It may not be the place you'd think scam artist are hard at work, but a NewsChannel 3 scam alert is showing you how night clubs are becoming the new prowling grounds.
Con men have found a new place to recruit victims.
“They would approach a young woman at a nightclub, flash a lot of cash, buy them a drink or two and they would say, ”Hey, we`re launching an entrepreneurial business,” says Keith Moore, US Postal Inspector.
While still in the club, the con men offer to help these women set up their own company.
“To start my business, he told me to go downtown to get a certificate for the business and then take it to him,” says Briana Scroggiens, a fraud victim.
Briana was one of those women. She filled out the forms to start a business then opened a bank account with checks supplied by the con men.
“I deposited two checks for I think about $5,000 and I withdrew the money and gave it to the guy,” says Scroggiens.
“They would basically have them deposit fraudulent checks, the checks would then be deemed fraudulent and the women would be on the hook for the money,” says Moore.
Briana ended up owing the bank $10, 000.
“The victims were basically at a loss. Their credit was hurt; they were in debt to the financial institution for the money they lost,” says Moore.
“What I learned from this is to be more careful about my choices,” says Scroggiens.
Postal inspectors emphasize that you should never do business with someone you don`t know. Briana was one of 25 victims in this case with more than $300,000 in losses.
