A Californian veteran received an early Christmas gift from businessman Rande Gerber.
People reports Benjamin Gardner had his money stolen from a text claiming to be Wells Fargo. Despite his attempts to verify the sender’s identity and number, the veteran still fell for the scam.
“It was like slow motion. I knew something bad had happened,” Gardner explained. “To be robbed under the guise of Wells Fargo… I think that is such trickery.”
The veteran was scammed out of $3400, which was all he had in his account.
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When Gerber caught wind of the story he asked KABC, who first reported the story, to forward an envelope to Gardner on his behalf.
The envelope contained a cheque for the money the veteran lost – and then some.
“It made me mad and sad that people take advantage of others, especially a Navy vet that served his country,” Gerber wrote in a note with the cheque. “I hope this makes your holiday a bit brighter and maybe others will hear your story so that it doesn’t happen to other vets. Thank you for your service. PS: Take the extra [money] and buy something nice for yourself and your family.”
Gardner was extremely grateful for the kind gesture and told the outlet, “This just goes to show you that if you believe in hope, if you believe in God, good do things come around.”
The veteran revealed he is also a member of the Union Rescue Mission and plans to pay it forward.
“I’m going give back to the Union Rescue Mission, which is an organization nonprofit which houses people in downtown L.A. for food and for Christmas,” he added. “This right here will give me the ability to make someone else happy, so I’m going to pay it forward.”
