Sam Baker's house is busy. While raising her kids, she also opens her home to those in need.
"I have been a single mom my whole life, I've been raising kids alone for 28 years," Sam said.
But their home doesn't always fit the family's needs.
Sam remembered watching Extreme Makeover: Home Edition growing up and decided to apply online.
"I never got an email saying 'thanks for your submission', nothing like that, but I didn't think anything of it," she recalled.
However, out of the blue one day, Sam says she received a notification on Facebook.
Sam says she left a public comment on the Facebook page of a man who had done some remodeling at her house. Someone named 'Chloe' responded to Sam's comment.
"It said, 'we're trying to reach you regarding your application to the Extreme Home Makeover. Please email us,'" explained Sam.
Sam looked up Chloe's profile where she claimed to work in casting for HGTV. Sam reached out to her on Facebook and in an email provided by Chloe. She told Sam her family was chosen for the show.
"Oh my gosh, I cried and cried and cried thinking about how excited my kids are going to be," Sam said, remembering the moment.
Sam says she told Chloe about her family, gave her personal information, and set up a bank account. However, after talking to a trusted friend, Sam grew suspicious and started asking Chloe more questions.
"'Who in your legal department can I contact?'" asked Sam, but she says with more questions Chloe became more agitated and 'snapped'.
Sam reached out to ABC15 to figure out if she was being scammed. She was.
Chloe claimed to work for HGTV, but her email didn't match the format listed on the network's own website. She also claimed to be casting for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, however, the show hadn't aired on that network for years.
We reached out to HGTV to confirm they weren't casting for the show. A spokesperson sent us this statement:
"HGTV's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition aired in 2020, and there are no plans to bring it back for another season at this time."
In fact, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is getting a reboot on ABC's network. That means no one from HGTV is involved in casting. Chloe was lying.
Looking back, Sam said she could see the red flags, "if this is a nationwide TV show, I would have thought they would have picked up the phone and given me a call or had some legal docs or something like that."
Fortunately, Sam didn't lose money, but she did give out her personal information. She put a freeze on her credit with the three main credit bureaus to protect herself from identity theft.
In this case, the scammer likely cast a wide net, leaving generic comments about casting on remodel and construction sites hoping people would bite.
If someone contacts you claiming you've won a prize, money, or sweepstakes of any kind - BE SKEPTICAL! Before giving out any personal details, confirm the source by reaching out to the legitimate company to confirm the person is who they claim to be.
You can take steps to protect yourself from fraud by putting in requests to freeze your credit with all three credit bureaus. Their contact details are below:
Experian Credit Freeze Online Request or call (888) 397-3742
Equifax Credit Freeze Online Request or call (800) 685-1111
TransUnion Credit Freeze Online Request or call (888) 909-8872
