A former Miss New York is sounding the alarm about a scam targeting New Yorkers with giving hearts, as she lost thousands of dollars in just a matter of seconds.
Briana Siaca told NBC New York that she became a victim after listening to a sob story that the suspects — who looked to be teenagers — shared in order to gain access to her phone. They said they were raising money to buy new uniforms for their basketball team in the Bronx.
"They were telling me about their team and how they’re performing, kind of distracting me," Siaca said. "One of the boys said, 'Don’t worry ma'am, I’ll put my information in your phone."
Instead of asking for cash, the suspects want donations sent through Zelle, the electronic payment system. Siaca made the mistake of handing her phone over to one of the suspects.
"It was almost like they had a script – 'Don’t worry, we take Venmo and Zelle. We prefer Zelle because it gets to our coach faster,'" she recalled the suspects telling her. "Within like, 15 seconds, they were like 'Thank you ma’am,' and they ran away."
Siaca checked her bank app later and discovered $2,000 was gone from her account.
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"I called my bank right away, I tried to get things frozen, then I called the police," Siaca said.
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Video showed a very similar scenario play out with another victim, who was sitting alone on a park bench in the city when two suspects struck up a conversation with her, according to police.
"They look for that soft target who is alone. Why? Because no one is going to intervene. What do they do? They pull on those heartstrings," said NYPD Chief Jason Savino.
Matthew Doherty, of the NYPD's financial crimes task force, said the suspects will walk up to targets and — just like the scammers on the subway — will claim they are collecting money for their school. In less than a month, scammers have stolen $35,000 from 15 victims, mostly women hanging out in parks.
"Word is out, bad guys are communicating through social media, telling them how easy this scam is," Savino said.
NYPD’s Financial Crimes Task Force said that at least 87 people, mostly women, have fallen for the same scam in 2024. Police said thieves generally target tourists or college-age students hanging out at parks close to subway lines.
Unfortunately for victims, Zelle fraud is not treated like credit card fraud. Of those 87 scam cases NYPD has investigated, Doherty said no one has received their money back.
The bank Siaca uses, Chase, said in a statement "Thefts like this are despicable, and we appreciate Ms. Siaca using her platform to warn others about these criminals. Using a peer to peer payment platform to transfer money is just like handing someone cash and once a payment goes through, it typically cannot be reversed. We want to remind everyone using peer to peer payment services to never hand your phone over to someone else — it’s the same as handing them your entire wallet."
Chase is actively investigating Siaca’s case. She is still waiting on getting her money back.
Zelle advised users only send money to those you trust; to treat Zelle like cash; and to beware of payment scams — meaning that if it seems "too good to be true, it probably is." More tips on how to avoid scams is available on their website.
A spokesperson for Early Warning Services, the network provider of Zelle, said that it is possible for users to get their money back after reporting a scam, noting that their "bank and credit union participants must reimburse consumers for certain qualifying imposter scams."
After falling victim to the scam, Siaca took to social media to warn others.
"I felt so shocked. I couldn’t believe I fell for this trick ... Be a little more careful. This could happen to anyone," she said. "I was willing to put out there that I fell for this scam. If it meant that I could help hundreds of people – at least one person – I was good with that. I didn’t expect it to take off the way that it did."
