TN woman scammed into laundering money scheme via Instagram messages

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — An East Tennessee grandmother was tricked into laundering money for a scammer.

Money laundering and fraud schemes are rampant across many social media sites. Besides the traditional ways of laundering money, criminals are finding social media a fertile ground to recruit willing and unwitting assistants. In Debbie Judson’s case, she was unaware that the ‘nice person’ texting her was a scammer.

Judson watches short videos on Instagram and likes to interact with others on the site. Recently, the 70-year-old grandmother received a private message and started texting with a so-called charitable group, unaware that it was a scammer.

“They wanted to be friends, they wanted to have me help them with charity money to send, because they needed help,” said Judson.

Judson, who is retired, has a soft spot and agreed to help. She lives with her daughter, Nicky Myers, who initially was unaware of her mother’s correspondence. The texts were coming from Nigeria. Judson messaged that she hadn’t worked in years due to a disability.

“I said, ‘But I don’t have any money.’ They said, ‘We’ll send you the money and you can send it to them’,” said Judson.

“They would send her money and tell her to send it somewhere else,” said Myers. “Anywhere from $10,000 to $40,000 at different times.”

The money was sent to Judson through a wire transfer.

“They just kept doing it. I got to the point where I was getting really scared. I said, ‘This has got to stop. I don’t understand all of this.’ And that’s when I started getting the threats,” said Judson.

Myers added, “They threatened that if they didn’t send her driver’s license, then the Russian mafia would be outside of her house and take my kids because we live together.”

The threats against Judson ended, though, when one day, while on the phone with the scammer, at their direction she went to the TVA Employees Credit Union in Maryville.

“I went to the bank, and they wanted $10,000; they wanted me to transfer it. I had to stay on speaker phone with them. They didn’t want me to shut it off. So, I did sign language at the bank, ‘don’t do this,'” said Judson.

She said the bank teller understood the warning, and no money was transferred.

However, months later, something strange happened: the IRS started sending statements. Out of nowhere, Judson had been making a lot of money. One letter from June 2025 said she was due a refund of $48,000, another from August said she was due $19,000, and one said she was due a fuel tax credit.

Judson promptly sent a handwritten letter to the IRS saying she is retired, lives on Social Security, hasn’t filed taxes for eight years, and her identity has been compromised.

The FTC says be wary of unsolicited direct messages on Instagram. Direct messages are almost always connected to some type of scam, says the FTC. Report any suspicious messages and block the corresponding accounts, and always keep your Instagram profile private.

“I want to get this over with. I want this to stop. This is really taking a toll on me,” said Judson.

Judson has gone to the three credit reporting agencies, informing them about her data breach and the letters from the IRS. She’s keeping an eye on her financial accounts, and she’s contacted Instagram, explaining what had happened.

Fortunately, there has been no further correspondence from the scammers in the last few months, after she refused to help them.