Elaborate Scam Costs Spencer Woman Thousands Of Dollars

A scam involving Facebook and a fake certificate leaves a Spencer woman out hundreds of dollars. 

Doris Traylor teared up on more than one occasion retelling the story of how an online scammer posed as the government, swindling her out of hundreds of dollars. 

Behind on bills, she thought her prayers were being answered. 

“Nearly $2,000…yeah that is twice my monthly income,” said Traylor who is disabled on a fixed income. 

A person messaged her on Facebook saying they worked as an agent for the Department of Health and Human Services. They told her the agency had a program offering pandemic relief for older people. 

“I thought that it was coming from the government. That they were helping people with their utilities, food, whatever else like the stimulus checks,” she said. 

The person sent her a certificate and said all she has to do is pay some fees and taxes. 

“It would bless me, and it would bless a whole lot of other people,” she said when talking about the $50,000 the person said she got. 

Doris got another Facebook message, this time from a friend. 

“She said, of course it wasn’t her, ‘yes yes you have to pay for this, the delivery charge, the certificate you have to pay for this, for that. I had to pay for all that too before I got mine and I did get my funds,” said Traylor. 

Thinking the message was legitimate, Doris fronted her own money and borrowed money from family in hopes of catching up on bills. 

“I just assumed that Ms. Laura would not make something up like this, but it wasn’t her it was the scam artist,” she said. 

After they asked for more money Doris called her friend on FaceTime. Who all of a sudden, knew nothing about the program. 

“I cannot blame anybody. I should have known,” she said. 

Spencer police said adding a little bit of skepticism may help protect your money. 

“Don’t send a message back, confirm it through a separate soured before you ever even think of sending money or bitcoin or going to the store and buying the money cards,” said Lt. C.O. Moore, with the Spencer Police Department. 

Doris hopes her story serves as a warning to others. “If it sounds too good to be true then it’s probably not true,” she said. 

Federal officials are aware of these scams and have a statement on their website letting people know about different scams: 

“The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General is alerting the public about fraud schemes related to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Individuals are using testing sites, telemarketing calls, text messages, social media platforms, and door-to-door visits to perpetrate COVID-19-related scams.