Saskatchewan man shares story of losing $30,000 to text scam just before Christmas

A Prince Albert man said he lost nearly $30,000 to a text message scam just before Christmas.

A Prince Albert man said he lost nearly $30,000 to a text message scam just before Christmas.

Norm Richards told CTV he received a text Dec. 21 that appeared to be from PayPal.

The text said he had authorized a payment to Walmart. Concerned, Richards called the 1-800 number that was included in the message and spoke with someone who said they were a manager.

"It seemed to me that he was being trustworthy," Richards explained. "So, I went along with the inquiries he made and things he asked me to do."

The scammer convinced Richards to make gift card purchases and to share his debit and credit card information.

Within a few hours his bank account was drained along with his crypto wallet, which he says contained funds valued at over $22,000 USD.

"I had an account with one of the companies that handle, bitcoin trading and they convinced me to get in there too," he said.