stunned.

[00:35:16] Bob: You heard that right. Jeanette, cold, hungry Jeanette is suddenly a millionaire. She's so stunned she doesn't call Tricia right away. But...

[00:35:31] Tricia Delano: Okay. 7:40 am, Wednesday, December 24th, in capital letters, "I GOT MY MONEY!" And she says, "I guess I won't need my second cup of coffee." (laughs). And I text her back and I just, in capitals, "WHAT? MERRY CHRISTMAS! WHEN DID IT COME IN?" She says, "I am stunned. Overnight." And I said, "I am sure, but a much better stunned than when it was gone, ha." And I just said, "And I couldn't be more pleased." And I said, "Your higher power aligned all to do the right thing for someone who is so deserving." And she says, "Odd investment plan."

(laughter)

[00:36:21] Bob: It was a 4½ year ordeal that suddenly ended with a single keystroke.

[00:36:28] Jeanette Voss: Yeah, I was stunned, prob--, probably for almost a month. There was some level of stunness.

[00:36:34] Bob: Wow.

[00:36:35] Jeanette Voss: Be--, because when, when I think back at it, I had been stressed since Memorial Day of 2021 to Christmas Eve '25.

[00:36:48] Bob: That's a long time to be in the high stress, my God.

[00:36:51] Jeanette Voss: And it's 24/7.

[00:36:53] Bob: Yeah, yeah.

[00:36:54] Jeanette Voss: Even if everything's okay, or it seems to be okay, there's, there are the unrelenting stress is...

[00:37:02] Bob: Well you were thinking about it every time you turned on a light switch, right?

[00:37:05] Bob: So what is the first thing Jeanette does as a freshly minted millionaire?

[00:37:10] Jeanette Voss: The first thing I did was I went to the grocery store and I got a couple things for me, but I was able to pick up a package of raw peanuts for the squirrels outside my door, because the squirrels and the birds were what kept me sane, being able to feed them bird seed or whatever. And treats were dropping hints I couldn't afford, so I went out and bought them peanuts. And the second thing I did was plug in my two lamps in the living room and just left them plugged and when it got dark the next time it was dark, I turned on those lights and I just sat there and looked at there, they happened to both be glass shades like a Tiffany type shade and a glass banker's shade on the lamp. And it just was wonderful to have light in the house. And I turned on the outside lights around my house.

[00:38:10] Bob: Literally your life suddenly lit up.

[00:38:14] Jeanette Voss: Yes. It did.

[00:38:15] Bob: Also, I love that the first thing you did was make sure that the squirrels and birds had a good meal.

[00:38:19] Jeanette Voss: Yes, protein.

[00:38:22] Bob: (laughs)

[00:38:24] Jeanette Voss: Well, and the deer. You know, who knows what else. All my friends like peanuts.

[00:38:30] Bob: The next thing Jeanette does is celebrate properly with Tricia.

[00:38:36] Tricia Delano: Uh, she says, "I am taking you to Chef's Hat for breakfast or lunch, up to you, to celebrate." And I said, "I'm serious, I never thought you'd see a penny of this money, not one cent of it. The stars aligned with a lot of help, a true Christmas miracle." And she says, "I am in 24-hour mode. You can tell Dave, of course." Dave is my husband. And, and I said, "Well, I know going forward you will know where every penny goes; how much things cost, etc. What a life lesson for all of us in so many ways." "It's crazy. I'd need a moment myself. I would probably keep looking at my bank account, LOL." She says, "I took a picture," and I laugh, and I said, "I would do the same." And she says, "I honestly never thought I'd see a penny of it either, especially after pennies were discontinued, ha." Oh.

[00:39:33] Bob: It, but also, she, at this point, is still living in a house in Vermont in the cold with the...

[00:39:38] Tricia Delano: Yes.

[00:39:38] Bob: ... thermostat set at 60 degrees?

[00:39:40] Tricia Delano: Yes.

[00:39:41] Bob: In an instant she's a millionaire.

[00:39:43] Tricia Delano: Yes.

[00:39:44] Bob: It's crazy.

[00:39:44] Tricia Delano: Yes.

