US expat scammed thousands at Woolworths checkout reveals surprising response to plea

An American in Sydney who revealed she was scammed $3000 in a matter of minutes at Woolworths has shared a surprising update.

A US expat who revealed how she was scammed out of $3000 after buying multiple Apple gift cards at a Woolworths supermarket has shared a “crushing” blow in response to her story.

Melanie Albert, 34, who is originally from Texas but now living in Sydney, shared

with news.com.au how an email and subsequent WhatsApp messages — which she believed to be from her boss — were in fact from a scammer.

The messages requested her to do a “favour” by purchasing multiple gift cards to the value of $3000 — money she would be “reimbursed” for later by her employer.

Melanie Albert was scammed out of $3000 after buying Apple Gift Cards and providing verification numbers to someone she thought was her employer.

Ms Albert said she hit “rock bottom” following the ordeal

Having recently started her job with the high-profile restaurant group, Ms Albert had no reason not to believe the request wasn’t from her boss given the casual language used and how the request came across.

The WhatsApp messages also contained her boss’s full name as the sender, and the initial email appeared to come from his account.

However, after draining her account and leaving her with just $91 — and after multiple failed phone calls to the phone number — Ms Albert came to the horrific realisation that it wasn’t actually her boss on the other side of the phone but a “clever scammer”.

Ms Albert saw her employer's name in WhatsApp so didn't see the message as a red flag.

The initial email exchange received by Ms Albert simply asked for her WhatsApp number.

In the hours after sharing her story with this website, in which she also hoped to raise the lost funds via a GoFundMe page and put them towards a visa to remain in Australia, Ms Albert said she has been labelled as a “scam” herself and that she “made up” her story about losing thousands.

Having “hit rock bottom” following the entire ordeal, and already feeling like a “huge idiot”, Ms Albert was left hurt following the intense social scrutiny. She says she has been labelled “not smart”, “gullible” and a “fool”.

Ms Albert revealed how she was scammed thousands, but has since been trolled online after sharing her story.

The exchange between the scammer and Ms Albert had a very conversational tone that she believes didn’t raise any red flags.

Speaking to news.com.au on Thursday, Ms Albert said she tries to not let the “hate” impact her, especially when aimed at her being “American and blonde”.

“I moved to Australia because I knew good people here … and I put myself on the line by starting a GoFundMe,” she said.

“To see comments like, ‘she’s stupid’ or ‘she’s American or ‘she’s blonde’ … the people with negativity is shocking, but also not surprised by it.

“What they don’t know is I graduated on the Dean’s list.”

Ms Albert, who has held the position of assistant manager at a popular restaurant in Sydney for the past two months, said since going public with her story she noticed a disturbing trend.

“After sharing my story, I have had three or four people come to me saying they also fell for it [or a similar scam],” she explained.

“And all of them were immigrants who had landed a stable job, and want to bend over backwards for their boss and to maintain a stable job.

“People saying ‘there are signs warning about this at Woolies’. Well, no there wasn’t.

“And saying I am ‘stupid and American’, also a no. Lots of people are falling for this … so it is disheartening to see the negativity.”

Ms Albert claims she has been contacted by other expats who have fallen victim to a similar scam.

The 34-year-old had her savings drained, which we going towards her partner visa costs later this year.

Ms Albert said on the flip side, those that have donated towards her fundraiser have all been strangers with most sending kind words of encouragement in response to what happened.

She has so far received $1500 in donations. She has also been offered a payment in advance from her employer to fill the gap until she is able to replenish her lost savings.

An investigation this year commissioned by the National Anti-Scam Centre said Australians were still making a significant number of scam reports to organisations such as Scamwatch, ReportCyber and the Australian Financial Crimes Exchange.

The report indicated that Aussies made over 601,000 scam reports in 2023, which was an 18.5 per cent increase on 2022.

Reports of scammers are on the rise. Picture: istock

Investment scams continue to cause the most harm ($1.3 billion), followed by remote access scams ($256 million) and romance scams ($201.1 million).

Ms Albert said the whole ordeal landed her in the “darkest place” she’s been, and one she hasn’t found the courage to share with her parents yet.

“I was just starting to get out of rock bottom when I fell victim to a scam that’s landed me further back then where I was a few months ago,” she said.

“The scammers managed to drain me completely dry across my debit and savings account. Now with the scammers taking everything I had I am back at rock bottom and have no idea what to do.

“At this point this [GoFundMe] is the only thing I can think of to help me out of the darkest place I have been in.”