Woman in Chicago northwest suburb loses nearly $1.6 million in phone scam

Lake Zurich woman loses over $1 million in phone scam

LAKE ZURICH, Ill. (CBS) — A northwest suburban woman was scammed of over $1 million by someone posing as a police officer in China.

The Lake Zurich Police Department said it's working with the FBI to investigate the scam.

They say the 51-year-old was told to pay up by an unknown caller or face criminal prosecution. Over five months, she wired $1.58 million to multiple accounts.

The FBI recently warned about cyber-criminals pretending to represent the People's Republic of China, which has been known to harass and threaten Chinese nationals living abroad.

Chicago
Lake Zurich
Suburb
Scam Alert

Jeramie Bizzle

Jeramie Bizzle is a web producer for CBS Chicago. Jeramie began working with CBS Chicago as an intern in 2017 and returned as a full-time Web Producer in 2021. He has previously written for the Austin Weekly Newspaper, OakPark.com and Sportskeeda.