Victim Location 43229
Total money lost $3,500
Type of a scam Fake Check/Money Order
Initially applied for a job through ZipReceuiter and was contacted by a few companies within a week. One company stood out and I followed instructions to attend an online interview via GoogleHangouts. I added the email they sent ([email protected]) and made contact. It was not a video interview as I expected but was performed through chat. I thought from the beginning it was a scam but everything I looked up online checked out, even employee reviews on Indeed.com. I was sent a check for a rather high amount (less than 5,000) and told to go through the company website to purchase special software and equipment as it would be a home office job. I am leaving out a lot of discussion here where I questioned everything and did the research on the validity. I received the check via USPS and it was delivered to my door. I went to deposit it at the bank after calling the issuing bank to confirm it was a legitimate account and they told me it was a real account with a real business. I deposited the check, it began to slowly show up in my account and I used it to pay a few bills before payday as I am currently in a rather unpleasant financial situation. The finds began to show up in my account Saturday. I used some of them to pay bills online that day and paid a few more things Monday. That same Monday (12/19/16), I was told I needed to purchase the equipment/software but the website was down. They sent a link that showed it was down for maintenance. I was then told to send them the funds via moneygram. I mentioned how sketchy it sounded and they proceeded to tell me that they were 51 years old with three grandchildren and they cringed at the word scam and they had better things to do than sit around and try to scam people out of money. In order to do the moneygram, I had to pay cash so I went to the bank and withdrew the agreed upon amount. As there is a daily limit on moneygrams, I was only able to send about half. Seven hours later, the amount of the check they had sent me was withdrawn from my account. I contacted them and did not hear from them. I called my bank the next day (12/20/16) and was informed the check was returned due to insufficient funds on their end. My account is now THOUSANDS in the negative and I facing eviction. I have been messaging them this whole time with no reply but I am able to see that they are reading the messages. I can sent screenshots (or try and add someone to the conversation) as proof of all of this. I have requested reimbursement from them but, as I said, I have received no reply. In addition to not being able to pay any bills for the next two months, this is also impacting me credit and ability to request assistance through loans.