Convincing scammer steals credit card information from senior citizens, police say

GASTONIA, N.C. — A woman scammed six senior citizens in Gastonia, police said.

Some victims lost tens of thousands of dollars. One victim was scammed out of $80,000

Deirbra Collier convinced them to hand over their credit card numbers because they had people whose sole job is to retrieve canceled cards and later personally drop off a new card, police said.

"I think it's awful," a victim, Elease Cole, 96, said.

She was frustrated about the scheme.

"(To) take what they have worked hard for all their lives and try to destroy it," Cole said.

The widow said it started with a phone call from a woman claiming to work for Discover credit card.

"(She) asked me have I agreed to let somebody use your card and I said, 'No,’” Cole said. “Nobody uses this card but me."

The caller said someone charged $1,100 on Cole's card and it had to be canceled.

"’If you don't let us have this card,’ she said, ‘You can't get another card," Cole said.

She was very convincing, Cole said.

"Getting off the phone with her was a hard time cause she was very convincing," Cole said.

Cole never got a new card the caller promised. Instead, someone charged $857 on her card, police said..

Police said it was Collier and she used the same method to scam six people in Gastonia.

The victims were in their 80s and 90s, and all had Discover cards.

"It's a terrible thing to do to anybody," victim Margaret King said.

King, 86, said they grew up during a time when strangers could be trusted.

"You never heard of anybody trying to take things away from people," King said.

She said Collier took her card and charged $1,600 and stole her peace of mind.

"I'm scared now,” King said. “It makes me a little bit uneasy."

Collier was wanted for similar operations in Michigan.

Investigators said people who target the elderly hope they will be embarrassed and won't report the crime.

Collier was later arrested.

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