One gay man couldn’t read between the lines fast enough, and is now trying to report a crime cast against him. Unfortunately, the government shutdown is making that difficult.
23-year-old Dalton Tannehill thought he had found a goldmine while on Grindr. Namely, he thought he’d met a sugar daddy.
The alleged “daddy,” who went by James, said that he wanted to take care of Tannehill and his financial troubles with two weekly payments of $500. Tannehill then unfortunately gave “James” his Social Security number and bank login details. You can probably guess where the rest of this story goes.
It wasn’t as if Tannehill trusted the stranger entirely, but when he received $2,480 in his bank account, he started to believe “James.”
"Before the payment was processed, I was obviously suspicious … and when it processed, I felt, 'Okay, good. This is legit. I actually have a real and legitimate sugar daddy!'' Tannehill told to Buzzfeed News.
Tannehill was then instructed to buy several credit cards and Google Play gift cards from Walmart. After spending $1,000 doing so, James became agitated with Tannehill. Feeling uncomfortable with the situation, Tannehill then blocked James. James then retracted the $2,480 from before.
“I just realized I needed to block him and cut off all communication, and report this as soon as I possibly could, whenever this shutdown ends, or any other way,” Tannehill told BuzzFeed News.
Around the same time, Tannehill was contacted by someone claiming to be James’ account manager and requested Tannehill’s Social Security number.
It was at this point that Tannehill tried to report a case of stolen identity to the Federal Trade Commission. Unfortunately, the partial government shutdown, the longest in US history, is still happening. As such, Tannehill wasn’t able to receive help.
As such, Tannehill is currently waiting to report the incident in hopes of catching “James.” Meanwhile, James is getting away with the crime.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, identity theft was the second biggest consumer complaint in 2017.
Some red flags to look out for in a situation like this is being asked to send bank information (which isn’t necessary for sending money), being asked to open a credit card, or being asked for your Social Security information. All of that information is private and should remain as such.
h/t: DailyMail, Buzzfeed News,
