Chicago woman loses thousands to scammer claiming to want funds for funeral, and she's far from the first
It is a scam that has made headlines — people approach and ask for a donation to fund a funeral, only to end up with tens of thousands of dollars missing from their bank accounts.
All it takes is a simple tap of a phone.
Back in February, Heather Radin had planned to give only $10 to someone she thought was really in need.
"I'm a sucker for any bleeding-heart thing," she said.
Radin said all she wanted to do was help, but now she is out $5,000.
"One man's $5,000 is another man's million," she said.
Back in February, Radin was waiting for the bus at the iconic six-way intersection of North, Milwaukee, and Damen avenues in Wicker Park — an intersection sometimes known as The Crotch.
She said a boy came up to her.
"He said like: 'Can you please like spare some money? My younger brother was tragically killed, and we can't afford to bury him,'" Radin said.
Feeling sorry, Radin said she tried to give the boy and his other brother $10 in cash. But they said they only took Apple Pay.
Right after she tapped to pay with her Apple card, the boys ran away in a silver sport-utility vehicle.
"All of a sudden, I got a notification that dings on my phone, and says $5,000 transferred to whatever," Radin said.
Radin's story is similar to others CBS News Chicago has covered — two young men go up to a victim, begging them to help pay for their brother's funeral. Seconds later, the victim is out almost $5,000.
Monica Wieske was the victim of such a scam in November. She said as she left the Whole Foods in Lakeview, two men approached, asking for a donation, and shared a story that pulled on her heartstrings — also about a young brother who died tragically.
Wieske said the men insisted that she donate the money using tap to pay on their cell phone, so she pulled out her debit card and tapped. But instead of $10, the scammers charged her nearly $5,000.
"Two $2,400 transactions seconds apart," she said. "On no planet would I have authorized two $2,400 transactions."
In January, a local couple, Drew and Leilani, were targeted the same way. The scammers found them at the Target store at Division and Larrabee streets — and also claimed they were trying to help bury their baby brother.
The couple agreed to donate $20, but just like in Wieske and Radin's cases, the scammers refused to take cash.
Drew and Leilani were skeptical. Nonetheless, Leilani tried using a credit card to donate — only for her bank to deny the transaction.
"I already had my phone out, so I just went to use my Apple card, so tapped to pay — and they said that would work," said Drew. "I looked down at my phone and realized that they took close to $5,000 instead of $20. I said to myself, 'Oh, hell no, ' and turned and started chasing them."
Drew wrestled with one of the men and jumped into the scammers' moving getaway car, but ended up getting thrown from the car as they swerved. Drew did ultimately get his money back.
As for Radin, she said she filed a police report and tried to get an answer from card issuer Goldman Sachs. She said Goldman Sachs told her they have 90 days to make a decision whether or not to give her the money back.
Radin said she is still waiting.
When CBS News Chicago reached out to Goldman Sachs, a spokesperson provided this statement:
<blockquote>"While we do not comment on specific customers, our customers' safety and security are a top priority. We work quickly to review any fraud claims and regularly provide provisional credits during the review process. There is an allotted timeline for fraud investigations, and we aim to resolve any disputes as quickly as possible."</blockquote>
Until then, Radin said she trying to make ends meet — because $5,000 is a lot of money.
"I had hundreds of thousands of dollars of student loans, and I literally had just finished my last payment," she said.
Chicago Police late Tuesday had not responded to a request for comment on these incidents.
