PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Scammers exploit people’s emotions and passions, sometimes using their love of a team or a star player to extract a victim’s money.
Now, two die-hard Steelers fans threw up a penalty flag when internet fraudsters impersonated TJ Watt to try to get their hard-earned cash.
Donna Cummings and Vicki Bernier are lifelong Steelers fans but TJ Watt, the black and gold’s premier edge rusher, holds a special place in their hearts.
So, imagine their surprise when they clicked on a TJ Watt Facebook fan page and TJ, or someone representing themselves as TJ, began messaging them.
“I assumed it was him, he had his own little page and he was talking to the fans,” Cummings said.
During the exchange of messages, the person pretending to be Watt promised her Steelers tickets in appreciation for donations to something called “The TJ Watt Foundation.” It claimed to fund things ranging from anti-violence initiatives to relief for victims of the Los Angeles wildfires. The person asked for $300, $1,000 for a higher level, and $5,000 for the top level.
“Well, I said financially, I don’t have it,” Cummings recalled. “He started about, ‘What can you afford?’ and I said I really can’t afford that right now. And he started ‘Well, how about $100, how about $50?'”
“I’m screaming at her across the room because this happened in my presence,” Bernier said. “Red flags, red flags, scam.”
Vicki tried herself and got the same flick-flam about collecting a gift in exchange for a donation.
A text exchange went like this:
Vicki: Get my what? I’m confused.
Scammer: It depends what you want, Vick. A free ticket or some cash grant.
Vicki: Oh, lol, that’s ok, I’m good.
“That’s when we were putting two and two together, saying, yeah, I don’t think TJ would do that,” Bernier said.
We reached out to the Steelers who confirmed that there is no TJ Watt Foundation and the Facebook page is a fraud. The team then referred us to the NFL league office which issued a statement.
“We are reviewing the matter and have been in contact with Meta (Facebook) about our concerns. It’s unfortunate that someone would capitalize on the goodwill TJ has built through his life and career in Pittsburgh.”
“It infuriated me,” Bernier said. “Here’s TJ, probably one of the nicest people, I don’t know him personally, but for this guy to gather all these pictures from the internet of him doing this and doing that, and TJ has no idea this is being done in his name.”
The NFL did contact Facebook, now known as Meta, and this morning the league alerted us that the bogus page has been taken down.
Both Donna and Vicki said they are proud of their actions and hope it protects other TJ Watt fans from falling victim to the same game.
This article was originally published by a www.cbsnews.com . Read the Original article here. .