MONROE, CT — A 23-year-old Monroe woman reported a scam Saturday, in which someone posing as her friend sent her a Snapchat message, asking for help for her cousin, who was hospitalized and needed money for surgery.
Believing it was her friend, the woman told police she sent four separate payments via Zelle, totaling $1,010. But after sending the money, she told officers the Snapchat account no longer showed up on her message page.
She became suspicious and sent a text to her friend, who reportedly told her she was not asking for money and that her cousin is not in surgery.
Police said the victim contacted M&T Bank to report the scam, then canceled her credit card. Police believe the bank will reimburse her.
An account in her name
A 33-year-old Monroe woman told police she received a phone call Thursday morning from man claiming to be from American Express, who told her she needed to pay her $50,000 business account balance. Believing it was a scam, she hung up.
But after calling customer service herself, a representative told her there was in fact a business account, opened in her name with her Social Security number in December of 2023.
She told the representative she never had a business account with American Express, but had a personal account, which she closed a few weeks earlier. Amex told her it is opening a fraud investigation.
Police said she checked through the rest of her credit, which did not list any additional business accounts with Amex. She was advised to continue to monitor her credit.
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