Instagram Scam

DATE & TIME: 04-14-2021 @ 1400

LOCATION: Adams, Nebraska            

OFFENSE: Instagram Scam

CASE #: 2021-1428

The principal at Freeman High School contacted a Gage County Sheriff’s Office investigator and reported that several students at his high school had been targeted as part of a check cashing scam through a fraudulent Instagram account. An investigation into this matter revealed that an unknown person, using an Instagram account “Ace_Kate21” a profile photograph of a white female in her 50s, and having an e-mail with the name “bijhana bubuji”, asked the teenagers if they wanted to be her “sugar baby”. The teenager was then sent a bogus check for $2,500.00, told to deposit the check, send $2,000.00 to a charity and keep $500.00 for themselves. 

In this type of scam, the victim sends the money to a charity or other organization, which the suspect has access to, and when the check is found out to be insufficient, the money has already been sent from the victim’s account.

The Instagram account had already been deleted by the time the incident was reported to law enforcement, but the victim sent “screenshots” of the communication with the suspect to the sheriff’s office. When the parent of the student became aware of the incident, she contacted her bank and halted the transaction and has not lost any money.

Sheriff Millard “Gus” Gustafson #903

Sergeant T. Hanson #90310