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Two friends found out about this scam where they were asked to pay a total of $205 for a “background check” and training seminar in order to get a “high-paying” job. Eventually, they got their refund back, but would like to warn others about this scam.
Alyssa Fishman believed she and her friend had found the starting job to end all starting jobs: Pay $80 for a background check, then $125 for a training seminar in Dongan Hills, then end up in a high-paying post as a security firm sales manager.
Except after a few minutes of Internet research, the 20-year-old College of Staten Island student from Willowbrook found out the seminar was a confidence scheme, run by a slippery scammer who had pulled the same routine in several other states.
So she and her boyfriend, Nick Iorizzo, decided to put a stop to it before folks could be taken in.
They awoke early Saturday, traveled to the Dongan Hills site of the so-called training seminar and distributed fliers to everyone walking into the office, warning them they were about to throw away $125.
“It’s a scam! Do not give them any more money!” the fliers read.
What happened next made headlines — the alleged con artist’s would-be victims, armed with the information provided by Ms. Fishman and Iorizzo, confronted him with questions, and he fled, locking seven of them inside the building until police arrived.
Police showed up at the scene after Saturday’s episode, but the couple suspect the man running the seminars is long gone.
