Lee County veteran and wife conned out of savings

A veteran and his wife have been conned out of their retirement savings.

The con artist initially told the couple they would help secure their social security account. Instead, the crook stole thousands of dollars.

The con artist got David Johnson, a retired Navy veteran, to send over $20,000 by calling and emailing over and over again. Then, the con artist told Johnson to tell no one, saying it was confidential government business.

Johnson eventually ended up at a Circle K in North Fort Myers, where he sent the thousands as the scammer directed him to use a Bitcoin ATM.

Johnson and his wife, Terri Lynn Johnson, live in North Fort Myers.

Johnson served in the Navy for 20 years and even served during Desert Storm, but today, the Johnsons’ happy home is anything but after multiple scammers working together bamboozled Johnson.

It’s still unknown whether they will be able to get that hard-earned cash back, but the Johnsons want their story out there so this doesn’t happen to anyone else.

“I’m thinking to myself, well, somebody’s got my social security number, and this operation here, which, as I was led to believe, was part of Social Security department or our government, that I went ahead and got this portion of it done,” David said.

Johnson’s wife added, “You have to speak up, and you have to at least say, maybe there’s a way you can retrieve funds. Maybe there’s not. It could be you. It could be me, and unfortunately, this time it’s us. It happens here.”

The Johnsons plan to file a report with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday.

The Social Security Administration urges people to be calm, hang up or not respond to a call or email from someone pretending to be Social Security and report it. It also says that if you get ripped off, don’t blame yourself, but make sure you report it.