Fake private investigator scams Florida family searching for daughter missing in Houston

HOUSTON – Nancy Craig, the mother of 30-year-old Tiffany McAllister said she'll walk to the ends of the earth to find her missing daughter.

"I thought God sent him to me," Craig said.

The heartbroken Florida mother said "If he had asked for my soul, I would've wrote it to him."

She said she got a Facebook message from a random stranger, offering to help find her daughter, who has been missing for three weeks.

"It was, like 'I will have her in 24 hours,'" Craig said.

The man claimed to be a private investigator.

"He told me everything that I wanted to hear," Craig said.

He said he'd find her daughter, and he'd do it for free.

"I'm so vulnerable, and I think he preyed on that. He knew," Craig said.

But his promises quickly faded.

"He needed $2,000 for this. He needed a car," Craig said.

The family did everything he asked, and trusted every word he said.

"It was just a lot of needs that if he was a professional, he wouldn't need it," Craig said.

But in the end, they learned the truth.

"He scammed us, plain and simple. He just scammed us," Craig said.

A family broken at its lowest point is now out more than $1,000 because they wanted a con man's lies to be true.

Craig said once her daughter is found, their next mission will be to go after him.

"To keep him from doing this to another family, I will do everything in my power to see to it that that's not going to happen," Craig said.

The family members said once they confronted the man, he gave them back half of their money. But they said they still plan to file charges.

Anyone with information about Tiffany McAllister's whereabouts is asked to call police.

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