DAVIS, Calif.— A 19-year-old college student and credit union member here has been victimized by a scam via Instagram that led to her losing her savings and incurring significant fees.
The student, Chole Deemer, a music major who attends college on a field hockey scholarship, said she was contacted via an Instagram direct message by someone saying he knew her name, number, address and other personal information. He wanted her credit union account information or else he’d ruin her online reputation, according to CBS 13.
“He could make me look like I did something bad,”‘ Deemer said told the news outlet. Knowing she only had $30 in her account, Deemer reluctantly messaged her bank information through direct message, CBS 13 reported.
But the scammer was able to then use her credit union’s app to mobile deposit two checks, saying she had to use that money to buy $3,000 in gift cards or they would show up to her house, according to CBS 13. The credit union was not identified.
‘They Said They’d Send People’
“They said they’d send people, ‘We have people all over. You need to do this. You don’t want to hear about the last person who didn’t do this,'” Deemer was quoted as saying.
She bought the gift cards and gave the scammer the numbers off the back of the cards. The checks, of course, were bogus.
Deemer told CBS 13 the CU now wants the $3,000 she spent on those cards back. “At one point, the credit union said they could prosecute her,” CBS 13 reported.
Deemer has since filed a police report.
“Hopefully someone hears this and they don’t do what I did,” Deemer told CBS 13.