Woman claims she was scammed out of thousands on Venmo
HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. (FOX 46 CHARLOTTE) – A Huntersville woman says she was scammed out of thousands of dollars on the popular money-sharing app Venmo.
Brittany Parsons got scammed out of $2,300 from her Venmo account.
“I was hysterical. I was virtually inconsolable,” says Parsons.
The incident happened at the Rosedale Commons Shopping Center in Huntersville when a total stranger came up to Parsons in her car with quite a story to reel her in.
“He’s like my phone died. I need to get this pin for my girlfriend because someone is stealing packages from our front porch, but I can’t remember the pin,” said Parsons.
Next thing you know, Parsons was giving the stranger her phone and in about ten quick seconds that stranger went into Parson’s Venmo app and sent himself $2,300 dollars.
“What got my mind going is when one of his phones went off, an alert when he sent the money to his Venmo, my money, and I was thinking…wait a minute…I thought your phones weren’t working. But, before I could turn around and find him he was gone, vanished.”
Parsons says several good Samaritans helped her gather herself to call Venmo, where the money app promptly canceled the transaction.
She says she learned a valuable lesson.
“I was just trying to be nice, but this time it backfired.”
And, she has a message for others: “Protect your passwords!”