New Jersey
7 On Your Side helps retrieve nearly $20k after NJ paramedic scammed by fake bank reps
NEW JERSEY (WABC) — A New Jersey paramedic lost $19,000 after receiving a call from a poser pretending to be her bank.
The impersonator managed to steal money from her personal checking and savings account and also her daughter’s college savings account that was connected.
These types of scams are getting not just more elaborate, but more convincing as well. In this case, the scammers sent an Uber driver to their target’s home to collect a debit card.
Ziamara Lopez is used to saving lives but what happened to her almost put her in cardiac arrest.
“My heart dropped. I was in disbelief,” she told Eyewitness News.
The paramedic, single mom, and grad school student has been saving for her daughter’s college education, ever since Kaiya was born 18 years ago. She said her efforts were nothing but “blood, sweat, tears and hard work.”
In May, Lopez received a call and displayed on the caller ID read ‘Wells Fargo Bank.’ She answered without hesitation.
“She was like ‘Hello, this is so and so from Wells Fargo. We noticed some fraudulent activity on your account. We were calling because we noticed some fraudulent activity on your account. Is there any way that you can check your account and tell me if the charges that you see on your account were made by you,” Lopez said.
The fake bank representative texted, got codes, went into her checking, and then the savings account and stole nearly $20,000; but then, something even more sinister and scary happened.
The imposter falsely claimed Wells Fargo had a collaboration with Uber. This was a blatant lie and a driver was on it’s way to grab her debit card for “forensic analysis.” Now that the thieves had their hands on the physical card, the hackers accessed her linked college fund and drained it completely.
“I don’t even know how to explain it. It was like my heart just left my body. My stomach was at the pit. I just I just started crying. I was on the phone with Wells Fargo, and I’m like this. This can’t be real, right? I’m like, I don’t even understand what just happened. Like, I was on the phone with one of your guys, right,” she said.
Since the scammer had the physical card, it was Christmas in summer. With Ziomara’s email alerts blowing up her phone, the real Wells Fargo was able to stop the bleeding. However, because she had been fooled by that phone call thinking she was actually dealing with her bank, Wells Fargo denied the claim saying Xiamora had enabled the fraud.
“They were basically saying, I’m not getting the money back,” Lopez said.
That’s when she decided to reach out to 7 On Your Side and we asked the bank to revive the account for the paramedic.
Dan Cusick, Wells Fargo’s Vice President of Fraud Prevention issued a reminder and said “the bank will not call you.”
“Don’t trust caller ID. We see that those numbers are spoofed quite often. Meaning, they are pretending to be from a trusted entity. It’s ok to hand up and call them back. There are numbers readily available online,” Cusick told Eyewitness News.
Wells Fargo eventually revived Lopez’s account in full after 7 On Your Side reached out to the financial institution.
“If it wasn’t for you guys, I wouldn’t have my money back. Thank you so much,” she said.
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New Jersey
Today in History: July 12, riot erupts in New Jersey over police beating of Black taxi driver
Today is Sunday, July 12, the 193rd day of 2026. There are 172 days left in the year.
Today in History:
On July 12, 1967, rioting erupted in Newark, New Jersey, over the police beating of a Black taxi driver; 26 people were killed in the five days of violence that followed.
Also on this date:
In 1543, England’s King Henry VIII married his sixth and final wife, Catherine Parr.
In 1812, U.S. forces led by Gen. William Hull entered Canada during the War of 1812 against Britain. (Hull retreated shortly thereafter to Detroit.)
In 1862, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill authorizing the Army Medal of Honor.
In 1909, the House of Representatives joined the Senate in passing the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, allowing for a federal income tax, and submitted it to the states. (It was declared ratified in February 1913.)
In 1962, the Rolling Stones played their first show, at the Marquee Club in London.
In 1979, as an angry reaction to the popularity of disco music, the Chicago White Sox held the “Disco Demolition Night” promotion, in which a crate of disco records was blown up on the field between games of a doubleheader; the ensuing riot and damage to the field caused the White Sox to forfeit the second game.
In 1984, Democratic presidential candidate Walter F. Mondale announced his choice of U.S. Rep. Geraldine A. Ferraro of New York to be his running mate; Ferraro was the first woman to run for vice president on a major-party ticket.
In 1991, Japanese professor Hitoshi Igarashi, who had translated Salman Rushdie’s “The Satanic Verses,” was found stabbed to death, nine days after the novel’s Italian translator was attacked in Milan.
In 1994, President Bill Clinton, visiting Germany, went to the eastern sector of Berlin, the first U.S. president to do so since Harry Truman.
In 2003, the USS Ronald Reagan, the first aircraft carrier named for a living president, was commissioned in Norfolk, Virginia.
