St. Matthews woman shares story after being scammed out of $1.7 million

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A St. Matthews woman says she lost more than a million dollars to fraud within a matter of months.

According to Federal Trade Commission, fraud incidents have increased in recent years as a record $10 billion was stolen from Americans in 2023.

Patti Kaster was scammed out of everything, including her home, in a matter of months.

"It was horrible," Kaster said. "I lost everything, absolutely everything."

The 75-year-old shared her story at an AARP event Wednesday to warn other people about red flags.

"I just can't believe I was so naïve," Kaster said.

It all started with a call from someone claiming to be from Stock Yards Bank and Trust asking her about recent Amazon orders. When Kaster said she didn't buy anything, the woman on the phone sent her to another person claiming to be from the Federal Trade Commission.

That person said Kaster was accused of laundering money.

"They scare you and of course the money laundering made me worry," Kaster said.

Between March and August last year, the scammers made her think she was fixing her problems by asking her to send money via crypto currency. Police said crypto currency is harder to trace.

Kaster even put money on her front porch for the scammers to pick up.

"They had masks on, so I didn't really see them that well," Kaster said. "Because I went and came back into the house and they picked up the box with the money in it. I thought it was strange that they were picking up money that way, but I should've been more aware of what was going on."

She ended up liquidating all of her assets, including stocks, mutual funds, an IRA and her 401K after working 30 years for Humana.

Kaster even sold her house.

"$1.7 million (gone)," Kaster said.

The Kentucky Attorney General said Kentuckians lost more than $52 million to fraud last year. Now, Kaster is determined to make sure no one else falls victim.

"Just be leery of when they want you to sell your assets because they're going to benefit off them," Kaster said.

St. Matthews Police and other law enforcement agencies are investigating the case, but no arrests have been made.

An AARP report found that 42% of American adults have personally experienced fraud.

People can protect themselves from scammers by avoiding unsolicited communications, use distinctly different passwords for every accounts, be careful about activity on social media, use protective software and report fraud.

Call the AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline at 877-908-3360 or report it with the AARP Scam Tracking Map.

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