A scam preying on the homeless is popping up in cities across the country.

[Liberal_in_LA]

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
A scam preying on the homeless is popping up in cities across the country.

Scammers are ruining homeless peoples' credit and incurring big debts in their names -- all to get their hands on cheap cell phones that they later sell.

Here's how the scheme works:

Fraudsters pay homeless people to take out cell phone contracts and get subsidized phones -- the phones cost maybe $100 for a phone worth $600.

Once the scammers get the brand new phones in their hands, they drop off the homeless victims and sell the phones on the streets, online or abroad.

The homeless people get a little out of it -- perhaps $50 or $100. But because the phones are in their names, they end up racking up hundreds or thousands of dollars in bills. When they fail to pay, their credit gets destroyed.

http://money.cnn.com/2014/02/26/pf/homeless-scam/

[yuiyoshida]

1. Thats just lovely..

Preying on the Homeless is just precious isn't it?

baka! doji! Manuke!

[MineralMan]

2. But, tell us how you really feel!

[JustAnotherGen]

3. Going on for some time unfortunately

Apple Stores and Walmarts were key targets of the fraudsters this past summer.

The guy who broke a big one for us in Detroit was one of the Homeless folks that never got paid for the 5 lines he opened in his name. He was supposed to get $100 a piece. To a guy living in his car - that's a fortune. And so he turned on them. And that's how we got 'em.

Same thing in L.A. and Atlanta.


The credit frauds are entirely different in Philly, the Bronx, Jamaica NY, Boston -

Every region has a different scam.

[Laelth]

4. k&r for exposure. n/t

-Laelth

[Bonx]

5. "the phones cost maybe $100 for a phone worth $600. "

Yeah, common sense says that's going to be a problem.