First Cash Advance Scam Thieves Internet

My mother was ripped off by an individual with an Indian accent who said that he was with First Cash Advance.

They called her "out of the blue" offering a $15,000 loan. It was so uncanny and bizarre to us because my sister needed a loan desperately - and a loan in that amount. She had been unable to get one from her bank; so, she was willing to see if she could get one with this organization. My mother gave her the number to call them – the number was 347-349-7454.

The gentleman my sister spoke with asked her for quite a lot of information, including her online banking information - username and password. He said that they needed this information because her credit score was low. There was, what I believe is called, a “mobile block” on her account, so the man – who said his name was Ricky – asked her if she had another family member’s account she could use. (Because of the mobile block, they couldn't transfer the money to her.)

So she asked my mother and she had to give her online banking account access information also – username and password.

Ricky then changed to Harry, at some point in the back and forth conversations. Harry told my sister that they needed to validate my mother’s bank account so they needed to deposit an amount into the account and they needed her to send it back to them.

This sounded really weird to me but I figured that once my mother or sister was not using any of their own money to purchase anything – as I read from others who were scammed – I thought that it would be fine.

Sure enough $995 was deposited into my mother’s bank account on Friday, August 19^th and my sister was told that 8:00 the next morning she was to go to CVS and Harry would call her with further instructions. I told my sister that the funds were not showing in our mother’s available balance so she was not to do anything until it was available.

Warning bells were already going off but I realize now how desperation can cloud your judgment. I was not comfortable with that much money being deposited in my mother’s account. If it were only for validation purposes, why not deposit some insignificant sum? Also, why couldn’t “Harry” give the details of what my sister needed to do once she got to CVS before she got there? He wanted to guide her step by step.

“Harry” called my sister bright and early Saturday, August 20^th to tell her to go to CVS. She called me to ask if the funds cleared. I checked our mother’s account and the funds were showing in her available balance.

My sister was instructed to purchase two iTunes cards. “Harry” told her to put $500 on one card and $495 on another card. During this time my sister was on the phone with “Harry” and I was online trying to see if others had had similar experiences and whether or not this was a scam.

I told my sister that I saw some things about people with Indian accents and that it was a rip off. I got nervous and changed my mother’s online access information.

“Harry” went BERSERK when he realized that the online information was changed. He accused us – I was on the phone with him and my sister – of trying to steal their money. We told him that wasn’t the case that we didn’t want their money, that my sister was right there in CVS trying to purchase the iTunes cards. He accused us that they trusted us by depositing the money and now we were trying to cheat them.

He told us that they submitted our names to the local sheriff because we are trying to run off with the money. This was all to incite fear in us and it worked. But he said something that sounded off another warning bell – he said “I am the local sheriff”. Now, how in the world could he be the sheriff!!

I knew for sure that this man was a liar and that this was a scam but I just didn’t know how exactly they would benefit if we were simply sending them back the same money that they deposited in the account.

In any event, my sister bought the cards and gave “Harry” the card information. And now that he got all the information he needed he was all nice and calm again. We gave him the new online access information and he said we should see the money deposited in the account within the next 45 minutes to an hour.

Of course, no such money was deposited in the account. We figured that they wanted to steal the money that was in our mother’s account but we had already withdrawn whatever money she had, so we figured that they didn’t, wouldn't, and couldn't get anything from us.

But, we were so wrong. On Tuesday, August 23^rd, the bank called my mother to tell her that her account was overdrawn because the $995 deposit item was no good.

The deposit item was a picture of a check, drawn on a Bank of America account. The name and address on the account was Miryam Canales 13725 32^nd Avenue NE, Seattle, WA 98125.

So now the bank wants that money back and of course “Harry” stopped answering the phone.

So PLEASE if anyone says that they want to loan you money but they need very sensitive information from you DO NOT GIVE IT TO THEM. NEVER GIVE OUT YOUR ONLINE ACCESS INFORMATION TO ANYONE.

IF IT SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, IT PROBABLY IS. We got caught but we pray that you can learn from our experience and you won't be.