Vancouver Woman Meets Seattle Man In Las Vegas. Then She Pays For His Hertz Rental: ‘Beware The Afterpay Runaway’

A Vancouver woman reveals how a Seattle man she met in Las Vegas manipulated her into paying for his Hertz rental. Now she's warning others so that they don't meet the same fate.

TikTok creator Taylor (@nopeanutsplz) posted a 16-minute video that details the entire saga. “So you may have heard of the Tinder Swindler,” she says. “But have you heard of the Afterpay Runaway? Well, I’m about to tell you. Because this is a crazy story that I unfortunately did live.”

Taylor explains that the entire situation started when she was on a trip to Los Angeles with a couple of friends.

Early one morning, the crew decided to take a day trip to Las Vegas to attend a party. After the party, the group went to a casino and had a few drinks. As they were leaving, her friend noticed a guy she knew. He was with a few friends that they thought were cute, so they decided to stay in Vegas for the night to keep hanging out.

Woman Meets Seattle Man in Las Vegas

One of the guys was named Isaish, who said he was from Seattle. He apparently paid for literally everything that evening, including food, beverages, and an Air Canada flight for one of her friends who needed to fly out of town the next day.

Taylor and Isaiah continued the conversation after that night, and he ended up booking her a round-trip train ticket from Vancouver to visit him in Seattle. Here’s where the problems start.

When she arrived, she learned that his car was messed up and his license was suspended, so they needed a rental car to get around that weekend.

“There’s going to be red flags that you see while I tell this story that I unfortunately did not see when I was living it,” she says. “I know now how naive and stupid I was being.”

The “stupid” Taylor is referring to is that she agreed to get the Hertz rental car under her name. That would’ve been fine, merhapsaybe, except that after the weekend—during which Taylor says Isaiah spent tons of money on her—he asked if he could keep the car until she came back the following weekend.

What Happened After She Left Seattle?

She agreed, and the entire time was under the impression that he would pay the entire bill. So you can imagine her surprise when, after being strung along for several weeks, she realized that Isaiah apparently never intended to return the vehicle.

Eventually, Hertz emailed Taylor and let her know that she would be charged a repossession fee, the toll fees incurred during the rental period, and the final rental charge. All of that ended up being over $5,000.

“Obviously me and him are done at this point,” she says. “I’m trying to get my money back from him. He’s still trying to give me the runaround. He said he was going to pay. I am harassing him to send me the money. He’s not doing it.”

Frustrated, Taylor decided to post him in the Are We Dating the Same Guy? Facebook group in Seattle.

“To my surprise, there are several other women that he has done this to—not with a car but other things,” she says. “So he’s like dated women, started getting to know them, lovebombed the [expletive] out of them, and then somehow gets them to create a Klarna or Afterpay account. He has scammed multiple women, ran up charges on their Afterpay/Klarna accounts, and left them with the bill.”

One of the commenters even said she once paid for an Air Canada flight at Isaiah’s request. After connecting with the woman via phone, Taylor discovered she paid for her friend's flight home from Las Vegas, not Isaiah.

Is This Man Really The ‘Afterpay Runaway’?

The post led to a confrontation between Taylor and Isaiah, who she says asked her to take it down. Not only did she decline, but she insisted that he pay her back immediately. Eventually, he did make a payment of $300 toward the debt, but Taylor says she's struggled to get anything else out of him.

He apparently didn’t pay, because Taylor posted the video as well as a photo of a man she identifies as Isaiah toward the end of the video. In the caption, Taylor wrote, “Beware of the Afterpay Runaway. Hertz, I’m sorry, please unban me. And, Netflix, call me.”

Taylor is of course alluding to the viral story at the center of Netflix’s 2022 documentary The Tinder Swindler, which details allegations that Simon Leviev pretended to be ridiculously wealthy on the app to trick women into giving him loans. He was later arrested and convicted of fraud before being released.

What Happens When You Keep A Rental?

It is a big deal to fail to return a rental vehicle. A Maryland man was recently charged with felony theft after Enterprise Rent-A-Car reported that he did not bring back the Nissan Versa he rented even after written notice. His bill was $17,000.

In the comments section, viewers recommended going to court. “You should sue him,” wrote one viewer. “He made one payment and that alone shows he acknowledged the debt. Also, you have everything in writing. You have a solid case.”

Motor1 contacted Taylor via TikTok comment and direct message for comment. We were unable to obtain a last name or contain information for the man identified as Isaiah. We also contacted Hertz via press email for comment. We'll update this post if either responds.