ORU Student In Tulsa Targeted By Check Scammers

An ORU student who thought she was getting a job, instead got a hard life lesson and a $1,500 debt.

Tiffany, like most college students, is on a shoestring budget so she applied for a job online. But the job was a scam that cost her money and also took away herself confidence and trust.

Tiffany is a business major and when she found an accounting assistant's job online, she applied for it.

"It was supposed to pay $25 an hour. I thought wow what a good job, good experience and a pretty big paycheck," Tiffany said.

A man claiming to be Chris Arth told her she'd be recording transactions between buyers and sellers. They exchanged nearly two dozen emails and each time she had a question, he had an answer.

One email said 30 people applied but there were only seven openings, so they would be given a test.

"It makes sense for a business to make sure they're hiring the best person for the job," Tiffany said.

She was told she would receive a check. She was then supposed to deposit it, wait 24 hours for it to be approved, take 10 percent out for her salary and wire the rest by Western Union to the client in New Jersey and record the transaction. And Chris kept calling, texting and emailing.

"He was really pressuring me a lot to hurry up and get it done," she said.

After she did it, he no longer answered the phone or email. She had doubts and tried to stop the wire but he'd already picked up the money.

"The next day after that, the check bounced," she said.

She filed a police report, did research, called state and federal agencies, met with her bank's managers, but no one could help. Now her bank wants that $1,500 they're out--money she doesn't have.

"I don't know why it affected me so hard. I'm sure other people have been taken for thousands of dollars, but it's a lot of money to me. I felt taken advantage of, vulnerable," Tiffany said.

Tiffany hopes sharing her story will save somebody else all this trouble.

Know the warning signs: receiving a check to deposit in your account, keeping part and sending away the rest, using Western Union to wire it and the pressure to rush.

Before you take any job online, do lots of research.