(La Porte County, IN) - A La Porte area woman fell victim to a PayPal telephone scam but wised up in time to prevent further losses.

According to La Porte County, the 77 year old La Porte area woman last night reported the caller identifying himself as “Jerry” claimed to be an employee of PayPal.

Supposedly, the woman had a past due debt that Jerry claimed she could settle by purchasing gift cards containing money and giving him the card numbers for withdrawing the cash.

Police said the women went out and purchased $300 worth of gift cards and texted him the numbers. In addition, the woman told police she gave out the numbers to her bank accounts.

At some point, she became suspicious enough to have her accounts frozen and the numbers changed before “Jerry” could start making withdrawals prior to her contacting police.

As a result, she was out just the $300 she spent on the gift cards, police said.