I have been scammed by a former "friend" how can I take legal action?

[Anonymous]

Long story short we were roommates at a shelter and she has been staying there for about 2 months and had recently moved out of the shelter. Nearly two weeks ago, she texted me asking to borrow money $50.00 from me through via cash app and pretends to pay back the money but never did and even agree to pay it back through texting because I still have all of the text messages that she and I have exchanged and yesterday I even texted her asking her when will she be able to send me back the money because I am low on funds and she never responded and I've even called her today and left her a voice message and she never responded. So how can I go about this because there is no way that she should be allowed to get away with something very deceitful.

[slatyb]

You cannot. She didn't force you to give her the money. You don't have any evidence that a loan was made. She made a verbal promise to pay it back at some future date, which could be 2040. You could file in small claims court. She won't show up and maybe you will get a judgment against her. You can't collect it, because she has no assets.

Just accept that your $50 is gone.

[Guy13]

If 50.00 is all you lost then consider it a blessing and move on.

[Asker]

It's not about the money, it is about the principle of the situation if someone borrow something from you no matter what it is but refuses to return it even though they've agreed to do so, then that is considered STEALING. At that point that person knows exactly what they are doing and that is not okay. When they had no intention on paying you back you wouldn't like it either.

[Static_In_The_Attic]

A friend is a friend & when it comes to money I tell my friends the second you ask me for money we are not friends & I’m not a bank. As for you unfortunately you got hustled it’s cheaper for you to take a loss on the $50.00 because if you seek legal action it will end up costing you more. Hopefully you learned a lesson on this one.

[midnightmoon05]

Rule of thumb... if you are planning to "lend" money... don't ever expect to have it return unless its through court agreement... Otherwise... its consider a gift without court documents.
Take it as a lost and careful with your money in the future.

[reiina]

go see the police? sorry, i don't know law where you live

[Asker]

I live in New Jersey. If I show the police the text messages, will they be able to help me?

[reiina]

i dont know. but i dont see any other solution

[007kingifrit]

you go to what is called small claims court. it doesn't require a lawyer