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Oxnard resident tells California Senate she lost life savings to tech-support scam, urges banking and tax changes
Summary
Lynn Knox told the California State Senate committee she withdrew cash, sold retirement assets and bought gold at scammers' direction after a tech-support pop-up; she urged requirements for trusted contacts, stronger withdrawal flags, three-day holds and a state tax deduction for victims.
Lynn Knox, a 72-year-old Oxnard resident, told the California State Senate Committee on Banking and Financial Institutions that a tech‑support scam cost her nearly all of her retirement savings and left her emotionally devastated.
Knox told the committee she first saw a pop‑up on her home computer warning that her device had been compromised and was instructed to call a number posted on the alert. "I was getting ready to retire, spend time with my family, and travel. I was working in my home computer and suddenly received a pop up message followed by loud sounds and flashing warning me that my computer had been compromised," she said. The callers told her she was under investigation and needed to transfer cash and buy gold to protect accounts.
The testimony described a sequence of instructions Knox said she followed over about 10 weeks: remote‑access software installation, multiple cash withdrawals, seven arranged gold purchases, and courier pick‑ups. "I was instructed to go immediately to the bank, withdraw my cash, and take a picture of my withdrawal slip and send it to Albert," Knox said, using the name the scammer gave her. She said couriers took the packaged cash and gold and later stopped responding.
Knox said she depleted a 401(k), an IRA trust fund and a personal pension plan. She told the committee she reported the crime to Citibank, the Oxnard Police Department, the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), the FTC and the Ventura County district attorney.
In her testimony Knox proposed specific state steps: require banks and financial institutions to annually recommend customers add a trusted contact on accounts, improve withdrawal tracking and flagging, impose a three‑day hold on accounts showing suspicious activity, hold gold dealers to fiduciary standards comparable to banks, and allow a state tax deduction for scam losses (she referenced the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 as making federal relief unavailable).
Chair Senator Grayson thanked Knox for testifying and invited her to stay for questions from the panel.
Knox told the committee she is sharing her story to warn others and urged lawmakers to act: "I look to you and others in our state government to take immediate steps to provide remedies which will help protect me and the many others in California that are victims of these terrible scams."
