A college student is now out five thousand dollars after she was scammed by someone who said they were looking for a sugar baby.
The victim asked WKRN not to share her name or face. She also asked for her voice to be disguised.
She said it was mid-March when she found an account on Twitter advertising a unique way to make money.
“If you’re having a financial problem, I’m willing and ready to help.“
She said she decided to pursue the account’s offer.
The woman said she began corresponding with the scammer through Twitter and by text. The scammer emailed her two checks totaling $6,000. He said the money was in exchange for companionship via text message.
Once the woman deposited the checks, the scammer gave her a sob story,
“He would tell me my niece needs money to pay her tuition please, stuff like that.“
She agreed to send him over half of the money back on Cash App. The app is used for peer-to-peer mobile payments.
Within two days the victim was contacted by her bank that the checks she had deposited, were fraudulent.
“In my bank right now it’s $5,000 negative and I don’t know how I’m going to be able to pay it, my parents aren’t going to help me.“
Her case is being investigated by the Murfreesboro Police Department.
The Better Business Bureau serving Middle Tennessee and Southern Kentucky told WKRN that millennials are often targeted in “Get Rich Quick“ schemes.
“You get the money, it looks like the funds are in your account and you send the money off to the scammer, and then when it turns out that the check has bounced — you’re responsible for paying back the bank,“ said Lisa Smith of the Better Business Bureau.
“Typically any legitimate job offer is not going to ask you to deposit checks and then send them money, that’s just not the way things are done,“ she added.
For live, local news, download the KRONon app. It lets you watch commercial-free the Bay Area’s Local News Station on multiple streaming devices.