Scammed: An American Online Horror Story

This is a long post, and I’m not prettying it up with pictures. However, I do feel the message is important.

I recently met the darker side of internet business. As a freelance editor and writer, it is my duty to perform full diligence on each potential client asking for services from me…and I ignored every safety precaution on the planet. I got scammed for over $2,400 because I got in a hurry.

I have been called stupid by a very good colleague of mine, and I’m sure a slew of others who just didn’t want to say it to my face. Maybe I deserve it; but you certainly don’t. Don’t allow yourself to get scammed by a supposed client. Read below to get some tips.

The Scam Setup

First, I received an unsolicited email saying the client had found my information on guru.com, where I do have a profile made for finding business. The client wanted me to do some editing, the email asked how much I would charge for a 500 word document to be fully edited.

I responded with my fee, and explained that I required half of my fee upfront, paid through Paypal. The following email stated that the amount was within the client’s budget; but that they had been scammed by another editor who took their money and ran when they used Paypal. Instead, they would send a cashier’s check for half of my fee. So far, so good, right?

When I received the check, it was not for half of my fee, instead, it read two thousand plus dollars over what I was expecting. My gut told me something was wrong, so I contacted my client. They claimed that I had received the full amount of a donation for their charity by accident. Could I please cash the check, withdraw my fee (plus $100 for handling the situation), and send the rest by wire transfer to the charity’s event organizer?

Despite things feeling wrong, I did as instructed. I’m an honest person; and I didn’t want to be responsible for all of that money. Two days after I sent the money to the event organizer, my bank sent me a letter stating the check I had cashed had been returned for being fraudulent. How are you going to pay back this rather large amount of money, Mr. Neal?

Everything I Did Wrong

You can implement a caution strategy to just about anything. Screening potential clients is no different; but you have to take the time to actually screen them. When it comes to the internet, you must not assume anybody is who they say they are. Facebook aside (assuming you know this person, their account hasn’t been hacked, etc. etc.), anonymity is the name of the game on the internet. Anybody…can be anybody.

1: Accepting Everything at Face Value

I let this client get under my skin by feeling sorry for them that they had been scammed. Surely if they got scammed, they aren’t trying to scam me, right? WRONG. I’m not saying you need to be an asshole, or dead in your soul to conduct business. What I am saying is don’t let sob stories cause you to neglect your personal protection. Do everything you can to verify this person. Remember, just because the email shows a name, doesn’t make it real.

2: Allowing My Payment Options to Be Sidelined

My second, and biggest, mistake was stating that my payment plan is A, but allowing them to talk me into using payment plan D. I was in the right to demand payment by Paypal. I nulled my self-protection when I agreed to accepting a cashier’s check. NEVER ACCEPT CHECKS FROM SOMEONE YOU DON’T KNOW ON THE INTERNET. Never, ever let a potential client steer you away from your preferred method of payment. They don’t own you, or your business. You get to say no. And, nobody else is there to do it for you. YOU have to stand up for your safety, your credit, your honor, and your reputation. I didn’t, and look at what I’m writing now.

3: Assuming the Check is Real

Now this probably sounds like the biggest mistake, but really it’s a continuation of number 2. By accepting their payment method, you almost immediately trust whatever comes in the mail. That’s your payday, after all. Now, I did not know that a bank could verify authenticity of a check until after the scam was over. Now that I do, if I ever accept a check again I just feel even more the dipshit for falling for all of this.

Anyway, the breakdown is this. I received a check for thousands of dollars, when my fee was less than one hundred dollars. TEAR THAT BITCH INTO TINY, TINY PIECES THAT THE CSI MIAMI TEAM COULDN’T PUT BACK TOGETHER IN A YEAR. Trust me, that thing is caustic, and it’s going to cost you money. It sure cost me.

4: Following Directions/ Doing Extra Footwork

Wait James, what do you mean you made a mistake by following directions? Well, you remember that check I received for thousands? I almost stopped the scam right here. Almost. When the check was for thousands of dollars, I dropped it on the counter, jumped on my phone and texted my client. They’re reply was so soft-spoken though: Calm down. There was a mistake and our donor sent the full donation to you. Just cash the check, and then transfer the money to PERSON X after deducting your fee. For taking care of this mistake for the company, my superiors are allowing me to give you an extra $100.

