A Chicago woman offered cash to two men who said they were collecting donations after someone close to them died from gun violence. They refused it.
The response reminded her of similar street encounters that had left two Chicago residents with unauthorized credit-card charges of $4,000 and $5,000. She turned around, began recording, and later gave Chicago police video and license-plate information connected to the encounter.
Police have not publicly identified the men as suspects or linked them to either of the earlier transactions.
She Started Recording After the Men Approached Other Pedestrians
The encounter happened while the woman, identified only as Frederica to protect her privacy, was walking along East Ohio Street in Chicago’s Streeterville neighborhood, according to NBC Chicago.
Frederica said the two men told a story about a cousin or friend who had died because of gun violence and asked her for a donation. She declined and continued walking. After seeing the men approach other pedestrians, she remembered NBC Chicago’s previous reports about people who discovered large unauthorized charges after similar donation pitches.
Frederica circled back with her phone recording and asked whether the men accepted cash. “No,” one replied. When she asked why, the man answered, “Because,” without providing an explanation.
Two Earlier Encounters Led to $4,000 and $5,000 Charges
Ana Corillo previously told NBC Chicago that she discovered an unauthorized $4,000 credit-card charge after a similar street donation encounter. The transaction was listed as a payment to a catering business.
Another Chicago resident, Emilie Kostecka, said a man offered to hold her phone while she looked through a binder containing photographs of a child who had supposedly been injured or killed. After the man returned the phone, Kostecka received an email from her bank notifying her of a $5,000 credit-card charge.
Corillo and Kostecka both said the people who approached them directed their attention toward binders while offering to handle their phones. NBC Chicago reported that both women eventually recovered the disputed money after contacting the station’s consumer-investigation team.
One Woman Said She Recognized a Man in Neighborhood Posts
Residents also posted warnings about similar encounters in social-media groups serving Logan Square and the West Loop. Kostecka said she recognized one man shown in those posts as the person who had approached her.
Frederica also filed a police report and provided investigators with her recordings and license-plate information from a vehicle connected to the encounter. She told NBC Chicago that she wanted the images to help identify the people involved and prevent other residents or visitors from losing money.
NBC Chicago reported that the same person appeared to be visible in Frederica’s recording. Chicago police had not publicly confirmed that anyone in Frederica’s video was responsible for the charges reported by Corillo or Kostecka.
Keep Control of the Phone, Card, and Payment Screen
NBC Chicago advised anyone approached for an in-person donation not to hand a stranger a phone or payment card. A donor choosing to pay electronically should personally enter the payment information and confirm the recipient and exact amount before approving it.
The Federal Trade Commission similarly recommends protecting payment apps with a PIN or multifactor authentication and double-checking the recipient’s information before submitting a transaction.
Anyone who discovers an unauthorized payment should immediately save screenshots and transaction details, contact the card issuer or payment-app provider through its official app or website, and report the transaction. The FTC lists direct reporting instructions for Cash App, Venmo, and PayPal and accepts fraud reports through ReportFraud.ftc.gov.