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'They Come in Threes"--a New (to me) Scam/Fraud

please beware of this

'They Come in Threes

When I called my parents in tears when my scooter was stolen two days after my house was broken into, my dad warned me "these things come in threes." He was right.

"How could you have been so gullible/innocent/it's totally obvious that this was fraudulent," etc., etc., said anyone I told the story to after the fact. (Why didn't I discuss with anyone before the fact?)  I don't know, guys. I guess I am highly gullible/trusting. But here's the story, and I hope it may stop someone else from falling prey to this.

Before I get into it, though, this third thing was horrible, far more of a loss than the scooter, but when I called to tell my folks about the scooter I was heaving sobs, and this time I was calm. Sure, having the scooter stolen in my physical space real time was perhaps more viscerally traumatic than having a large amount taken out of my bank account. But the truth is, I'm doing better. Maybe not quite back on the rails, but now I can see where the rails are. Not quite a train wreck anymore. So that's good.

What happened?  Well, I'm pretty hard up at the moment and have been looking for a small part-time job. I sent my resume to a company that was hiring. First I received a message from them asking to schedule an interview, then the next day a message from a different person saying that job had been taken and he was hereby now hiring me as his personal assistant.

He was going to mail me a check which I should cash. Then I should send most of the money to his agent in Puerto Rico, send a box of toys to an orphanage, and the ~$300 left over was to be my salary. I kept asking are you sure you want me to do this, this seems an irregular hire, etc., and also that I was going out of town. He said we just had to trust each other.

His check hadn't arrived before I went out of town for a lifechangingly wonderful herbal class in New Mexico week before last. I told him very clearly that I'd be gone/out of contact for that time. But I turned my phone back on to a stream of "where are you/what have you done with my money"-type messages/"my agent is waiting for the money this is extremely urgent." 

So, my first day back home, a day otherwise busy, also the day that I connected with someone who is helping me get back on the rails in a powerful way, I spent a lot of time running around getting this check cashed, sending money to Puerto Rico, buying toys, etc., receiving texts from this person every two minutes. 

I should have seen a red flag when the check cashing counter wouldn't cash the check. But then my own bank cashed it no problem (today they told me this was my fault, that I should've given them a red flag). I should have seen a red flag when the check cashing counter wouldn't even accept my cash to send via Western Union.

But hey, my bank cashed the check no problem (again, evidently this was my fault), and Walmart's Money Gram didn't bat an eye doing the money transfer.

Perhaps it was also a red flag that my texts and emails went silent after I'd sent that money, no interest in the toys for the orphanage, no need to put in a card saying who they were from.

So last night came an email from my bank saying the check had bounced and therefore they had taken that money plus a fine for the bounced check out of my account. Money that's gone to Puerto Rico and an orphanage in CA. Money that was in my account to cover a bill; in other words, money I don't have.

And because I cashed the check at the counter rather than depositing it, and because I didn't ask them to make sure it was okay (I assumed they would do so), I was told this morning that it's highly unlikely I'll get the money back. That in fact, I'm highly fortunate that they haven't simply closed my account completely and sent my meager funds in a severance check.

So I should have known better than

  1. to cash a check from a complete stranger (even if they were pestering me every two minutes)
  2. to assume my bank would examine a check (like the checking counter did) and reject it if it was bad
  3. to believe that the cash I got from the bank was neutrally equivalent to the check, rather than being money out of my own account
  4. to assume that just because most of my business relationships are one-on-one with sometimes long-distance clients,  any such relationship would work.

But the worst thing of all was how I was blindsided by the self-assuredness and confidence of this fraudster. Here comes the check, you must do these things with it. Why haven't you done it yet? WU wouldn't take it? Well, you better be on your way to Walmart. You can't go right away? I'm going to text you every 20 minutes until you do stomping my feet...What have you done with my money? My agent is waiting for it this is extremely urgent  except his grammar was weird.

There's some odd sacred/secret geometry going on here. Yes, Papa, things come in threes. But this financial disaster resulting from an honest attempt to look for work came on the same day that I got browbeaten/brain-molested by Social Security wanting me to spend half my life looking for work no matter how horrible work to graduate me from food stamps. I do that, and look what happened!

Simultaneously, the real angels who have shown up in my life recently are helping and connecting with me in economically creative ways. These are connections helping me toward my better self; I'm starting to think straight again. Maybe it's time to graduate myself from the whole antiSocial inSecurity thing.

A message here for me, perhaps; perhaps a message here for you, if I'm not the last to the party on this particular fraud.

About the Author

Ela Harrison

Ela is a wordsmith and herb lover who has lived in many places and currently resides in Tucson, AZ.

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