Myrtle Beach woman scammed into sending thousands to a stranger she met on Facebook
A Myrtle Beach woman was scammed into sending a stranger more than $20,000 over the internet, according to police reports.
The victim told police she met the stranger on Facebook and that he was claiming to be a United Nations surgeon located on an Air Force base in Syria. He told the victim he needed money because his website was hacked before he was deployed, according to police reports.
Over the course of two months the woman sent $5,900 worth of gift cards purchased from Best Buy to the stranger. She also sent $1,300 worth of Capital One gift cards and $3,150 for a box the stranger said he needed to send. The stranger told her that the box had money and property but couldn’t be sent without payment. Then an additional $10,000 was requested to pay for the box to be shipped but the woman didn’t have enough.
When the stranger sent her a $5,000 check to repay her, it bounced when she tried to cash it.
Myrtle Beach police could not confirm the identity of the offender.
Another scammer was active this weekend, targeting an elderly woman through Facebook. The victim told police that her sister-in-law sent her a message about a Health and Human Services grant she should apply for. The fake HHS employee had the woman buy six $100.00 eBay gift cards to email in order to insure the FedEx man would deliver her a check for $80,000.
The transactions were made through Facebook Messenger and showed up as “SIMPLEX PAYBIS” on bank statements, according to police.
When the victim and her sister-in-law spoke, she revealed her account had been hacked.
Horry County police advised the victim to ask her bank to find out information on the fraudulent charges.
