A Fayetteville woman, Rebecca Adami, is grappling with over $60,000 in credit card charges after falling victim to a job scam that began with an online romance.
What started as innocent texting quickly developed into an online love connection and eventually a job opportunity for Adami.
“He knew I wanted the job, so he put me in touch with this man,” Adami said.
The man emailed her paperwork, claiming the job involved managing finances for a charity. After accepting the job, Adami was required to open new bank accounts.
“I set up a checking and savings account in my name, but also a separate one to keep their money straight,” she explained. Adami shared all her bank and credit card information with the man she believed to be her boss.
“He had all my information, so he started charging all my cards. Any equipment, anything shipped here, it would be shipped here. Then I would ship it overseas,” she said.
With these purchases, Adami’s credit card charges quickly ballooned to thousands of dollars. The charity supposedly paid off her credit card balances, but days later, her boss made more charges and reversed the payments, leaving her with even higher debts.
In total, Adami’s credit cards were maxed out to over $60,000.
She was also sent two checks, one for $32,000 and another for $35,000, which she was told were for the charity. She was instructed to deposit them into her account and then send the money to someone else.
When Adami’s bank informed her that the checks were bad, she realized the entire situation was a scam.
“If I had put that in my account and sent any money off of that, I would have been liable for all that, too,” Adami added.
Embarrassed by her experience, Adami is speaking out to warn others. “I have no money to do anything, no money to go anywhere. No money. It’s really ruined my life.”
Adami reported the charges as fraud to her credit card companies, but since she made the charges herself, she remains responsible for them. She highlighted a major red flag: any job that asks you to open accounts in your name and make charges on your accounts is likely a scam.