Oh. A clerical error. That happens in real life, right? Except, I wasn’t thinking that a donor would never send a full donation amount to an entity that’s not even part of the charity. That check would be donated TO THE COMPANY. I wasn’t thinking that my client’s name hadn’t appeared on the USPS sender’s note. I wasn’t thinking that I was being scammed because all I was really thinking about is HUH. This is my paycheck right here in my hands; and all I have to do to be able to use it is cash it and take a little trip to send some money elsewhere.

Yep. It was a paycheck all right…for somebody else.

Watch Your Back

Believe me, in retrospect, it’s so easy to see the stupidity. Which is why my colleague secretly laughs at me while his bank account’s not sitting in the negatives. Okay, I don’t know that for a fact; but I’m pretty damn sure. Anyway, if the check doesn’t come directly from your client, or the company they work for, it’s a fraud. If that check is for more than your fee, it’s a fraud. And if it’s not, your client will be extremely grateful that you sent the check back to them without cashing it. Deadlines are deadlines, but nobody likes losing money. If you have to step out of your bank to anywhere but home (or wherever it is you write) to finish the payment part of the transaction, it’s a scam.

The only thing I ended up being able to do about the situation, after talking with my bank, the local prosecuting attorney, and the sheriff’s department, is visit this website: www.ic3.gov

Here, you may file a complaint and take a look at a multitude of possible scams and frauds. While there’s no guarantee your fraud case will be solved, it will help the FBI track online cases of fraudulent activity; and that may help somebody else down the road.

Last but not least, don’t quit what you’re doing. You may be called stupid for falling for such scams; but it’s more likely you merely had a moment of weakness or desperation. Learn from it; and don’t let somebody else take advantage of you. Thanks for reading, and good luck out there.

Responsibilities of Being an American, Post 9/11

The twelfth anniversary of America’s oft-quoted “darkest day” has arrived, and gone. Rather than get overly sentimental, I believe it’s time to take a kick in the nuts. Why? Because we’re living a life given by men and women who developed a land of the free, and created a home of the brave…and we are no longer either of those. We’ve given our freedoms away, and continue to sit in silent, petrified fear because of a single, ugly moment in our recent history. We don’t live up to the example set by our forefathers- and if we do, we are labeled as misfits of society, extremists, or even, ironically, domestic terrorists.

Cracked.com goes far in realizing exactly how exuberant anti-terrorism is in modern American society. Fear locks us down the moment we hear “terrorist” or “terrorism.”

But I have a different point to bring up. What responsibility is held by the general population of America? Why should we stand up for anything? Because being American begins with bravery. You were born of it, and are expected to act from a stance of fearlessness.

9/11/01 taught us a lesson: terrorists are real. Post 9/11 holds a different lesson, one modern Americans are far too willing to ignore: We are willing to give away freedoms, hard earned in blood by our forefathers, for a largely fictional sense of security.

What’s your responsibility, post 9/11?

·       Begin with Integrity: America was built on a code of specific moral values and unimpaired solidarity. Represent those values, and stop fighting over stupid shit like religion, homosexuality, and women’s rights. Instead, fight for freedom, bravery, and a transparent relationship between our government and its people.

·       Realize You Control the Government: No, not as a single person…but come together as a people and take action when necessary. That’s how the Constitution was built, and the only way to enact good changes. There are nearly 314 million people calling the US home as of 2012. If we worked together in demanding our government perform a certain way, we would win every time.

·       Be Educated: A simple high-school diploma doesn’t make you educated. Neither does a college degree. Real education is found in the real world, in learning from every experience you have, and applying what you learn to what you do next. This also involves thinking critically, and solving problems on your own.

·       Own Up: The world doesn’t owe you anything. You were born into an unforgiving world, a world that has starved, killed, and tortured its inhabitants since the beginning of time. If anything, you owe the world for allowing your existence. So own up, live your life to make the world better, even if you affect only a small percentage of it. Stop expecting everything to be handed to you on a silver platter. Eventually, you’ll find that the more you put in generally returns more back to you. This means hard work, blood, sweat, and tears must come from you. That’s the reality, and it always has been.

·       Be Brave in the Face of Fear: 9/11 scared the hell out the American people. We weren’t invincible anymore. And while we got mad, most of that anger was spent in fruitless, useless, activity. War, hatred within our lands, and fear overtook the American population. We separated ourselves from our most formidable post, solidarity. And it continues today. Come back together, have the bravery to stand with those in your neighborhood, your county, state, and union. That’s how the old guard did it, and that is the mind-frame we need to return to.

There’s a reason to be proud of being American. That pride stands from our history; and it’s time we start earning that pride again.