HASTINGS, Neb. (KSNB) – Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers is suing 15 people in connection with what he calls dropshipping fraud. One of those defendants is a woman from Nebraska who she believes misled the public about paying money to e-commerce stores.

Elizabeth “Liz” Friesen He is on a list of people and businesses that Hilgers said misled the public about paying money to automated e-commerce stores operating through Amazon and Walmart.

In the lawsuit, Hilgers said at least 60 Nebraskans were exploited and they all lost at least $15,000 running these dropshipping businesses. Some lost more than $100,000, he said.

Jessie Schmidt of the Better Business Bureau said dropshipping scams have always been one of her biggest concerns.

“Apparently there were some red flags, and one of them was that, again, you can make a lot of money working from home,” Schmidt said. “We say this is a really big red flag and employment scams rank in the top 10 scams every year.”

Schmidt said to be careful about what you see on social media.

“There are a lot of great Instagrammers or TikTokers out there, but if they’re trying to convince you to work for them or be a part of their organization and you don’t have a great track record of that, you have to look at it from a different perspective. A more cautious lens,” Schmidt said. .

Schmidt said it’s important for anyone who falls victim to fraud to report it to the appropriate authorities. He shared that only 14% of scams are reported due to embarrassment.

“There is shame in being the victim of a scam, and the one thing we want to leave people with is that you should never be ashamed,” Schmidt said.

If you think you may have been a victim of this alleged scam or any other scam, report to the government online.

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