anyone ever have a private investigator try to scam you?

I got this email a couple of days ago, someone said they were sending me this phone for $277, I called the number and told them I didn't order it and not to ship it. the girl I talked to transferred me to this other guy who said he was a private investigator. he wanted to test my bank acct cause he thought maybe they'd take out the $277. he said he was going to put $18000 in my acct and he wanted me to take it out and send it back using a Bitcoin machine. that didn't work cause it wouldn't scan, so he wanted to try gift cards, for some reason that didn't work either. he had said something like he didn't want me to check my acct for 24 hrs, I decided to check it anyways and that's when I found out the money I withdrew was from my acct and he never deposited anything, he was trying to steal my money, I did report it to my bank, I hope I don't have to change my acct number, cause I get social security that way, I never gave him the number, just the name of the bank, he don't have my debit card number either, then this morning he tried to call me when I had already blocked him, I told him not to call again or I will send the police after him and its my money he wanted to take, not his. he hung up after that, I also reported him on the donotcall.gov list too, cause he was calling me when I had blocked him, probably using another phone, he also wasted a lot of my time with the bitcoin machine and being on the phone a lot when I wanted to do other stuff. since I've reported what he did to my bank is the police going to go after him, I gave them his number and name. was he really a private investigator or some crook? I'm keeping the cash with me cause then he cant get it out of my bank acct, also when I went to my bank one of the neighbors in the other bldg was there too at the same time I was, I heard he steals from people so it made me wonder if it could've been him changing his name? any ideas of why someone that claims they're a private investigator would act like this? will the bank or the phone place send the police after him? wondered if the police was going to contact me to ask me about it. any ideas of why someone would do this?

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ArishMell · 70-79, M

Oh, your last question - motive - is easy.

They are cowardly, parasitical but determined thieves who simply want your money. They do not care who you are or how much harm it will do you.

It's clear they wanted your bank-account details so they could empty your savings.

Your very first sentence tells us this was a fraud attempt. An unsolicited, unexpected message from a complete stranger about delivering a 'phone for money you have not paid, on an order you have not made.

Of course he was not a "private investigator". He was one of the thieves. So was the woman - they are both members of the gang involved.

You should have asked the bank to ensure your account and bank-cards are safe, blocked the message-sender, and if you have the service available, forwarded his message to the relevant scam-reporting body.

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. How to Protect Yourself In Future?

NEVER believe being instructed to expect goods you have not ordered, nor prizes in competitions you have not entered. Neither the goods nor competitions exist - the ruse is to obtain your bank details.

NEVER obey instructions to make strange money-transfers even if the caller or message pretends to be a police or bank officer. The transfers are into the thieve's own accounts.

NEVER reveal any of your bank details including security information like PINs to people pretending to be from the bank, the police, private investigators, tax office, computer companies, etc. Real ones will never ask you for such details.

NEVER reply to, or follow up, messages or select any link, button or other control.

BEWARE of telephone calls pretending to let you ring off and verify the instructions really are from your bank. The thieves somehow manage to maintain their access, so when you ring the number (which they might give you), you are in fact telephoning the gang, not your bank.

If you need verify a call or message, wait for a while then use the bona-fide contact number or address, not any that the caller has given you.

ALWAYS Block and Delete messages clearly from fraudsters. Sometimes the messages will be very convincing, by the thieves having copied the letter-heads and pro-formas of real organisations; but careful reading of the sending address as well as the text and general appearance often gives the game away. The real organisations would not contact you like that anyway.

Block the sending name and domain, but name only if the domain is a common one like gmail, so you can still receive genuine messages via it. If possible forward the message to the relevant body for investigation. Your bank will very probably have its own, as may your ISP.

ALWAYS be very careful about your telephone and Internet use, security, and personal privacy. Remember the more you use open "social"[?]-media, on-line shopping from major retailers, etc, the more you feed the international, commercial trade in personal details. And that trade does not care about you and I, only our money.
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May you never fall for any of these evil people in future.