Fargo woman catches scammer using her information on video on her doorstep

FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) – A Fargo woman caught onto a scammer’s tricks while they were opening accounts with her personal information.

She even caught the culprit on video of her front doorstep.

“It’s been a whirlwind 24 hours,” says Gretchen Tinjum.

What you’re seeing is a scammer in action.

Tinjum says there was a note for a signature for delivery on her front door.

Half an hour later, a man came and took the note off the door.

At first, she thought this was a simple delivery mistake by FedEx because her family hadn’t ordered anything, until it happened again.

“FedEx tried to deliver that second box on Friday. It was 11:28 when FedEx was at my door. Five minutes later, a signature registered with FedEx that it was signed for,” says Tinjum.

It wasn’t a coincidence.

FedEx told her the packages were coming from Verizon, and Tinjum says she has never been a Verizon customer.

“Contacted FedEx, contacted Verizon, and realized it was all in a 24 hour time frame. It started at 4:30 am last Monday,” she says.

She was able to get the receipts of two iPhones ordered from Verizon, after the scammer had used her personal information to make the account.

“There’s even a receipt that show the phone numbers, the serial numbers for the phones that were ordered too. So, those phones could be identified per those specific numbers for those phones,” says TInjum.

Verizon shut the phones down and put her in touch with their fraud department.

“No withdrawals from my bank account or any other credit card I use,” she says.

But she soon got a letter with a CashApp debit card in her name, another service she’s never used.

After checking the Verizon receipts, she learned the person had used the debit card to purchase the phones.

“I don’t know how CashApp works. I just want to make sure my account with the gets cancelled and no funds of mine go anywhere,” she says.

In the last 24 hours Tinjum alerted credit companies and banks of the issue, as well as putting a flag on her social security number.

She says she doesn’t know how her information got out, but now she hopes people will be more cautious.

“Be vigilant, even if it’s with old accounts like emails. Pay attention to your social security number and who you share it with. Even if it’s at a business, you can never be too careful,” Tinjum says.

A police report has been filed. If you recognize the man in the video, call dispatch at 701-451-7660.

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