Two girls claiming to be college students in Galveston, Texas, attending a branch of TEXAS A&M, sold books in my neighborhood to earn money for a school trip. "Katie" and "K.D.", claimed that "Katies" parents lived on a street directly behind me. Katie said her mother wanted her to help raise money for the trip to Australia that she and her friend, K.D., would be taking for school. She also stated that her mom had it set up where the books purchased wwould go to children's hospitals for children with cancer, if we didn't have any small children to give the books to.
After making the commitment to help, I started seeing red flags. "Katie" was becoming very pushy and was not pleased when I wanted the books I purchased to go to a nephew.in addition, she aggressively suggested I purchase two sets because her friend needed help too.
She was extremely pushy on the following points: to purchase 2 sets, they only needed one more set sold, she had to catch a bus at 5:30, they would "walk my dogs". I firmly let her know I was not spending anymore money on additional sets or paying 14.00 in taxes that she asked for. (sets were $40.00) She argued what was $10 more dollars? When I said to call it off, I would give her a donation, she said they didn't take donations, and also had mentioned they didn't take credit cards.
We were beginning to get stern with one another after she mentioned since you can't afford it, my mom gave me $20.00 and I will pay your tax with that. She was amazed when I told her fine, she could do that. The last straw was her saying not to write anything in the "memo" on the check. Lastly, I had to practically make her give me a receipt. (We later found, that she asked another neighbor to give her a $20 donation if she wasn't going to buy anything, and told another neighbor her order was the cheapest she had all day - over $108...)
I immediately got on the internet after closing the door and found the red flags to be true. Friends of ours live behind us and asked us over for dinner. The husband is a fireman and he said the girls just left his home. They were going to come back when his wife came home with the checkbook. She had told the fireman she lived on our street, and that he probably knew her parents, saying they always walked their dogs and even gave him names of her "supposed parents".
Long story short, my son and I got in the car and found her taking cash from another home for books. I demanded my check and my neighbors checks. (Our neighbors directly across from me and beside me had give over $200.00 in checks to these girls.)
While she was thumbing through a stack of checks I saw another neighbors check of neighbors I went to high school with. I took their check and she threw a fit. The fireman had driven up at that time and told her to keep the check, that he was calling "911". She, in turn, called me a "b..." and said keep the check. The fireman then asked her "exactly where do you live?" (because she told both of us different streets.) She commented in a rude tone, "Sir, I don't even live around here." They began briskly walking out of the neighborhood and dialing her cell phone. They went into in a wooded area and we lost track of them before the police arrived.
Our neighborhood is a nice, friendly area that loves to help good kids and charitable organizations. These girls pulled the wool over many smart and successful people's eyes and it was not just petty cash. There was ZERO college affiliation with Texas A&M and their website is listed above. You can find Katies picture on the website and she is employed by Integrity programs. Total fraud.
0 comments