A lawyer lost $2,500 after teenagers asked her to donate to their sports team, but quickly realized it was a scam.
It was a seemingly innocent encounter, but things went wrong when one of them took her phone out of her hand to access Venmo.
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Gabriela Martin, a corporate lawyer, said she was in New York City’s financial district on Monday when she was approached by the teens.
“I don’t have any money, but when they said Venmo, I said OK, maybe I’ll give them a dollar, maybe I’ll give them five dollars,” Martin said, according to CBS News.
Martin recalled that when he opened the Venmo app, one of the teens took it from his hand.
She immediately raised her guard.
“I knew something was wrong… I thought my phone was being stolen,” she said.
While one teen typed on his phone, the other chatted to keep Martin busy.
The second they returned the phone and walked away, she looked down and saw that they had transferred $2,500.
“It was kind of a life-changing experience, I think,” Martin said.
The New York Police Department told the outlet that no arrests have been made and their case remains open.
Venmo has already returned Martin’s money after reporting the scam, according to the outlet.
The money sending app asks you to contact it directly if you believe you have been scammed.
A WARNING TO OTHERS
The New York lawyer has since posted her story on TikTok in hopes of shedding some light on the scam and warning others.
His video received nearly 40,000 views.
“I feel very violated and dirty and nervous about this,” she says in the video, according to CBS.
What is virtual theft?
Virtual or digital theft occurs when a scammer uses applications or other technologies to steal information or money without the person knowing.
To ensure your money and personal information is safe, never hand your phone to strangers in public. Additionally, consider a radio frequency identification (RFID) wallet for your cards. This prevents a fraudster from scanning them remotely.
If you are the victim of a cybertheft scam, alert your bank, change your banking passwords and file a police report.
While not all of the comments were positive, Martin was able to contact other victims who reportedly had the same experience.
Martin said he now has a list of 10 victims in the Financial District alone.
The city is aware of the cybertheft scam, warning residents in April and asking them to put away their phones.
‘MY HEART SINKED’
Martin was not the first person to fall victim to a virtual theft scam.
Kara Vercimak of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, lost $1,100 after helping a boy who claimed he needed to contact his mother.
The boy said he had to use her phone to send text messages because his mother was unable to receive calls.
“He was very polite, very respectful, very warm,” Vercimak recalled to the CBS affiliate WDJT.
The interaction ended, but an hour later she received an email notifying her that a $1,100 CashApp payment she sent had been accepted.
“My heart sank and I was like, ‘$1,100 what?!’” she said.
Vercimak has since contacted CashApp and his bank and managed to get his money back.
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
