Woman catches apparent tap to pay scammers on video in downtown Chicago
They approach you, claim they need money for a loved one's funeral, and then disappear with thousands of your dollars. Now, new video is giving Chicago police and Chicagoans a closer look at the tap to pay scam.
People fall for sob stories the scammers tell, and it's tough to get any money back from credit card companies or banks in such scams.
Now, for the first time, video shows evidence of this scam unfolding, and one woman confronting a group of scammers.
"I think this is one of the worst scams, in that it's preying upon people who have goodness in their heart," said the woman, who asked to remain anonymous.
Around noon on Wednesday, she was walking to grab lunch in Streeterville near Ohio and St. Clair streets, when she ran into a woman surrounded by four men.
The woman said the men were asking the other woman to donate to a cousin's funeral fund; a tap to pay scam where they charge the credit card connected to your phone, taking way more money than victims' agreed to.
She asked if they take cash instead, but they said no.
It's the same scam Heather Radin said she fell for in Wicker Park last year and lost $5,000.
"One man's $5,000 is another man's million," Radin said.
Her bank reimbursed her, but that wasn't the case for Paul Mitchell in Lakeview, whose credit card company did not give him $5,000 back.
Beter Business Bureau of Chicago president and CEO Steve Bernas said, since tap to pay scam victims gave someone permission to charge them, banks and credit cards don't have to reimburse them when they're charged more than agreed.
"You gave them the money. You gave them the access to your phone or your account," Bernas said.
In the case in Streeterville, the victim asked the men who approached her if there was a website or reputable source like GoFundMe to donate to, but they said no.
When the witness started recording, the suspected thieves ran off, one attempting to hide his face.
"They just booked it to their runaway cars and just flew out of there," she said. "I did call 911 while it was in progress to try and get them apprehended while it was happening."
She also took pictures of license plates on the Nissan Altima and the Toyota Camry the men drove off in, and said she sent the footage to police.
In the Streeterville case, the woman being targeted by the scammers did not fall for the scam or lose any money.
CBS News Chicago reached out to Chicago Police to see if they are investigating this incident, but they said they do not have any calls for service in that area.
