‘Con man scenario’: Chicago man loses thousands to tap and pay scam

CHICAGO (WGN) — It’s a new twist on an old scam. Goldie Murray thought he was donating $20 to help pay for the funeral of a young boy who was allegedly killed in Chicago.

Instead, he may be on the hook for thousands of dollars.

It all started last month outside a retail pharmacy in the 1500 block of East 55^th Street in the city’s Hyde Park neighborhood. Murray was approached by three men asking for a donation. He told them he didn’t have cash but, in an interesting twist, they told him they only took credit.

He agreed to help and said one of the men grabbed his credit card out of his hand.

The man tapped the card to a cell phone but told Murray it didn’t work, and the donation didn’t go through.

Murray walked away, thinking nothing of it. Until he received an alert on his phone.

“I was probably 20 feet from them when Discover was calling,” Murray said.

His credit company told him he had two pending payments for a total of $6,000.

Murray told the company it was fraud. One payment was cancelled. But the status of the second is unknown, he said.

“This is kind of a con man scenario,” said Peter Tapling, a digital payments expert.

Tapling said the same “tap and pay” technology that’s commonly used in retail stores is now readily available on mobile phones, making it easier than ever for scammers.

“People should treat their electronic payment mechanisms the way they would treat cash,” Tapling said. “If you would not hand $100 to this person, don’t hand them your card.”

When scammers do strike, it’s rare they’re caught by law enforcement.

There were more than 5,400 reports linked to deceptive practice or fraud over a recent 12-month period, according to Chicago Police data, reviewed by WGN Investigates. About half of them involved a credit card. But data shows police made an arrest in just 30 cases.

Tapling said he’s not surprised, as the scams can be challenging to crack.

“Finding the bad guy is difficult,” he said.

Murray, a longtime Hyde Park resident, said he filed a report with Chicago Police. But so far no one from the department has followed up. His credit card is still investigating the matter, he said.

“It’s horrible because [the scammers] are making people that honestly ask for help look bad and taking advantage of people that have empathy,” he said.