In 2012, a scathing report by former FBI Director Louis Freeh said the late Joe Paterno and other top Penn State officials had buried child sexual abuse allegations against Jerry Sandusky more than a decade earlier to avoid bad publicity.
In 2022, Twitter sued Elon Musk to force him to complete the $44 billion acquisition of the social media company after Musk said he was backing off his agreement to buy the company. (He would eventually become Twitter’s owner three months later.)
Today’s Birthdays:
- Writer Delia Ephron is 82.
- Singer Walter Egan is 78.
- Writer-producer Brian Grazer is 75.
- Actor Cheryl Ladd is 75.
- Gospel singer Ricky McKinnie (The Blind Boys of Alabama) is 74.
- Gospel singer Sandi Patty is 70.
- Actor Mel Harris is 70.
- Boxing champion Julio Cesar Chavez is 64.
- Rock singer Robin Wilson (Gin Blossoms) is 61.
- Actor Lisa Nicole Carson is 57.
- Olympic gold medal figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi is 55.
- Actor Anna Friel is 50.
- R&B singer Tracie Spencer is 50.
- Actor Topher Grace is 48.
- Actor Michelle Rodriguez is 48.
- Country singer-musician Kimberly Perry (The Band Perry) is 43.
- Actor Natalie Martinez is 42.
- Actor Ta’Rhonda Jones is 38.
- Actor Rachel Brosnahan is 36.
- Olympic gold medal gymnast Jordyn Wieber is 31.
- Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai is 29.
- NBA guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is 28.
New Jersey
Ex-NJ GOP aide accused of staging slashing attack shows off horrific scars — and mystery man — in new snap
The unhinged ex-GOP aide who claimed she had been viciously attacked and labeled “Trump whore” — but who authorities say staged the assault and hired a fetish artist to carve her up — showed off her jaw-dropping scars in a new photo, along with a heavily-tattooed mystery man.
Natalie Greene, the Ocean City, NJ woman accused of faking a gruesome politically-driven assault while working for Republican Rep. Jeff Van Drew, shared a glimpse into her life for the first time since the scandal broke nearly a year ago.
The 26-year-old updated her Facebook profile picture on the Fourth of July to a smiling selfie of herself and the new pal.
She wore a knitted tank top – exposing multiple thick, pink scars across her shoulder, chest and neck.
Her dark hair was slicked back into a low ponytail, and her manicured hand covered her mouth as she laughed.
A man wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap with tattoos up his neck and arm smiled next to her.
Greene, a Masarati-driving ex-Rutgers Law student, was charged with conspiracy to falsely report a violent attack and giving false statements to law enforcement after claiming she was repeatedly slashed by three masked gunmen in a local park because she worked for Van Drew, a pol who had switched from Democrat to Republican in 2020.
Authorities found Greene on the ground with her hands and ankles zip-tied on a trail at a nature preserve in Egg Harbor Township on the night of July 23, 2025. She had dozens of bloody surgical-like slashes across her back, shoulder, chest and face. The words “Trump whore” were written across her stomach in black marker.
But the attack was nothing but a hoax, according to the Department of Justice, which said Greene hired a Pennsylvania-based “scarification” fetish artist to cut her up. Detectives even discovered a reference photo that Greene showed the artist – and her cuts matched the image exactly, investigators said.
Greene was granted supervised release in January as she awaits trial.
Childhood campmate Kristin Haughton James — who was previously busted for cocaine possession and riding an unlicensed vehicle in the streets, a Camden court heard in January — welcomed her into her Florida home and has been acting as her custodian.
Before moving in with Haughton James, Greene had already cycled through two other guardians – including her mother – and had been ordered to attend inpatient treatment.
But the arraignment quickly descended into a nightmare, Haughton James revealed.
“I have never met chaos incarnate until I met this person,” she told NJ.com. “Lives for the drama – wants everything to be about her.
“She just feeds off attention.”
She claimed Greene left her home a wreck, tried to get her evicted and falsely told cops that she was dealing drugs and threatened her with a gun.
Haughton James said she kicked her out in March. It is unclear where Greene is currently living.
Haughton James, Greene and Greene’s attorney did not return messages seeking comment.
New Jersey
Husband of slain New Jersey mom begs for help in newly released 911 call | Fox News Video
Former homicide detective Brian Foley joins ‘Fox & Friends Weekend’ to provide analysis on Conor Hanlon’s 911 call after finding his wife, Brooke, stabbed to death.
Former homicide detective Brian Foley provides expert insights into the newly released 911 call from Conor Hanlon, whose wife, New Jersey therapist Brooke Hanlon, was found stabbed to death. Foley analyzes the husband’s emotional state and the police’s approach, noting the case’s ‘suspicious’ designation 13 minutes into the call.
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