NYC Student Recovers Stolen Paycheck After Summer Youth Employment Program Scam

Summer Youth Employment Program Scam

• 🎯 The Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) in New York City, which employs 100,000 students annually, was targeted by scammers last summer.
• 💳 Scammers exploited a glitch in the payment system, compromising debit cards used to pay students and leading to widespread theft.
• 📱 The scam spread rapidly on social media platforms like TikTok, where individuals shared methods to withdraw unlimited cash from ATMs using stolen card information.

Student Victim's Experience

• 💡 An 18-year-old first-year college student, working through the SYEP in Brooklyn, fell victim to a convincing scammer posing as a program representative.
• 📞 The scammer obtained her email, phone number, and debit card PIN, leading to unauthorized transactions and her card being locked.
• 💔 The student was distressed as her paycheck, intended for her first year of college, began to disappear.

Recovery and Resolution

• 🤝 The student's grandmother encouraged her to contact "7 On Your Side" reporter Nina Pineda, who had previously reported on similar scams.
• ✅ Following the report, the city's Division of Youth and Community Development worked directly with the student to resolve the pay issue.
• 💰 Her full salary of $1,190 was restored, and she was issued a new, successfully activated debit card with her funds available.

Wider Impact and Investigation

• 📈 Estimates suggest that individuals may have withdrawn significant amounts, with one report of $43,000 withdrawn from a single ATM.
• ⚠️ The city stated that no taxpayer money was compromised, attributing the issue to a vendor outside their direct control.
• 🚓 The case has been handed over to the NYPD for further investigation, with hopes for arrests and recovery of the stolen funds.