An interaction caught on camera has highlighted a potential scam that has cost Chicago residents thousands of dollars.
For months, NBC 5 Responds has been warning about tap-to-pay scams happening around Chicago. Now, several people reported being approached in a similar scheme.
A city resident, identified in this story as Frederica to protect her privacy, said she was approached by two men while walking along East Ohio Street in the Streeterville neighborhood.
Frederica said they were “kind of telling a story about how they had a cousin or a friend pass away due to, I believe, gun violence, and they were asking for donations.”
“And at first I kind of said, ‘No, thank you,’ walked along,” she said.
That’s when she turned around and saw the men approaching other people on the street.
“That’s what prompted me kind of circle back and say, ‘You know, let me try to get this on camera,’ just to see if we can actually identify these guys,” Frederica said.
In video recorded by Frederica, she asked the men whether they accepted cash donations.
“Do you guys take cash?” she is heard saying.
“No,” one of the men replied.
“Why not?” she asked.
“Because,” the man replied.
“I don’t understand,” Frederica said.
Frederica was aware of the donation tap scams NBC 5 Responds has been reporting on for months.
In March, NBC 5 Responds reported on Ana Corillo, who reached out for help when she lost $4,000.
Soon after, resident Emilie Kostecka reported a similar story, losing $5,000 in an identical scam.
Corillo and Kostecka said the men who approached them offered to hold their phones while they looked through a binder with pictures of a child who was either hurt or died by gun violence.
Soon after, they said they realized large unauthorized transactions were made using their credit cards.
“Four thousand dollars for a catering service. And I was like—definitely didn’t do that,” Corillo told NBC 5 Responds in March 2026.
“They give me my phone back, I give them the binder. I walk away and I notice I had an email from my bank telling me that I had a $5,000 charge on my credit card,” Kostecka told NBC 5 Responds in June 2026.
Around the same time, neighbors posted about similar encounters with a group of men in Logan Square and West Loop community groups on social media.
Kostecka said she recognized one of the men in those posts as the same person who approached her. That man also appears to be in Frederica’s video.
“This is a financial crime against regular everyday people who some of them can’t afford to pay rent the next month, but still have it in their hearts to try to give,” Frederica said. “And so the fact that they would essentially be punished for that and police don’t follow up is pretty heartbreaking.”
Frederica never handed over her credit card, but she did file a report with Chicago police, sharing her videos with them, as well as the license plate information of the men she recorded.
NBC 5 Responds asked Chicago police if Frederica’s report is being investigated, but CPD said it couldn’t confirm this.
Frederica hopes that by seeing the suspected scammers in action, others can avoid becoming a victim.
“I love Chicago. I think it’s a wonderful, friendly city,” Frederica said. “I don’t want anybody – whether it be resident or tourist, to be scammed by anyone on the street and leave feeling like they got something taken away from this beautiful city.”
Both Corillo and Kostecka were able to recover their unauthorized charges after contacting NBC 5 Responds.
If someone approaches you asking for an in-person donation, don’t hand over a card or phone. And if you want to donate, make sure you verify the donation amount on the card reader screen.
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