BELTON, Mo. — A disabled woman from Cass County says it seemed like the financial lift she needed.
Instead, an offer to use her family’s minivan as a rolling billboard yields a fraudulent check.
It’s not uncommon to see private automobiles turned into advertising pieces, shrink-wrapped all around with a corporate logo. That’s the offer Belton native Amanda Graves, 32, says she applied for, having seen an ad on social media.
Graves says a paycheck showed up in her mailbox on Wednesday morning, and it looked like the answer to all her problems.
“I got it this morning. They sent it in overnight mail to me,” Graves said.
Graves is a mother of three young boys, and lives with a degenerative condition in her back. In late June, she says she spotted an advertisement on Facebook, promising a weekly check for $300. All she had to do was turn her van into a advertisement on wheels for Coca-Cola.
“I needed the money bad. I thought I was going to have money for my kids’ birthday party,” Graves said.
The man who’d answered her application called himself “Roger Smith.” He sent her a check for nearly $1,400, asking her to deposit the check in her personal bank account, and then, after taking her $300, to wire the remaining money to someone in New York state. Graves says the man also asked for her banking information.
“I thought it sounded funny and looked funny,” Graves said. “Instead of taking the check to my bank, I took the check to Wells Fargo. That was the bank on the check. They told me it was fraudulent. ”
Graves says Roger Smith insisted the check was bonafide. Graves says he refused to talk on the telephone, conversing only via text messages and emails from a Gmail account. He did the same when FOX 4 News tried calling him on Wednesday afternoon.
“I don’t feel stupid. Anyone’s going to take the chance to make $300,” Graves said.
Aaron Reese with the Kansas City chapter of the Better Business Bureau says his agency warned consumers about this scam in May 2012.
“If they say they want you to send them money back, or wire money to somebody, don’t do it,” Graves advised.
Steve Carlson, a spokesperson for Wells Fargo, says consumers are wise to be familiar with scams. His advice: if an offer seems too good to be true, it probably is.
FOX 4 News reached out to Coca-Cola’s corporate offices in Atlanta, Georgia, but that company didn’t immediately respond.
