Is it a crime or not?

Back in March, my husband lent a coworker $2333. She promised to pay us back in just a few days—claimed she needed to cover some bank fees to get a loan approved. Fast forward to today, and she’s only scraped together about $200. We even tried being nice and offered her a payment plan of $167 per month, but her "payments" have been a joke—it's $27, then nothing for two months, then $100, then silence again, then $73. Every single week we send her one or two texts asking for our money back, but now? Total radio silence. She used to be a pro at making excuses—waiting for a paycheck, travel expenses, claiming she had COVID, crying on the phone about her kid... she even sent us a fake receipt for a transfer that Chase couldn't find any record of. And even when she actually admitted she had the cash and we set a time and place to meet, she’d either ghost us or call minutes before, sobbing about some new crisis. Turns out, it was all a front—we found out she’s a gambling addict and is drowning in debt, despite living this high-end lifestyle with designer labels and fancy dinners. There was never any loan involved because her credit is trashed.
She hasn't denied owing us through text, and she knows damn well we need that money—her stalling is costing us real money. I actually had to take out a personal loan to cover my husband's credit card bills after he lost his job in early May.
We tried playing nice, but since she’s ignoring us and clearly has no intention of paying, we’re thinking about filing a police report to sue for damages. We don't have a formal contract, just a trail of texts where she admits everything. The money was lent as a favor with the explicit condition it would be returned within a week.

My question is: does this qualify as fraud or forgery? Should we report this to the police or the DA? And do we actually need to hire an attorney, or are these things prosecuted automatically once reported?

1. What do you mean "forgery"?
2. A private lawsuit doesn't involve official misconduct.
3. Fraud? Where?
4. If you don't have a notarized contract and all that paperwork, you're going to have a really hard time in court.

Megan Thomas5 said:1. What do you mean "forgery"?
2. A private lawsuit doesn't involve official misconduct.
3. Fraud? Where?
4. If you don't have a notarized contract and all that paperwork, you're going to have a really hard time in court.

1. US Code Title 18, Section 1651:
"Whoever, with intent to defraud, makes, uses, or utters a false document as if it were genuine or who acquires such a document for use or uses it as genuine,"

Section 3:
"Whoever commits an offense under sections 1 or 2 regarding public documents, wills, promissory notes, checks, credit cards, or public or official records required by law..."

Basically, she emailed us a payment confirmation using some fake account number as proof of payment. When we went down to Chase a week later with that receipt to see why the money hadn't hit our account yet, they told us flat out the receipt was a fake.

2. We’re thinking about filing criminal charges against her instead of just doing a civil suit.

3. Per US Code Title 18, Section 1343:
"Whoever, with intent to defraud, obtains money or property through false pretenses or by means of material misrepresentations or omissions and thereby causes a loss to another..."
Section 3:
"If the offense under section 1 results in minor financial gain, and the perpetrator intended to secure such gain..."

Look, there wasn't even a loan involved that she needed the cash for—that's the false representation part. She knew she wasn't going to pay it back, but she promised it within days—that's the deception. Then she kept giving us these endless excuses—saying she had the money and to check tomorrow, then calling minutes before the deadline saying she didn't—just keeping us in the dark.

4. We have over 50 text messages where she doesn't deny the debt or the deadline. She keeps saying she'll pay tomorrow, then says she can't, then says she'll pay the day after... it just goes on forever.

I'm wondering if we actually interpreted the law correctly here—is this really how it works?

I think it’s pretty obvious that filing a criminal complaint won't net you any cash, even if she actually gets convicted.

PS: A payment receipt isn't some kind of official legal document.

And let's be real—nobody scammed you. You handed over the money based on a "trust me" handshake.

