Oklahoma woman convicted of scamming retiree out of $1 million

An Oklahoma woman is going to prison for scamming a retiree out of more than $1 million.

The U.S. Attorney's Office said Amber Nicole Pickelsimer, a 45-year-old woman, defrauded the retired victim out of her retirement savings.

“They concocted a whole web of lies,” said Josh MacDiarmid, an FBI supervisory special agent. MacDiarmid says Pickelsimer from Healdton spun his web of lies online targeting a retired acquaintance.

“In this case we had a victim that someone picked up, reported it to the police and passed it on to us, we were able to address it,” he said.

Investigators say Pickelsimer created fake Facebook accounts, including one with the name of a famous actor.

“At one point the name Bradley Cooper was used,” he said. “I'm pretty sure it's to imitate the actor from American Sniper.”

MacDiarmid said it was a ruse, where the accused used the fake accounts to contact the victim pretending to reveal damaging details about a family member unless they delivered large sums of money. money to a deposit site.

“The subject was attacking the victim,” he said.

The investigation revealed that Pickelsimer continued the scheme for 19 months with more fake personas, demanding additional payments, until someone notified the FBI.

“In fact, we receive hundreds of complaints every day from people who have been victims of similar circumstances,” MacDiarmid said.

The FBI encourages victims to immediately report the crime to law enforcement and online at www.ic3.gov.

“We have a team that works 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year and can prevent this money from going overseas or falling into the hands of bad guys,” he said . “Someone came after you and took your money and while it's not the same as having your house invaded or your car stolen, we really want you to realize that we and the local authorities are here to help you.”

The FBI partnered with the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office and the Oklahoma Department of Insurance to host a fraud prevention conference July 12, 19 and 26 at the new Metro Tech District Center, 1900 Springlake Dr, OKC, OK 73111. Registration is open, and you can attend online or in person.

Click here for more information: or you can call 405-713-1086.