Over $100,000 scammed from a Gwinnett County woman has been returned.
The Gwinnett County Police Department (GCPD) reported that the woman victim was in the process of buying a home in December of 2022.
That’s when she received an email from a scammer portraying themselves as her closing attorney.
The scammer reportedly directed the woman to send $131,092 via wire transfer to “finalize the sale” of her new home.
GCPD says that this type of scam is called a business email compromise scam. This scam generally targets businesses that send large wire transfers.
After sending the money, the victim quickly realized it was not sent to her closing attorney but instead sent to a JP Morgan Chase bank account in New York.
GCPD detectives discovered that the money was sent to an account controlled by Edina Winter of Glen Cove, New York.
Detectives with the Glen Cove Police Department confirmed that Winter had nothing to do with the sale of the house and was in possession of the victim’s money.
Winter was charged in New York and returned $45,092 that she used from the funds. With the help of JP Morgan Chase, GCPD was able to seize the remaining $86,000 and return it to the victim.
