MINNESOTA — Facebook can be a great place full of opportunities to learn new things, share special moments in your life, and reconnect with old friends.
It can also be a hotbed for scams and misinformation.
An unknown person or persons are using the Facebook account of Hailey Trautner, a woman who lives in Polk County.
Whoever is running the account wrote a post on Facebook saying they were looking to sell tickets for a Taylor Swift concert in Minneapolis this summer.
From there, the person or persons claims they can't meet in person, and ask the people they're scamming to send them money using online payment services like Zelle or Paypal.
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The tickets are never sent electronically as promised.
To make matters worse, the account's password and contact information have been changed. The real Hailey Trautner can't get back into the account because Facebook can't verify her identity.
Victims of the scam gave email addresses from the scammer's Paypal account to law enforcement.
Polk County Sheriff's Office investigator Justin Swang said right now, that's their best shot at finding out who's behind the scam.
"We can contact those companies with a search warrant, and attempt to get identifying information from the owners of those accounts," Swang said.
Swang reached out to Facebook directly to see if they can take the account down.
He said people should always be careful about scams online, and should always be aware of common red flags.
"If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is," Swang said. "If you're contacting somebody who is saying that they're local, and they're not willing to meet in person for a purchase or anything like that, there's probably a pretty good reason. Because it's a scam."
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This is an ongoing investigation. If you have been a victim of this scam, contact the Polk County Sheriff's Office.
The Trust Project
