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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Huckleberries Online

Tomato Street Scammed $1800

A scammer using the TTD service for hearing impaired bilked Tomato Street for $1800 last week in a scheme that began with a $1431 order for lasagna for a purported party in Spokane, according to CPD Blue reports. In a call to a Tomato Street manager, a man who identified himself as Mac James through a telephone intermediary placed the order Thursday for the weekend party, using a credit card. The scammer also charged $900 for a heated delivery truck to transport the lasagna. The $900 was sent via Western Union to the truck company. Two days later, "Mac James" contacted a second Tomato Street manager to double the order to $2331, requiring the Appleway business to send another $900 via Western Union to the trucker. On Monday, Tomato Street GM suspected a fraud when another man called asking that the order be canceled alleging his son had been in a serious car accident. He wanted her to charge his card and send the money to the hospital.  When she refused, he harassed her with several phone calls. Ultimately, Tomato Street ate the $1800 delivery service bill on the advice of its merchant services company. Which told her the credit cards were out of Nigeria.



D.F. Oliveria
D.F. (Dave) Oliveria joined The Spokesman-Review in 1984. He currently is a columnist and compiles the Huckleberries Online blog and writes about North Idaho in his Huckleberries column.

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