[00:39:45] Bob: And right about then, Jeanette realizes there's someone else that she should thank.

[00:39:52] Amanda Wagner: So I got a random email in my school email, which is no one has email, so I was like, who is this? And it says, "Hi, Amanda, congratulations on your marriage," 'cause I changed my last name too, and she figured that out.

[00:40:07] Bob: Wow.

[00:40:07] Amanda Wagner: So she did her research. She said my friend, Art, which is someone I work with at the school, knows her, and I guess figured out who I was through him, "I wanted to let you know that on Christmas Eve I received my money back from the DOJ," which is Department of Justice. "My 4½ year nightmare is finally over. I was stunned and happy." And then she says, "Thank you for your kind support, especially pointing out to me that I was the victim," And she put that in bold, "of the crime and would not be arrested. Happy New Year, Jeanette Voss."

[00:40:42] Bob: Oh wow.

[00:40:43] Amanda Wagner: And I was just like, what?

[00:40:45] Bob: Okay, so you write back and say, hi.

[00:40:47] Amanda Wagner: Yeah, I, I think it took me a day or two. But I was like, "Thank you for reaching out." And I was like, "As officers we often don’t get to hear what happens after our cases are submitted, so it truly does mean a lot to hear this update. I'm so glad you finally received something from DOJ. Have a wonderful Christmas."

[00:41:06] Bob: That's, first, first of all, how often do you get an email from a victim that says I got my money back? That seems like...

[00:41:11] Amanda Wagner: I have never heard that. So when I got it, I instantly was like googling, okay, who is Jeanette? Like, 'cause obviously we talk to hundreds of people all the time, so I'm just who? And then I'm like thinking, wait. That was a lot of money. And I'm like in my head thinking, wow. Like we never had someone get their money back plus some, or any money really.

[00:41:35] Bob: Amanda, by now, has moved on from the local police force. She's now a police instructor, and her students are thrilled when Jeanette's story makes the local news.

[00:41:46] Amanda Wagner: And I was like guess who took that like initial phone call? And they're like, what? I spun it as in the difference you can make with that initial phone call and why it matters so much when you talk to the public that you say the right thing and you not blow off a conversation. 'Cause if I took that call and say I had a long shift, I was having a rough day, I could have easily been like, I'm sorry, there's nothing we can do for you. Good luck. Call your bank.

[00:42:14] Bob: Right.

[00:42:15] Amanda Wagner: But sitting there having a conversation with her, hearing her out, like it really made a difference here, and I was telling my students about how that first phone call can lead to grander things; you never know what a case is going to end up like. And then it also led to me explaining that oftentimes as cops, we never get to hear what happens at the end, so it was like kind of sweet to hear like the ending and the result here.

[00:42:41] Bob: Jeanette's life is forever changed in part because Amanda actually listened, convinced Jeanette that she was a victim and told her fill out all that annoying paperwork even though it seemed for a long time like nothing good would come of that.

[00:42:59] Bob: That's great. Okay, so people are going to want to know, as I leave you here, but how are you today?

[00:43:04] Jeanette Voss: I am swell financially. I'm still, I'm feeling like I earned my retirement twice, and the second time was harder than the first 40 years of collecting my, from saving for retirement. That was, that was easy compared to the last 4½ years trying to get it back.

[00:43:31] Bob: But even after getting the money back with interest, Jeanette is still severely impacted by all that happened.

[00:43:39] Tricia Delano: From that point forward, I think it was gosh, at least five times a week she would call me or text me about something, and that she saw, is this real? Thanks for asking. And she'd say, I'm sorry for contacting you. And no-no-no-no. I don't care if you contact me 10 times a day, no, that's what you do.

[00:44:01] Bob: But these were just she's so unsure of her...

[00:44:05] Tricia Delano: Yes.

[00:44:05] Bob: ...ability to assess now that can you give me a couple of examples of sort of trivial things that she ran by you?

