Caon City woman almost fell victim to food stamp scam

A convincing new phone scam is targeting Colorado families who rely on food stamps.

“It’s very scary, I don’t want anyone else to get caught,” said Irma McKnight, a victim.

McKnight received a strange text a few nights ago claiming her food stamp deposit was pending.

“It says URGENT… and had a link you could click on,” she said.

Frightened, McKnight clicked on the link and it took her to a legitimate looking food-stamp site.

“I didn’t want to lose everything,” McKnight said.

The site, pictured above, looks legitimate. But as you scroll down, under the ‘terms’ section the company states it’s not tied to any governmental agency.

“It actually list it’s run by a marketing company that’s based in Mumbai, India,” said Blake Schwank, the CEO of Colorado Computer Support.

Schwank explains the real scam here is identity theft.

“The website it asked her to go to was illegitimate… it started asking her for her information, and when you apply for food stamps they ask for all of your identifying information including your social security number.”

A scary outcome for McKnight, who was previously a victim of identity theft.

“I feel violated, and I feel angry,” she said.

McKnight has been in contact with the Colorado Dept. of Human Services who is now investigating the matter.

Our computer expert for this story is Blake Schwank with Colorado Computer Support. For more information, here is their company Facebook page.