HOUSTON – Houstonians have lost hundreds of dollars to a woman claiming to be fleeing a domestic violence situation, prompting warnings from The Women’s Home about an ongoing scheme involving the nonprofit.
Multiple victims have reported being approached by a woman traveling in a vehicle filled with children, and sometimes a dog, claiming to need emergency assistance to access domestic violence shelter services.
Using the respected name of The Women’s Home, the woman claims she needs money to get services from the Houston nonprofit.
“She’s very convincing because a lot of people have fallen for it,” said Anna Coffey, CEO of The Women’s Home.
Many of the incidents have happened in the parking lots of retail establishments, and many of the victims are middle-aged women, Coffey said.
The organization does not operate a domestic violence shelter and has no employee named Megan Hill, an alias used by one of the people allegedly involved in the scheme.
Rising Trend in Support Service Scams
Beth Anders fell victim to the scheme earlier this month in Houston’s Montrose neighborhood.
A woman, accompanied by three children, drove up to Anders yelling “Ma’am!” out the window of a Chevrolet Equinox and claimed to need urgent help escaping a domestic violence situation.
“I see these children. I’m thinking, man, they’re burning up. We need to get them food. We needed them safe,” Anders recalled of her encounter, which happened right after she got into her truck along Stanford Street.
Anders said the woman in the vehicle told her to call a phone number where she was told that she could get help, and that’s when someone claiming to be “Megan Hill,” an employee of The Women’s Home, instructed her to withdraw $200 from an ATM.
“Megan Hill” told Anders the money would be considered a donation that could eventually be refunded, which made the deal seem better, Anders said.
So Anders said she followed directions when “Megan Hill” told her to drive to a nearby ATM at a Walgreens on Montrose Boulevard, and after giving the cash to the woman and children, immediately leave.
“Megan Hill” said a constable would escort the woman and children to a safe location once Anders provided the cash.
After handing over the money, the woman and children quickly left in their vehicle, Anders said, and the phone call was disconnected. She hasn’t been able to get “Megan Hill” back on the phone.
The entire ordeal happened quickly and Anders said she felt rushed the whole time.
“All of a sudden, I got real smart. This was a scam,” Anders said. “It just hit me like a ton of bricks, and then I felt really stupid, because usually I’m so astute about financial things.”
Protecting Yourself from Fraud
The Women’s Home emphasizes that legitimate services from the nonprofit related to substance abuse and mental health issues are typically provided at no cost.
“I hate for people who have goodness in their hearts to get scammed by this individual,” Coffey said. “The best way to give money is directly to the agency. If you give it to the person, you never know if it’s really going to be used for the purpose that they’re saying it should be used for.”
The organization never asks women to find money from strangers on the street to get services, Coffey said.
Anders, a domestic violence survivor herself who is now a widow living on a fixed income, shared her story to prevent others from falling victim.
“Why would you not want to help women and children?” Anders said. “She is professional and I’m usually a hard one to sell.”
She reported the case to the Houston Police Department, and through social media research, found that others have fallen victim to the same scheme.
HPD confirmed several similar incidents are under investigation, but so far, has not provided a total number of incidents or the timeframe in which they’ve been occurring.
Any information that could help in the investigation should be reported to HPD’s Major Offenders Division.
