The scooter-sharing scam that fleeced millions of dollars from Americans
NBC News | Lightning Shared Scooter Co. promised investors huge returns and earned trusted endorsements.
It seemed simple: Invest a small amount in the high-tech scooter-sharing company. Use the app to see your money double as people rent the scooters. Even better, invite your friends — and you’ll make even more and win prizes.
When you made an initial investment of around $2,100 through an online payment platform, a Lightning Shared Scooter Co. manager would convert it to cryptocurrency like Bitcoin. From there, “investors” could track their accounts in an app. They could increase their investments using cryptocurrency to buy more scooters. More scooters, more income.
“There’s a physical piece of property, here’s your scooter, so this must be legit.”
It seemed like a good deal. The company had lots of endorsements. And unlike most crypto scams, Lightning Shared Scooter Co. set up storefronts and offices in eight cities across the country. But it wasn’t a good deal. It was an elaborate scam. A scam they discovered when they went to withdraw their money.
A group home manager from Philadelphia poured in close to $11,000
A nursing assistant from Minnesota invested $18,000
A security professional in New Jersey put in $65,000
Dozens of people in Salinas, California, had a combined loss of $370,000
Lightning Shared Scooter Co. shares key elements with established Chinese investment scams, said Erin West, a former prosecutor in California and the president of Operation Shamrock, an anti-fraud nonprofit organization.
“This appears to be selling to vulnerable people the American dream, their ability to make their way in the U.S.,” she said. “There’s a physical piece of property, here’s your scooter, so this must be legit,” West said.
The Better Business Bureau has labeled Lightning Shared Scooter Co. a “pyramid scheme,” noting complaints from 20 states.
Read the in-depth report: The electric scooter sharing scam that fleeced millions of dollars from Americans