A Disney’s Animal Kingdom security guard apparently got caught up in a financial scam by a co-worker, according to a newly released Orange County Sheriff’s report.
It doesn’t appear anyone has been charged with a crime after the Walt Disney World Cast Member reported losing $1,000.
The 47-year-old security guard was doing the screening at the theme park on December 1 when she said one of her co-workers was “visibly distraught,” the report said. (WDWNT is writing about this incident now because it took the sheriff’s office months to release public records.)
The co-worker said she was in desperate need of $1,000 or else she was going to lose $150,000 by midnight.
Why was the co-worker going to lose $150,000 in the first place? The sheriff’s report didn’t say. The co-worker didn’t ask the security guard directly for money either, but the security guard clearly felt sympathy and wanted to help.
The security guard sent $1,000 through Zelle to a woman named Stacie since the co-worker didn’t have Zelle set up. The charge didn’t go through. The security guard tried again and sent the $1,000 to a man named Joseph from Texas, as the co-worker requested. This time, the transaction was successful.
The security guard got a follow-up money request for $50, allegedly for a processing fee. The security guard reached her daily Zelle limit, so she sent the $50 through Venmo.
The co-worker had promised to pay a large sum back within the hour, and two wrote out a handwritten agreement.
The co-worker didn’t immediately follow up on her side of the bargain and said she was working to get the money back. Meanwhile, the security guard spoke with the sheriff’s office the next day.
There didn’t seem to be a lot the sheriff’s office could do to help.
“Due to the unusual circumstances of the agreement and the money transactions, (the security guard) came to believe she was the victim of a fraudulent scheme. I made sure to explain to (the security guard) that while it was entirely possible she was the victim of a financial scheme, she willingly provided the funds and also entered into an agreement with another party,” the sheriff’s deputy wrote “for documentation purposes” in the incident report.
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