[00:44:09] Tricia Delano: Um, I think it was like something even, is Netflix through an email. And I said, "Send me a picture of it." And I said, "Nope, that's not real," because you get them all the time. Prime Video or it, it wasn't the right letterhead, it wasn't you open the content, and you can tell it's not really from Netflix or from whatever something that she had an account with. And I said, no, there's a lot of them, a lot of these scams, so yes, get in the practice of double or triple checking. And if you still are unsure, then you ask and we'll figure it out.

[00:44:51] Bob: Wow. So is there something that you want people to remember from your story or take away from it?

[00:44:59] Jeanette Voss: Yes. Trust and verify. Or verify and then maybe trust. Don't keep quiet. If somebody says don't tell anyone for your safety or any other reason, tell people. And don't be afraid of, I wasn't intimidated by the government. I thought, oh the government... no, they are very good to me. And they were good to me all the way through.

[00:45:24] Bob: That's good to hear.

[00:45:24] Jeanette Voss: They really wanted to help me.

[00:45:26] Bob: I'm really glad to hear that, yeah, 'cause people have this general impression about the police and about the government and everything, but in this case, you had good human beings who helped you along the way.

[00:45:34] Jeanette Voss: They couldn't have been nicer, yeah.

[00:45:38] Bob: What do you want people to remember or to learn from hearing about this?

[00:45:42] Tricia Delano: I want people to learn that I always have this thing about stupidity bugs me when it comes to commonsense, and I realize now that was a pretty blanket statement that is an ignorant one because I want people to know that there is no such thing as a stupid question. Our elementary teachers used to tell us that, and that still holds true today. Don't be afraid to ask somebody that you trust, or even if there's someone that you really, if you don't have that close person, go to your bank, go to the police. Do something. Don't sit and wait and follow instructions that you're not sure of. Don't go into the fear mode, ask questions. Do nothing. Do nothing until you do something, and question everything. Just question it because it's too easy. And before you do anything, especially when it has to do with your life savings, the money that you need to clothe and feed yourself and house yourself, don't take a chance. You're better off paying a fee or a penalty for not doing it on time than to lose everything. So just ask. Ask somebody.

[00:47:07] Bob: And if you genuinely get in trouble, don't be afraid to go to the police.

[00:47:13] Amanda Wagner: If somebody's in the middle of something, I would tell them, please don't feel embarrassed to talk to us, please don't be silent. Come to us. You can always call any police department and ask for advice; we'll answer. You can talk to dispatchers; you can talk to a real officer. And they're probably going to tell you all the same, hey, you're a victim, this is what you can do, but it can get hard, and you can feel very isolated when you're in it, 'cause maybe family has been warning you and you weren't listening, or you're in too deep. But yeah, you just, just come forward, please, and call us. We can help you find the next direction you have to head.

[00:47:56] Bob: I don't want to overpromise to anyone, but I think most people would be surprised to think if they call a police department that the dispatcher may very well be able to immediately connect you to someone who can talk to you, right?

[00:48:08] Amanda Wagner: Yeah, yep, you can talk to a police officer. You can request an officer. Obviously, bigger agencies, it's a little bit different. Here in small town Bennington, Vermont, you call us, we will most, we're going to probably call you right back. But yeah, that's part of community policing is being available and making sure that the community feels trust in you, that you are there to help them no matter what.

[00:48:33] Bob: And you never know, that one phone call could really change someone's life, right?

[00:48:36] Amanda Wagner: Yeah. You never know. You might be sitting in a patrol typing reports and you get that phone call, and you have to sit there and tell her that you are not in trouble. Please, you're a victim. Make the report. It can help others. It could stop that person from continuing to scam, because most likely, you're not the only one being scammed. They probably have multiple people on the hook, and maybe they haven't come forward.

[00:49:04] Bob: Do it for someone else, even if you're not doing it for yourself. Yeah, sure, you know and often it feels like you're not doing anything right away.

[00:49:11] Amanda Wagner: Yeah.

[00:49:12] Bob: It's unsatisfying to fill out, I think we have to be honest with people, right?

[00:49:14] Amanda Wagner: Yep.

[00:49:15] Bob: You lost a bunch of money, you fill out a form, they make you fill out lots of forms and nothing happens and you're like, why did I do that?

[00:49:20] Amanda Wagner: Yeah, but it's a lot of sitting, waiting around.

