2 Investigators: Woman Accused Of Cheating Moms Through Facebook
(CBS) -- When you're on Facebook, how much can you trust your supposed "friends"?
2 Investigator Pam Zekman found a group of women who say they were ripped off when buying things from members on Facebook. They say they were solicited on private Facebook groups, so they thought they could trust the seller. And that's when problems started.
Jennifer Vestuto sold clothing and accessories through ads she posted on private Facebook groups, like "Moms of Oak Lawn." Some victims thought they could trust her because she said she was a working mother like them.
"She lives in our neighborhood, I never thought for one second that she was a scam artist," one mother, Shontrese Jackson, says.
Another mom, Sherri Williams, says: "I think she is supporting her family by ripping people off."
The women say they initially trusted Vestuto because she posted on a mom's page where many of them share recipes, order and sell things, and help each other out.
After they replied to Vestuto's Facebook ads, she invited them to her home and showed them sample items. She then took their orders offered at big discounts.
"They were cheaper than what you can afford in the stores, and I have four kids, and I thought it would be a great Christmas present for them," Williams says.
She ordered four North Face jackets and paid $250 in cash up front. Williams says she was promised the items in two weeks, but it took three months to receive them.
"There was always a new excuse. The order didn't come in, her kids were sick," Williams says.
When she finally did receive the items, she says, they weren't what she had ordered. She ordered one men's large jacket, a small pink and black jacket in a child's size and two ladies' jackets in size large. What she got, she says, were two men's XXL, a ladies' medium jacket, and another jacket that she believes was used and had hair all over it.
"I said, 'I am not taking these items, this is not what I ordered,'" Williams says. "I've asked for my money back numerous times. She keeps telling me no, there are no refunds."
Jackson says she had problems when she ordered a North Face jacket from Vestuto for $60. When it didn't come on the expected date, she says she got similar excuses from Vestuto and never got the jacket.
"You can't just rip people off," Jackson says. "You can't just take peoples' money and not give what you said you were going to give them."
Zekman tried to reach Vestuto at her home, but she didn't respond. However, her husband did come outside during one CBS 2 visit.
He said her wife only sold second-hand baby clothes and toys online and her customers always got what they ordered. But on Facebook there are ads posted by Vestuto for jackets, shoes, handbags and more.
Her husband also said the people complaining did not order anything.
"A friend on Facebook isn't really a friend," cautions fraud expert William Kresse, a professor at Governors State University. "You think this person won't harm me, they understand me, they're just like me. They may be nothing like you, and they're doing it solely to get into your money."
Kresse says consumers have to be alert when purchasing on Facebook or other social media.
"It really comes down to you: You have to be cautious, you have to be vigilant because social media is virtual reality, it's not reality," he says.
Williams says she will never order off a social media site again.
The moms CBS 2 interviewed say they want Vestuto to stop selling on Facebook but don't know where to turn. Williams says she went to the Oak Lawn Police Department to file a report, but was told that this was a civil matter and she would have to file a lawsuit.
Several other women had similar complaints. But there have also been positive comments on Vestuto's website indicating some customers did get what they ordered and were happy with the items.
