KILL DEVIL HILLS, N.C. (WAVY) — While this season is often a time of giving, it’s also a time where many fall victims to scams. Such as the case for an elderly woman scammed out of almost $10,000 in Kill Devil Hills.

A “virus alert” warning popped up while the resident was browsing the internet. The victim called the number on the warning message, and was told that her identity was compromised. She was transferred to a false representative from her bank, and was told her account was compromised. She was then directed to withdraw all the money from the account, purchase gifts card using the funds and provide the gift card information to the false representative.

She was informed they would keep the money safe, and return it when the identity fraud case was resolved. The 80-year-old woman went to a local bank, withdrew around $9,800 and purchased gifts card from various retail outlets.

So far, in 2023, Kill Devil Hills residents have reported losses to internet scams totaling around $62,000, with individual losses ranging between $80 and $29,000. This figure does not include reports of fraudulent checks, stolen credit card numbers,and other forms of identity theft.

Cyber-crimes/fraud can be reported online to the FBI at www.ic3.gov.