Chicago crime: Con-artist claim to need donations for child berrying, thousands with tap-to-payment in Ravenswood, Lincoln Park, to steal

Chicago (WLS) – It usually starts in a parking lot.

They think they give people a donation of 10 or 20 US dollars to collect money for the funeral service for a child.

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Instead, hand over your credit or check card and lose thousands of dollars.

Two women were put under pressure and then equipped in “Tap-to-Pay” donation schemes.

“I never agreed to give $ 3,000,” said Estelle Fisher.

“And in this short moment they could bring me from me on both sides and then between the place where my car door was opened,” said Kelly.

The fraudsters told these women that they collect money for children's berry.

“So I stopped. And then they talked to me about a child who had been shot and they tried to collect money for the funeral,” said Estelle.

Estelle Fisher and Kelly, who did not want to share their surname, joined both police reports after they had recently been victims from this new fraud.

“They say: 'We only collect money for our little brother who died through shots.' And they had a poster board with photos, ”said Kelly.

Kelly does not want to use her last name for fear of the criminals they cheated. She says she is intimidated and then made to use her control card in your phone's wallet on a TAP-to-Pay device.

All of this happened in front of a drugstore in Lincoln Park. She thought she donated $ 25 for the funeral. Instead, your check card was calculated 2,500 US dollars.

“They insisted that it had to be tap-to-play, and within a few seconds they knocked on my cell phone and took the $ 2,500,” said Kelly.

She says they ran away and she looked at her bank app and saw the higher indictment. Your Bank Wells Fargo found her fraud claims.

“You said my phone was not stolen, so I approved the indictment,” said Kelly.

Since the fraudsters used a PayPal business account to accept the money, she also turned to it. She says PayPal also contested the claim.

“I don't think it's fair at all. I mean if I went into a business and a business overwhelmed me that these devices had, I could seek compensation for this,” said Kelly.

Wells Fargo rejected a comment, but after the I-Team turned to PayPal, the Kelly company refunded.

“The moment you are involved, I have the feeling that they called me shortly afterwards,” said Kelly. “I don't think it would have been done without that, and I mean, I was just honestly shocked by the call and very relieved that this would only come to an end.”

“The reason why the donation fraud is currently a threat, since it increases not only here in Chicago and North Illinois, but also in the United States,” said Steve Bernas, President of Better Business Bureau in Chicago.

According to Bernas, the fraudsters tend to aim for women and that banks hesitate to reimburse consumers because the victims tap their cards.

“The squeaky bike gets the oil, the louder the consumer gets, or the more it participates.

Estelle was a victim of a donation fraud of a grocery store in the Ravenswood district. She says Crooks showed her what legitimate donation documents looked like, so she agreed to donate $ 10.

“And I gave them my card to type it. And during one of the boys, the other spoke to me. And then the transaction was carried out, and we said goodbye and I went back to my work. And when I got there I got an alarm from my bank that, Whoa, fraudster, fraudster, alarm, $ 3,000.

She says her bank, Bank of America, also contested her fraud claim to remove indictment, but later approved after submitting it as a “billing dispute”.

The bank rejected it to comment on the case of Estell, but said that it wanted to warn customers of only giving their credit cards trustworthy dealers.

“It's like, it is $ 3,000. I am a teacher. It's like a large amount of money for me. It's how, it is not small potatoes,” said Estelle.

The I-Team found that both women's transactions came back to construction transactions without the active businesses or offices obvious.

“To make someone as helpless in this situation as a vulnerable situation. And then the fact that he can get away with the theft of this money, and it goes on. I just hope that there is a stop,” said Kelly.

“Definitely not do what I did, what is like the trust of people and not … and don't look at the phone or the crowd before I tap the card,” said Estelle.

None of the women received receipts. Always ask someone for a receipt immediately after the donation. And always research before the donation.

A sign that it could be a rip off is if the people who ask for money do not accept money.