WWE star Cody Rhodes saved the day after my daughter, 11, was tricked out of $300 by a cruel stranger on Facebook
A YOUNG girl's love of wrestling has been renewed thanks to WWE star Cody Rhodes after her family was tricked out of hundreds of dollars in a cruel Facebook scam.
Malaysia Forbes adores wrestling, and her favorite fighter has always been Rhodes — aka American Nightmare — according to her mother.
So Forbes's sister helped the eleven-year-old, who has developmental disabilities, try to contact Rhodes via their mother's Facebook account from their home in Toledo, Ohio earlier last week.
“My one daughter wrote, 'My sister is a big fan of yours but she can’t type because she has Down syndrome,'” their mother, Cody Forbes, told local ABC affiliate KTRK.
But Rhodes does not maintain a Facebook account — the profile was fake.
“[My daughter]’s like I took your credit card and I gave it to Cody and he took money off your account. I don’t know how much,” Forbes recounted.
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The scammers immediately drained her bank account of $300.
But, "Money can be replaced," she said.
She said the worst part of the ordeal has been the impact on Malaysia.
“No matter what I tell her, no matter what her sister tells her, she thinks it was him," said Forbes.
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Seeing her daughter lose something she was so passionate about has been difficult for the mother.
“It’s heartbreaking to put the wrestling on and she doesn’t want to see it,” she said.
That was until local reporters aired the story about what happened to Forbes on May 2 and Rhodes got wind of it via X.
A HERO TO THE RESCUE
American Nightmare soon reached out to KTRK so that he could get in touch with the Forbes family, according to an update posted on May 3.
“I know you thought you were talking to me, now you are talking to me,” he reportedly told the girls.
Rhodes was born into a legacy WWE family as the son of wrestling champ Dusty Rhodes and is known for being a two-time Intercontinental Champion and a six-time tag team champion.
Most recently, American Nightmare took home his first WWE title as the Undisputed Universal Champion for beating Roman Reigns in a WrestleManiaXL match last month.
That simple call from her idol gave a lot of joy to Malaysia, her mother said, and she was grateful.
“[Malaysia] was so upset thinking that somebody hates her because she doesn’t have a bad bone in her body. She loves everybody, she cares for everybody,” Forbes said.
“I can thank Cody Rhodes for answering, but the person I really have to thank is you Carli," she added, giving a shout-out to the local reporter who shared their story.
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"I thank you for taking your time out, taking the energy to have him do that. You made this happen for her.”
The WWE star also reportedly offered the family free tickets to an upcoming show.
Top tips on avoiding scams from a bank
As scams become more sophisticated with the use of artificial intelligence, it is important you know how to spot a scam:
- Be skeptical of online deals that seem too good to be true, especially on social media.
- Scammers will often use tactics to make you panicked so you make quick decisions - be cautious if you are told to take immediate action and verify who has contacted you.
- Chase Bank warns customers to "never return any unexpected funds without calling Chase first."
- Never send money to someone you have only spoken to online or by phone as this is likely a romance scam.
- Unless you 100% know who you are talking to, never give someone remote access to your device.
- Never accept help from strangers at an ATM and always be vigilant when making withdrawals.
- Do not send money or click any links indicating that you have won a prize.
Source: Chase.com