KAYSVILLE—Josh Wall has worked hard his whole life. On his 16th birthday he went out and found a job and has been working ever since. Over the years Josh has been able to save more than $30,000 but he lost all but $500 to a scammer who used his trusting nature to bilk him out of his life savings.

“Josh has some challenges from a brain injury in his childhood,” said his mother Marsha. 

“He is mentally delayed. He’s overcome a lot in his life. He’s unbelievable. He has motivation and determination.”

He’s overcome his obstacles really well, she said. “He’s 47 but he’s not a 47-year-old mentally but he drives and lives alone.”

In an effort to help Josh get back on his feet, his cousin Tyler Wall and other family members are holding a yard sale on Saturday, Nov. 22 to raise money for him.

“My sister-in-law pitched the idea to me,” said Tyler. “I said yes we have to do that because the moment we found out what happened to Josh we were all devastated. He doesn’t deserve it. Nobody deserves to have that happen to them.”

It was heartbreaking, he said. “Just seeing that he has $500 to his name is terrible. I know we probably won’t get a ton of money from this (yard sale) but at least we can get something that we can give to him.”

Josh saved his money, said Marsha. “He was such a good saver and he had saved up close to $40,000.”

He got a message from someone, Marsha said. “I’m not sure how it came through but it wasn’t a text. This girl said she needed some help and could he give her his password to his gmail and he did.”

Josh trusted her, said Marsha. “She lives on the same street and is in his (church) ward. But guess what? It wasn’t her. It was a hacker. The hacker had hacked her that morning. So he gave her the password and then it started.”

Then the person posted on his Instagram this Honda for sale for $4,000, she said. “Then in terrible English at the end it said ‘my dad is going into a care center, and I need the money fast.’ My niece saw it and really quickly texted me and said ‘Marsha I’m pretty sure Josh’s Instagram has been hacked.’ So I called Josh at work and told him he needed to come home so we could start changing all of his passwords.”

Marsha said they worked on it for hours. “So about a week goes by and he gets a phone call and he answers it. We’ve told him not to answer phone calls he doesn’t recognize but he answered.”

They told him that they were calling from America First headquarters, she said. “They were so convincing that he totally believed them. They told him that someone was trying to hack into his account and get his money and that they wanted to protect him.”

It was a FaceTime call but the other person didn't show a face, said Marsha. “They said ‘we need you to share your bank screen with us’ and so he did. So they saw exactly how much money he had and where it was.”

They told him that he needed to wire his savings to Wells Fargo in San Francisco, she said. “It was about $37,000. They gave him all these instructions on how to do it and told him ‘keep your phone in your pocket turned on and I’ll be listening to you to make sure you do it right.’”

So he went to the bank and he did it, said Marsha. “Then two days later they called him again. He had $2,000 in checking and had $500, maybe in a separate account I don't know, but they did leave him with $500. Wasn’t that generous of them?”

They told Josh they wanted him to take out the $2,000 from his checking in cash and go to this Bitcoin machine and put it in this machine, she said. “They gave him really clear instructions on how to do it and so he went and did it. They told him it was very confidential and not to tell anyone. So he didn’t even tell us.”

Marsha said when Josh came over for Sunday dinner she asked him if he’d had any more trouble with the hackers on social media. “Then he kind of whispered to me ‘no mom but the bank called me and told me that I was being hacked and that they needed me to transfer my money into another bank.’ I’m like ‘what? My gosh Josh.’ So that’s how we found out.”

Of course the money is gone, she said. “We’re not going to see that money again and it’s just been horrible.”

Tyler said the yard sale is just a chance to help give Josh back some hope. “We want to let him know that it’s not a total loss even though it probably seems like it.”

The yard sale will take place Saturday, Nov. 22 from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 662 S. 550 East, Kaysville. There will be furniture, toys, exercise equipment, light fixtures, clothing and a variety of other items including baked goods. Tyler has also set up a GoFundMe to help Josh at https://gofund.me/fc6f6c4d2.