GREENWOOD— Imagine being scammed out of thousands of dollars and your bank essentially telling you too bad.
All while saying you authorized the transaction.
That's what happened to a Greenwood man, who was scammed out of money that his bank won't reimburse.
"I am just a family man, I've worked a long hard road to get where I am at," said Scott Thompson.
Thompson is a father of two and a proud husband. He says he came from nothing working to provide for his family even buying them a new home.
"I've came from nothing honestly," Thompson said. "To be where I am at feels good and to have some low lifes try to knock me down a couple notches, it's tough."
He was trying to find a job and says he turned to Indeed.
Thompson said he applied for an at home position with Burn Co Integration, had an interview and accepted an offer.
Thompson says they told him they would send him a check for nearly $4,000 so he could buy the necessary equipment.
He cashed the check, and paid an "approved vendor" for the equipment through Zelle, a money transfer service.
"The equipment never came, these people stopped replying to us," Thompson said.
That approved vendor, was likely the scammer.
PNC where he banks told Thompson the account where the check was from, was fake. Meaning he was out nearly $4,000.
"That pretty much leaves us broke. All our money was stolen," Thompson said.
The company he thought he got a job through was Burn Co Integration, it's a legit company based of Avon Indiana.
The name on the documentation from the scammer is Daniel Burns.
Burns is a real person, and is the actual owner and CEO of burn Co Integration.
"Very small company, your average mom and pop business," Burns said. "I've fielded at least 30 calls."
He has fielded at least 30 calls from people saying they accepted a position with his company.
When he receives those calls he has to tell people the job they thought they had was not real and that it is a scam.
The scammers are spoofing his website, his name, and his logo.
They are pretending to be his company, pretending to be him. Instead they are just scammers out for their hard earned money.
"It's scary is what it is. Mad, i was mad. It's my name. They are using my stuff and it's inappropriate, you already know this. Put a stop to it," said Burns.
Jennifer Adamany with the Better Business Bureau says these type of scams are becoming more common.
"These cash payment apps are kind of like the new version of money wiring," Adamany said. "It's easy to just send it off and and then very hared to get back because essentially you are just sending cash."
Thompson is left with PNC telling him he authorized the transaction because he sent the money.
"They said since we authorized it their is nothing they can do because they only protect unauthorized transactions," Thompson said.
WRTV asked PNC about the charges. A representative said they will reach out to their internal team to investigation.
The BBB says there are ways you can try to protect yourself:
- Do online search & add the word "scam"
- Go to whois.com and type in the URL
- Don't speed through hiring process
- Don't send money to people you don't know
