NORFOLK, Va. — There’s nothing worse than saving for something you have really wanted and then once you pay, you realize it’s a scam.
Often, the seller goes silent, or your hard-earned money gets deposited into an account you don’t recognize.
That’s what happened to Madeline Klauer when she tried to buy Taylor Swift tickets a few months back. She says she was scrolling on Facebook when she saw a post from a friend.
"She was listing Taylor Swift tickets [because] she was not able to go to anymore. [She was listing them] at market value and she wasn't wanting anything extra for them," Klauer tells me.
Klauer messaged her and the two caught up a bit before talking about payment. I asked Klauer what the two discussed and if anything seemed unusual.
"[The conversation was] short and brief, but she just literally corroborated like what I had already known from her life happenings; that she graduated PA school, became a physician assistant, and found a great role that she's really happy in," Klauer says.
When it came time to discuss payment, Klauer says the person, who she thought was her friend, started bartering for the tickets. In hindsight, that was one of the first red flags.
"When it came time to send payment, they would not give me their phone number for Apple Pay,” she says. "They were insistent upon Apple Pay only, but by not using a phone number — by using an email and the story was like, ‘Oh, I'm with my cousin because my Apple is not working. So, this is my cousin's email.’”
She tells me she was a little hesitant, but still sent $600 as partial payment. She started having second thoughts not long after the transaction was complete.
"This just doesn't feel right. So, I checked my bank statement, and the amount of money that I had sent did not go to my friend. It went to a foreign name for certain, certainly not hers," Klauer recalls.
After investigating further, she says it was clear that someone hacked her friend's page. The tickets were never really available.
Klauer says missing $600 from her account for an event she couldn't attend is significant. She's picking up extra shifts to account for the loss, but she's grateful she didn't send the full payment.
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Fredlena Cosby with the Better Business Bureau tells me these types of scams happen all the time.
"Most of the time when you have these [people] on the other side [of the screen] that are trying to scam, they are often asking for a down payment. So, this is a way for them getting money upfront so that if you do catch them, they have already walked away with money in their pocket," Cosby says.
She recommends buying from a vetted seller and only using payment methods that come with protection. Cosby says avoid using Venmo, Cash App, or PayPal when sending money to someone you don’t know. Better yet, she says, don't send money to people you do not know.
If you do and your information is compromised, Cosby says, "Please report it because there are other people out there that really want to know, and it will help them."
That desire to help others is the reason Klauer decided to call me and the Problem Solvers team.
"The best thing I can do is to let other people know that people like that are out there and sometimes they impersonate your friends, even when you truly think it would never be you," she said.
Klauer has been going back and forth with Apple and her bank, but says at this point, there's no clear answer on if she'll get her money back.
If you have been scammed or have a consumer issue that you want the News 3 Problem Solvers to investigate, email problemsolvers@wtkr.com or fill out the form below.
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