COLORADO SPRINGS — Marie Morgan reached out to News5 because she is scrambling to get her life back on track after a bad credit repair experience.
The chaos for Morgan started when she met a man online who claimed to be in the military overseas, who needed money to help his sick daughter.
”I gave him practically all of my savings and I had everything checked out and I found out it was a scam,” said Morgan.
Trying to deal with the aftermath of that huge financial loss, she says her phone rang again.
”One day somebody called me and he was very nice. He said we could really help you and la la la la la… and he said you don’t have to worry,” Morgan said. “If I paid $400 every month for several years that at the end of this time all of my credit would be 100%.”
So, Morgan says she started her payment plan with the company that she says lasted two years.
“What did you believe they were doing?” asked News5’s Patrick Nelson.
”They told me they’d be contacting each of my creditors and I had quite a bit,” Morgan said. “So they could cut the payment down. Then, they would be giving them payments each month and at the end of my term I would be debt free.”
Thinking her financial situation had been repaired, Morgan went to the bank to ask about a loan, but found out she had been paying money for months and her financial situation hadn’t improved at all.
”I said I can’t believe this. What am I gonna do? Oh my god. Everything, all that money for all that time it’s wiped out,” Morgan said.
News5 helped Morgan to stop payments and to file a claim with Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser’s Office. I followed up with him and while his office is looking into her situation, he wasn’t able to give an update. He did say he’s seeing similar situations where people are being taken advantage of.
”If you get a robocall or see a social media post, stay nervous. Most times what they are trying to sell you is a scam. You have to do your homework before you start working with anyone who purports to help you otherwise you may well get taken advantage of and be worse off for it,” warned Weiser.
Morgan continues to wait to see if anything will be done to hold the people accountable who took her money, but says at the very least she hopes someone will learn from her mistakes.
”They’ll make you feel wonderful, they’ll make you feel great. They will hit on all those areas. You have to be aware. Check it out. I didn’t. I said this is a big legal firm, they told me about themselves, don’t believe what they say. Check everything out,” warned Morgan.
If you're seeing this story and have experienced anything similar to what she went through, it’s so important to report it.
The attorney general tells me if he gets more reports and can connect the dots between cases it could lead to a breakthrough in the investigation.
Here are the top places to report scams and fraud:
Colorado Attorney General's Office
https://www.stopfraudcolorado.gov/
Federal Trade Commission
https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/#/
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