7 On Your Side helps student recover stolen paycheck from scammer

NEW YORK (WABC) — New York City runs a summer youth employment program with 100 thousand students every year in every borough.

The kids earn money to work with agencies and non-profits in their own communities.

Last summer, a glitch with how the teenagers got paid ended up with young people being scammed and debit cards compromised.

When a college student needed help recovering her stolen paycheck from a scammer, she called 7 On Your Side.

Zarah, 18, received a call from a man who said he was from the city’s summer youth employment program (SYEP).

SYEP pays students every year using dash debit credits, something scammers discovered they could use the cards to withdraw unlimited amounts of cash at ATMs last summer.

The hack spread like wildfire.

Zarah claims the impostor asked her to share her email, phone number, and pin for the card, then immediately hung up.

“She started to cry. She was crying,” said Hillian James, Zarah’s grandmother.

James woke her granddaughter up for work every day to save up for her first year of college.

“She needs this money,” said James.

She convinced Zarah to contact us.

“I said, You know, I look at channel 7 all the time, and they have this lady named Nina Pineda. I said email her.”

7 On Your Side contacted the NYC division of youth and development. They worked with her and issued a new card with the $1,109 she was owed.

“I’m just grateful everything is over with,” said Zarah.