Scammers stole $15,000 from a Bell Buckle-area woman before relatives stepped in, a Bedford County deputy was told Thursday.

The victim said a “computer virus” was causing ad pop-ups saying her bank account had been compromised.

She called a number in the pop-ups, and a man claiming to be “Mike Wilson” asked for the 800 number on the back of her bank card. The deputy thinks that allowed the scammers to determine her bank.

They requested her to send front and back photos of her driver’s license with the bar code visible. She did.

At that point a man claiming to be “David Stark” claimed her assets had been compromised. The victim was told in order to keep from losing all her money she need to withdraw $30,000 from her bank, staying on the phone with Stark but keeping it in her pocket while in the building.

She told the deputy she began to panic, went to the bank and withdrew $31,000, and was told to go to the Bitcoin machine inside Liquor Planet in Murfreesboro. On arrival at the Bitcoin machine, she was told to create an account, upload $15,000 and drive to another similar location in Nashville to complete the transaction and protect her assets.

The victim became suspicious and told the men she was stopping at a relative’s home near Interstate 24. The scammers told her to stay on I-24 and proceed to where she’d been ordered. She stopped anyway and was told by the scammers to keep the phone in her pocket and not mention them.

She did tell a family member, who grabbed the phone and told the scammers they’d pay for what they’d done.

“Oh, really, ha, ha, ha,” one scammer said before hanging up on the victim.