May 21, 2013
(Dothan, AL)-A Dale County woman is working with police after becoming a victim of an online scam. Cynthia Groves said she made the mistake of giving her address to a man online wanting to send her flowers.
“He said he wanted to do something nice, I was reluctant for a while, but eventually gave in,” she said.
Shortly afterwards, the online stranger shipped her clothes, shoes and cell phones. He then asked her to ship them out of the country with stolen credit card numbers.
“I said I can’t do that, I could go to prison,” Groves said. “The situation just seemed wrong altogether, so I went to the police and reported the problem to the FBI,”she said.
If Groves had gone through with the scam, everything would have been traced back to her address. Police say scammers use this technique so they won’t get caught. According to Dothan Police Sergeant Rachel David, it’s easy for many people to fall into these traps.
“I think generally good people don’t think like a criminal, and these criminals know how to target these people,” David said.
Police say never give out your personal information online and recommend reporting anything that seems like a scam.
To report an online scam to the federal government, log on to www.ic3.gov
