A Camden, New Jersey Instagram influencer along with nine others was arrested for scamming $1.5 million from their followers offering ‘legal money’
In a report by Gizmodo, 22-year-old Kayla Massa and her nine accomplices convinced their followers to give them bank account details in order to file fraudulent checks and stolen money orders. Authorities say Massa who went under the Instagram handles kayg0ldi and theonlykayg0ldi collected bank account details from 45 out of 345,000 followers.
She would attract her victims by posting cash in her Instagram stories and say she could help “legally” obtain money by using their account to deposit funds for a tax writeoff.
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“So basically my business partner own his own business. We deposit a check through Atm, claiming as if you worked. It take 1 or 2 days to process. I would need your online banking and card & pin. We would have to meet up. If you have any questions you can ask me.”
The victims would give Massa or one of her friends their bank details along with a debit card. The scammers would deposit the stolen money orders or fraudulent checks into the accounts and use the debit cards to buy more money orders then blocked the victims on Instagram.
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Investigators say the scams began in early 2018 and three of the suspects were caught in January 2019. The rest were captured on February 13. In total, investigators have confiscated 53 USPS money orders, 599 fake money orders, and 1,238 fake checks.
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