INDIANAPOLIS — An Indianapolis man said he was ripped off after a buyer on Facebook Marketplace gave him counterfeit cash.
Security video from Adam Bauman's home shows the whole transaction go down Sunday night. In it, you can see a black Mercedes pull up and Bauman walk up to the car with the jewelry he was selling.
"I kind of leaned down in the car, and he was like, 'OK, here's your money,' and he started counting them — 100, 50, 200," Bauman recalled.
Then, as he's walking away, Bauman said the supposed cash he was holding felt funny.
"As I got in the house and turned the light on, I seen the first two bills had the same exact serial numbers on it, and I knew right then that was an issue, that was a problem," Bauman said.
Bauman said that's when he called police.
Earl Townsend lives in Speedway and said the same thing happened to him on Friday by the same people that scammed Bauman.
"I had a counterfeit (detector) pen in my pocket, and as I walked back towards the door, I thought to stop for a second and check it. Once I checked it, they all came back fake," Townsend said.
Both men say they were messaging with a Facebook user with the name Jazlynn Pryce. But when it came to picking up the items, she told them she wasn't going to be there.
"She informed me her fiancé was going to come pick it up," Townsend said.
"They said it was for her brother and that he would be here shortly," Bauman said.
While someone with IMPD wasn't available for an interview, they sent over some best practices when selling or buying something online, like verifying the seller's identity and opting to use credit cards or apps like Venmo, Cash App or Zelle when making or taking payments. And while the two may be out hundreds of dollars, they're walking away with a valuable lesson.
"Looking back to it, it would be checking the money before handing over the system, the game system," Townsend said.
"If I had to do it again, I would definitely have a stronger face-to-face with them and just be cautious of everything right now," Bauman said.
13News' Chase Houle reached out to IMPD for an interview and for information when it comes to the counterfeit cash, but the department didn't confirm if they were investigating these cases.