Sophisticated Phone Scam

A refugee family from Nepal, trying to live the American dream gets taken hard by scammers. Santi Gautam and her family live in Colorado Springs. Several weeks she received a phone call that would change her life and trust in others. Someone called saying they were from the U.S. Government. The caller went on to say, they were doing a survey of Nepal refugees and Santi was selected to get ten thousand dollars.

Santi told me she and her family thought it was too good to be true. However, she says that the caller knew specific details about her and her family. Those personal details included where she lived in Nepal, the refugee camp she was in before coming to America and where she lives now in Colorado Springs. The caller also had a translator who spoke her native language, fluently.

Santi’s sent out three western union money payments to an address in India. The caller said one of the payments would go to a charity of her choice. The checks totaled 16 hundred dollars. Santi told me, “That money was not a small amount for me. It was really bad. I’m new in the United States.”

Bill Van Tol is a family friend who’s involved with refugees from Bhutan and Nepal the past three years. He helps them feel more at home in America. He told me, “I’m heartbroken, to see this happen to them. They have been doing everything to rebuild their life. To have this violation of their dignity, is a tremendous offense.”