At last count, 58 people were killed and more than 500 others injured from the mass shooting at a country music concert Sunday evening. Less than 72 hours after the tragedy, scammers are already exploiting the tragedy.
Local shops told EverythingLubbock.com a woman is going around major shopping centers asking people for money to get her family back from Las Vegas. Two weeks prior she was asking for money to bring her daughter home from Albuquerque.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Local Employee Pamela Schjamg said. “It almost brought me to tears.”
Schjamg’s cousins were at the Jason Aldean concert and became victims of the mass shooting. She said she’s frustrated and upset that someone would use their horror story for her own benefit.
“Her and her husband were actually there at the concert when it happened not knowing if they were going to make it back home,” Schjamg said. Then for her to come and say, ‘Hey I have family that lives in Vegas’, it’s heartbreaking because you don’t even really know what happened and just using someone else’s story to try to benefit yourself.”
This woman has been reported to visit the South Plains Mall parking lot, Walmart, TJ Maxx, Lowes, and Kingsgate Center.
Several employees in the area said she has been scamming for months, catching customers coming out of their stores. She uses a different story of an alleged family member each time.
“She had a little boy with her, approximately 7 or 8 years old, and was asking money for the victims of Vegas,” Linda Perkins said after the woman approached her. “When I asked her do you have family members, she said yes. I said well who’s the person and she first said her sister. A few minutes after that, carrying on a conversation with this lady, she changed her story. It just burns me up to know that there’s legit people out there but yet scam artists.”
She is described as a middle-aged white woman, with a medium build and dark blonde hair. She often has a little boy with her, who is believed to be her son.
“She’s a heavy set woman, she always wears a teal, blue shirt with black pants, she always wears her hair up in a bun. She’ll come to you at your car if your car window is down, or if she sees you in your car, she’ll come to your car. She’ll ask you if she can ask you a question.”
“If you do see her try to go the other way because she will hound you until she gets to talk to you in your face,” Perkins added.
This incident has been reported to the Lubbock Police Department.