Eureka Police and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service are investigating a scam that cost a 67-year-old Eureka woman $357,000. The woman’s home in the 18500 block of South Fox Creek Lane had been damaged by fire in January 2021, and the money she lost had come from her insurance company to cover the damage, Eureka Police reported.
A Department of Health and Senior Services case worker took the woman to the Eureka Police Station on June 14 to report that she had fallen victim to the scam. The victim reportedly had been contacted by someone claiming to be a Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) agent twice in late 2021, shortly after she had received the money from her insurance company, the report said.
The victim told police the scammer told her she was being investigated because a package she had ordered contained illegal drugs and bullets. The alleged scammer told her she and her family members would be sent to prison unless the DEA could verify her assets, according to the report.