A Massachusetts woman gave $20 to a 'charity worker' in a Trader Joe's parking lot only to discover the scammer pocketed $5,000 from her account instead.
Arianna Billias, 30, was grocery shopping outside of Boston last fall when she unknowingly launched herself into a months-long nightmare.
'It was pretty quick. They were out there, they had their clipboards and gave a lot of information,' she told WCVB.
The scammer claimed to be taking donations for gun violence victims, so Billias happily whipped out her credit card. That's when she started to spot red flags.
'I felt like something was wrong once the card was out of my own physical hands,' she said.
The worker told Billias there had been a 'processing issue' and snatched the credit card from her grasp.
When she checked the Bank of America app after the interaction, Billias noticed that $5,000 had been deducted from her Mastercard balance and paid to an unfamiliar PayPal account.
She immediately called her bank to dispute the charge, but her case was denied three times.
Arianna Billias, 30, thought she was making a kind-hearted donation to help gun violence victims
Billias was shopping a Trader Joe's outside of Boston when she was approached by a scammer posing as a charity worker
The company told her that it had confirmed that her card was used for the suspicious charge; therefore, the transaction could not be expunged.
'The chip was read, your PIN was entered, and/or you signed for the merchandise or service,' it said.
Billias requested documentation of Bank of America's findings and noticed that neither a proof of PIN nor a signature slip was provided.
The woman said she'd been a Bank of America customer for 12 years and had never had an issue.
'Ultimately, it felt like it was my word versus the scammers in this case and they did not side with me,' she said.
Billias submitted evidence, pointing out that the merchant was listed as Chicago address while the charge was categorized as 'in-person.'
Other charges from the same day proved that Billias was shopping in Somerville, Massachusetts at the time.
The merchant name on the suspicious PayPal account also changed multiple times.
'I couldn't find any documentation that this merchant exists as a business,' she said. 'I don't know what else I could do to resolve this after the fact.'
Billias filed a dispute with her credit card company, Bank of America, but said it was denied three times
Ultimately, Billias filed a police report, which helped push the credit card company to reconsider her case, she said.
Bank of America reopened her dispute and finally refunded her $5,000 last month.
According to their website, transactions with Bank of America must be disputed within 60 days.
The company recommends resolving the dispute with the merchant before filing a claim with the bank.
The Daily Mail contacted Billias, Bank of America and the Somerville Police Department for comment.