[00:49:23] Bob: Yeah, and so that, that's frustrating. But I think we're excited about this story because it's, it's a really great example of why it's worth filling out the paperwork and it's worth waiting several years, right?

[00:49:35] Amanda Wagner: Oh yeah, in this case it was worth making that call, making that report. She was able to get her money and then some, which is amazing. We've never seen that.

[00:49:46] Bob: Yeah, to get her money back with interest or what, that's just incredible.

[00:49:49] Amanda Wagner: Yeah. That's wi--, wild to me.

[00:49:51] Bob: It's obvious Jeanette was lucky that it was Amanda who took that first phone call. Imagine if it were an officer who said, there's nothing we can do. So it's great that one of Amanda's jobs is now teaching the next generation of police officers how to respond with empathy which had me wondering how do you teach empathy?

[00:50:13] Amanda Wagner: I think it starts with field training, your field training officer. Making sure that they teach that right off the bat. Um, I got taught in the academy, and I think on field training that it doesn't matter if it's somebody's broken flower pot or a stolen car; treat them all the same because you never know like where they are in that point in life. And so you, you always just have to train your, the newbie cop to just have that empathetic, caring personality, or you try to push that. 'Cause it, we all know that sugar goes farther, right, than sour.

[00:50:54] Bob: Yeah, yeah.

[00:50:55] Amanda Wagner: You're going to get more when you're kind. You can get more out of everything, like they'll tell you more, like than being a sour cop. You get to build relationships with the public, you get to hear their side of the story, and it's important that you just listen.

[00:51:12] Bob: Yeah, it strikes me, I'm trying, now it's been a few years since I've been 18, so my memory's hazy. If I were 18 and I wanted to be a cop, I would imagine that I wanted to like jump over cars and chase bad guys with a gun, whereas far more of your time as a police officer is spent doing what you're describing, right?

[00:51:30] Amanda Wagner: Yeah, the majority of our work is community policing. And that's just getting to know the public and making sure that you're the best self, you're your very best self for everybody. Even on your worst day, you have to be that best person for everybody 'cause you never know where they're going to be in their life at that moment. They could have just lost somebody or been in a traumatic incident, or lost their entire lifesavings. Yeah, I don't know. It's, they just want to go, all the rookies want to go gung-ho, but it is a very important skill to have is talking to people and listening, being patient.

[00:52:13] Bob: I'm glad that you're the one teaching them that. I can tell that comes pretty naturally to you, Amanda.

[00:52:18] Amanda Wagner: Thank you.

[00:52:21] Bob: Also Amanda told me her students at Southwest Tech would be listening, so a shout out to them, and I'm sure they'll all be empathetic officers in the future, and who knows, maybe one of them will help a victim recover a million dollars.

[00:52:36] Bob: I'm sure they're all very excited, especially when you bring in your real-life stories.

[00:52:39] Amanda Wagner: Yeah, they love it. They love to hear about what I've done, what I'm doing, and they were actually excited that I was on a podcast, and they wanted me to share it with them, so I guess when it posts I'll have to share it with the class.

[00:52:53] Bob: Okay, so a bunch of future police officers will be listening to this podcast.

[00:52:57] Amanda Wagner: Yes. So I can't mess up because they will make fun of me.

[00:52:01] Bob: (laughs)

[00:52:02] Bob: For The Perfect Scam, I'm Bob Sullivan.

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[00:53:22] Bob: If you have been targeted by a scam or fraud, you're not alone. Call the AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline at 877-908-3360. Their trained fraud specialists can provide you with free support and guidance on what to do next. Our email address at The Perfect Scam is: theperfectscampodcast@aarp.org, and we want to hear from you. If you've been the victim of a scam or you know someone who has, and you'd like us to tell their story, write to us. That address again is: theperfectscampodcast@aarp.org. Thank you to our team of scambusters; Associate Producer, Annalea Embree; Researcher, Becky Dodson; Executive Producer, Julie Getz; and our Audio Engineer and Sound Designer, Julio Gonzalez. Be sure to find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. For AARP's The Perfect Scam, I'm Bob Sullivan.

(MUSIC OUTRO)

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