Smartphone user accused of ticket scam

CHARLOTTE, N.C., March 10 (UPI) -- A North Carolina woman faces charges for using a smartphone to scam would-be airline ticket buyers, a police cybercrimes unit spokesman said Wednesday.

Teaquesha Hopkins, 20, of Charlotte, allegedly scoured Craigslist for people who would wire her money for tickets she did not have, WCNC-TV, Charlotte, reported.

Police expected to find a computer when they found Hopkins, but she is now the first person the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department has charged who used a smartphone to commit her alleged crimes, said Dan Horne with the cybercrimes unit.

Hopkins is charged with false pretense, WCNC-TV said, and she may have pretended also to be a loan broker.

Police said they know of 11 of Hopkins's alleged victims so far.

"We seem to be one step behind -- not the criminals -- we're one step behind the technology," Horne said.

"When they talk to us and we explain to them, 'Well, did you see this? Did you see that?' They go, 'Oh yeah' -- like a light clicks," Horne said of people who ignore Web site advice to make deals locally and not to wire money.