Woman given counterfeit money during iPhone sale

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Angie was short on cash for her son's birthday party this weekend. So she put her iPhone 5 up for sale on the website OfferUp.

"I got an offer for $200, which is what I was asking for," she says.

She went to the shopping center at Ella and 1960 to make the exchange early Wednesday afternoon, and the man behind the offer walked out of Food Town to meet her.

"I had asked him hey where's your car, I could've met you. You didn't have to walk to me. He said I'm parked over here," Angie tells us.

She never saw his car. In hindsight, she says that was a red flag that was likely a move to keep her from being able to follow him when she realized she'd been had. She tells us after she pulled off, she noticed something wasn't right with the cash.

"I called and told my husband I think we just got scammed out. He's like why? I told him because the money doesn't feel real. The money doesn't feel right at all," she said.

And when she took it to a restaurant she frequents, they wouldn't accept it and told her it was fake.

Harris County Sheriff's Deputies looked the money over this evening. They'll pass it along to the Secret Service and that's who will make the official determination of whether the money is fake. But all indications are that it is.

"I'm pretty sure this is not the first time he gave out bad money," Angie said emphatically.

She says she called Eyewitness News because she wants to get the word out to anyone who uses OfferUp, Craiglist, or any other site to be on high alert.

"Hopefully the cops will find out whoever did it and catch him before he does it to anyone else," Angie said.

The profile the alleged scammer used to contact Angie is under the name Josh Hall. He used the name Carlos in text exchanges to set up the meeting.

We called the number from which he text Angie. He answered, but when we told him who we were, he hung up.