Scam Type
Charity Scam
Date Reported
Sep 24, 2022
Victim Postal Code
38112
Total Dollars Lost
0
Scam Description
Woman identifying herself as Jennifer Michaels contacted our church via email saying her husband had died recently and she was looking to donate his much-beloved Yamaha baby grand piano. The piano was purportedly stored by her movers in Little Rock, and all we had to do was pay moving costs to have it transported from Little Rock to Memphis, a cost she estimated to be “about $1000.” We had, coincidentally, recently discussed the need for a better piano for our small church, so this seemed like the answer to our prayers. In subsequent emails in which we expressed our interest, we asked for the donor’s phone number so we could ask some additional questions, and for the specific location of the piano so we could have it checked out by a piano professional. At this point “she” got evasive, said she was using a “prepaid phone” and that she would have her movers contact us with an estimate. Suspicious, we did a Google search and discovered numerous scams listed, with similar premises to this one, similar names used, even very similar language. We shut down our end of the conversation and have not heard anything further from the scammer. We feel lucky to have dodged the bullet and hope you can warn others.
