KSHB 41 reporter Olivia Acree covers portions of Johnson County, Kansas. Share your story idea with Olivia.
Five years after opening her dream store, Monarch Books and Gifts, Christin Young was scammed out of thousands of dollars.
“I just thought the area really needed an independent bookstore and a gift shop combined so that's what I put together,” said Christin Young.
Looking back, Young wonders how she didn’t notice money being taken from her business account each month, but also says that she didn’t know to look for it.
“I had fallen victim to a big scam and fraud, and a lot of money was taken from my business account. I thought I was going to get everything back, because why wouldn't I? And I was only able to recoup, you know, little less than a third of it,” said Young,
Stories like this are more common than one may think. According to the Federal Trade Commission, people lost $10 billion to scammers in 2023 alone, much of it to imposter scams – where scammers pose as legitimate businesses or trusted contacts.
Young explained where she thinks she went wrong – she didn’t change passwords or check bank statements. She believes scams like these are all too common.
“This has been a very big lesson,” she said. “I think it's been good for all of us to talk about, because it doesn’t really get talked about that much.”
To add insult to injury, Young learned that Monarch would soon face new competition from a Barnes & Noble, set to open just minutes down the road at the Bluhawk development.
“It just felt so dire,” said Young. “We're not going to be able to compete at a scale level and at a pricing level.”
Yet Young is hopeful that people will find a reason to keep coming back to Monarch.
“Customers come in and they tell us it’s their happy place. And so that's the experience that people get when they come to see us,” Young said.
To help recover some of the financial losses, Young has started a GoFundMe.
She’s also urging everyone to take steps to protect themselves. Her biggest pieces of advice are to never give out sensitive information over the phone and watch your bank account activity. She believes these tips could’ve saved her thousands.