Sarah Wood9 said:Back in March, my husband lent a coworker $2333. She promised to pay us back in just a few days—claimed she needed to cover some bank fees to get a loan approved. Fast forward to today, and she’s only scraped together about $200. We even tried being nice and offered her a payment plan of $167 per month, but her "payments" have been a joke—it's $27, then nothing for two months, then $100, then silence again, then $73. Every single week we send her one or two texts asking for our money back, but now? Total radio silence. She used to be a pro at making excuses—waiting for a paycheck, travel expenses, claiming she had COVID, crying on the phone about her kid... she even sent us a fake receipt for a transfer that Chase couldn't find any record of. And even when she actually admitted she had the cash and we set a time and place to meet, she’d either ghost us or call minutes before, sobbing about some new crisis. Turns out, it was all a front—we found out she’s a gambling addict and is drowning in debt, despite living this high-end lifestyle with designer labels and fancy dinners. There was never any loan involved because her credit is trashed.
She hasn't denied owing us through text, and she knows damn well we need that money—her stalling is costing us real money. I actually had to take out a personal loan to cover my husband's credit card bills after he lost his job in early May.
We tried playing nice, but since she’s ignoring us and clearly has no intention of paying, we’re thinking about filing a police report to sue for damages. We don't have a formal contract, just a trail of texts where she admits everything. The money was lent as a favor with the explicit condition it would be returned within a week.

My question is: does this qualify as fraud or forgery? Should we report this to the police or the DA? And do we actually need to hire an attorney, or are these things prosecuted automatically once reported?

Look, you can definitely call the police and they’ll handle their little slice of the investigation, but don't expect them to file criminal charges on their own because this is something that requires a private lawsuit. You're going to have to bring in a lawyer, and yeah, you're going to be the one footing the bill for that. Sure, crimes were committed, but even if you win the case, getting your money back isn't some automatic magic trick. The court order will say they owe you the cash, but since people like this usually dodge their debts, you'll probably end up stuck filing *another* lawsuit just for failing to follow the original court ruling.
It’s enough to make anyone lose their mind, honestly... you'll burn through so much energy, time, and a decent chunk of change, all without any guarantee that you'll actually come out on top.

Legal action is pursued if the amount involved exceeds $333.

While I realize a criminal investigation or a potential conviction won't immediately put cash back in your pocket, it definitely ramps up the pressure on her to settle the debt.

Based on your description, you might actually be looking at a case involving both fraud and forgery.

Filing a police report doesn't cost you a dime. Just make sure you hand over everything you've got—text threads, bank statements, whatever else serves as evidence.

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Years upon years of court dates just waiting to happen. If you file a criminal complaint first, then try to sue for damages once the appeals are done, you're looking at massive legal fees for a result that’s honestly a toss-up.
For instance, if there isn't a specific number linked to your subscription and you're just using prepaid texts, it's all for nothing because there's zero paper trail connecting them to that number, like with

Whatever, lesson learned. I'll be smarter next time.

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It’s likely just someone who’s spread way too thin and trying to juggle everything at once. Honestly, there’s really no harm in filing a formal complaint—especially since there’s legitimate suspicion of criminal activity—just to ensure your case gets bumped up on their priority list for debt recovery. If you choose to just wait it out and send the occasional follow-up message, things will probably just continue along this same sluggish track.

Regarding the messages themselves, even if there's some debate over who actually owns the phone number being used, the police have plenty of ways to trace that line back to her. In the end, I suspect her coworkers probably already know it's her number anyway, which means they could easily step up as witnesses if needed.

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Look, there’s no debate about who owns the phone number—she’s been using it for years, calling us from it constantly whenever she needs to make some pathetic excuse.
We’ve already come to terms with the fact that we might never see a dime of that money, but we just want this over with. My husband and her aren't even working at the same place anymore, and if we just let this slide, she’ll realize she can get away with it—and then some other naive person will fall for her nonsense (we heard through the grapevine she owes people left and right). It’s pretty obvious my husband doesn't even know how deep she is in debt, either; she kept insisting we shouldn't tell anyone she owed us because she was afraid her husband would take their kid away. Then there's the constant lying—promising to pay us back in a few days, only for nothing to happen. She’s been dragging this out for over six months now. We run into her all the time at restaurants or the mall, and then she just "flees" the moment she sees us.

Honestly, you’ve got a better shot going after her in civil court than filing criminal charges. Proving fraud is going to be an uphill battle since you handed over the cash willingly—it's hard to argue someone swindled you when you just gave them the money. Same goes for the fake bank confirmation; that receipt isn't an official document.

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