After meeting up with a scammer several times, a Lakewood resident realized he had been scammed, TLS has exclusively learned.

The resident was contacted by a scammer who told him his bank account wasn’t secure, and he needed to “secure” his account by handing over the money to an “agent”.

But after meeting with the scammer multiple times, he started getting suspicious. That’s when he realized he was the victim of a scam.

In total, the victim lost approximately $20,000.

Residents are urged to stay vigilant and always call back an official bank number or other institution’s number before acting on a demand for money via a phone call.