Enid Family Warns Of Cyber Scam

 An Enid family is out hundreds of dollars and now short of what it had planned to spend for Christmas.

Trischa Cox said she received a text message claiming to be from Amazon and urgently instructing her to take action on an account claiming to be hacked.

"I'm thinking, because I'm only 42, that I'm up on all the scams and that it's obvious, but I obviously wasn't," Cox said. "So, I want people to be aware that they're very slick and ruthless."

After some back and forth, Cox ended up on a phone call with her scammer who, eventually, wrapped in the whole family. The entire family was out hundreds of dollars.

"I lost $91," said Shelly Cox, Trischa's mother. "That was everything I had after paying all my bills and stuff. That's all that I had left on my card from my disability that I got. And that was what I was saving back for my little bit of Christmas."

The mother and daughter work together to care for their terminally ill ex-husband and father.

"God will provide, I do believe that," Trischa said. "So, I have faith and it just, you know, [the scam] makes it extremely more difficult. But it'll be okay."

The Cox family reported the scam to Enid Police. Trischa said the officers told her companies will usually send mail, and not text messages.

They also suggested being on the lookout for accents, suggesting an overseas cybercriminal could be at the helm.

"I just want to put it out there so that people are aware because times are tough now," she said. "I had an Amazon account that I never use but still fell victim. So, it's just they're getting smarter with every technology that goes on. And I just want people to be aware because it's not okay."

The Better Business Bureau reminds people to be skeptical of anyone who approaches someone online. They recommend calling official company numbers to confirm any messages alleging to be sent on a company's behalf.