Family Had No Idea Father Was Being Scammed

Managing Editor/Publisher

This is the second story in a series about an elaborate scam which resulted in the loss of $30,000 to a Lakin, Kan., man.

LAKIN, Kan. - The day started out like any other - there were tasks to be done, one of which he had done many times before - file his taxes.

Tom Grauberger, 87, sat down at his computer April 1, opened up Turbo Tax in order to complete his taxes before the April 15 deadline, and ultimately lost $30,000.

As soon as he entered the Website for Turbo Tax, his computer locked up.

"Microsoft Defender showed up on my screen and said something about a 'problem with this computer'," Grauberger said. "It said to 'call this number', so I did,"

When Grauberger made the phone call, the guy who answered the phone identified himself with an employee number and proceeded to tell Grauberger there was a "lot of illegal activity on his computer". The voice on the other end of the phone asked Grauberger if he wanted to report the activity and he immediately told him "yes".

What followed over the next couple of weeks he will not soon forget.

The "voices" on the other end of the phone monitored him almost non stop. They constantly issued threats of possible arrest and warned him against telling anyone about their "investigation" in to the "illegal activity". He was not to even tell his family, and for several days he didn't.

His children noticed something wasn't quite right and that their father wasn't acting like himself.

"He was acting a little squirrelly," Leal said.

Especially when a phone app they all share told a different tale than what they heard from their father.

"We all have 'find my phone', so we can see where our family members are if we need to," said Grauberger's daughter, Debi Leal. "My sister in Wichita happened to open the app, because she wanted to call one of her daughters and wanted to first make sure she wasn't busy in a class or a meeting."

Leal said her sister noticed their father's phone showed he was in Newton, Kan.

"That is where his financial advisor is located," Leal said. "My sister asked, 'why is he in Newton and why didn't he come and see me?' Well, it turns out he didn't want her to know he was in Newton."

Leal said her other sister then called him and asked what he was doing to see what he would say. He told her he had grubs in his yard and that he had been working in his garden.

"(Dad) told her he was going to try to kill the grubs, eat lunch and then take a nap," Leal said. "Well, no he wasn't - he was in Newton. My sister called me and asked 'why is daddy lying to me?' I told her I didn't know and for her to call him and ask him."

His purpose for going to Newton - to withdraw from his retirement money to the tune of $200,000. He had the money transferred to Grant County Bank in Ulysses.

That night, when Grauberger returned from Newton, he called Leal.

"He called me because I had been trying to call him to see what he would tell me," Leal said.

In the meantime, Leal learned from one of her sisters that her mother-in-law had been the "almost victim" of a scam.

"She lives in St. Louis, and the caller told her they worked for the FBI and she needed to withdraw all of her money out of the bank and she couldn't tell anybody," Leal said. "When they asked her what the money was for, she told her bank she needed the money because she was going to buy a house."

The woman's bank thought her explanation didn't quite ring true.

"So, they called her daughter who is also on her account and got that stopped," Leal said. "I told my dad that story and he started to think he was being scammed as well."

Grauberger received a call from Grant County Bank that night, where banking officials were questioning his request to then wire that money to Hong Kong. By this time, Grauberger had decided he was being lied to.

It was Grauberger's time to turn the tables on the scammers.

"They had been monitoring him by having him leave his phone on constantly," Leal said. "When he got up that morning they asked what his plans were for the day. He told them he was going to buy some grub killer."

Grauberger left his phone on as instructed and went to purchase the grub killer. When he was done with his purchase, he went into "stealth" mode.

"When he left the store, he went to the bank," Leal said. "He was real quiet and left his phone on but left it in the car. My dad went to Grant County Bank and made sure no one could get in to his account and to tell them not to send the wire."

When Grauberger returned to his car, he shut the phone off on his way back home.

"They kept calling him but he wouldn't answer them," Leal said.

The next day, Grauberger was supposed to go his church to assist the priest with a project.

"He went over to the rectory and while he was there, a call came across his phone - it said Kearny County Sheriff''s Department on it," Leal said. "He answered it and put it on speaker."

The caller told Grauberger they were with the sheriff's office and claimed to have received an email from the Federal Trade Commission regarding him.

"The person calling told him he needed to continue with the investigation and if he didn't they were going to issue a warrant for his arrest," Leal said. "My dad told the caller he couldn't hear them very well and he would just go to the sheriff's office.

When Grauberger arrived at the sheriff's office, he soon learned they had not tried to call him.

"The sheriff's office tried calling the scammer's number and they hung up on them," Leal said. "That's where the scam ended. My dad is out $30,000."

Grauberger is now doing everything he can to warn others not to fall for calls like this. His daughter, Leal, is helping him to get the word out. She was the guest speaker at the senior center in Lakin, where she told those in attendance about everything that had happened.

"We understand dad has lost that money," Leal said. "But we want to alert other people who might be potential victims and help if there are already other investigations into other scams like this."

Going back over everything, Leal said her father who is on her cellphone plan, only utilized around 500 minutes. This billing cycle he had used 5,000. She said a warning sign they had to tell them something wasn't right with her dad was that he normally would call them back right away.

She questioned her dad on why somethings occurred as they did, because it could have been much worse.

"I told him I didn't understand - there were several days between April 3 and when he went to his financial advisor in Newton," Leal said. "He didn't go to Newton until around April 15. I asked him what was going on during that time with the scammers. He said they were pressuring him to go get his money from his retirement account."

Grauberger told Leal he kept telling them no, but they persisted.

"They told him they had to register his money to prove it didn't come from money laundering - he said he argued with them for several days," Leal said.   

Grauberger, a former Ulysses resident, worked for Amoco in Ulysses from 1964 until l965, before he and his late wife moved to Cairo, Egypt.

According to Leal, her father has continually banked in Grant County since 1964.

Watch next week's edition for more on this story.