Victim Location 99218
Total money lost $2,529
Type of a scam Employment
I was contacted by David S*** saying he was an alum of the school and a nephew of Mary K***, who "just got transferred" (was going to work here) to work for Whitworth University as an auditor from Canada and needed weekly pet sitting for 400$ weekly, and to contact Mary via email. Mary emailed me explaining herself as a 38 yr old widowed partially deaf person with 2 dogs who was asking for my name, residential and mailing address, age, phone number and days willing to work as a pet sitter. She said she selected me to work for her and that I would be receiving a check for $2870 to cover "various things ranging from grooming items to new furniture and home décor for where I will be living, and her son has place someone in charge of that. But I could take $400 from this check for my first weeks pay and I should send the rest to "the clerk" to purchase these items to have them ready for my arrival. I said I would accept the opportunity. She then texted me that the check would arrive at my house and to text her when I receive it in the mail. She sent me the clerk’s mailing address and told me to deposit the check. After I deposited the check at Boeing Employee’s Credit Union (BECU), my credit union’s ATM at their location, I called my credit union a 1/2 day later to ask when the funds will be released to me and said they are available after 2 days, but since I am at good standing with the credit union… the representative said that the funds are now released to me, that they are there in my account for me to use. I took that as what they said is true, that the money was in my account. The teller did not further explain the transactions. Then. Mary asked for me to withdraw the $2470, with me keeping "my" 400$, and send this cash to the clerk’s address (David J*** 7226 S Lafayette Ave, Chicago, IL 60621) via FedEx, next day air with signature service, which I proceeded to do. She asked for me to send her a picture of the shipping receipt. After I did this, I asked to be reimbursed for the money I spent on the shipping and magazine to ship the cash in. I reported the situation to my university’s security department on 4/12 at about 1pm. Before this situation occurred, I have never been educated on what check fraud was and the classic signs of what to watch out for. During this whole process, I didn’t know to look for these signs in the way Mary was communicating to me or her actions because I didn’t suspect that anyone would do anything different if they were in her situation. I notified my county’s non-emergency line of the situation to file a police report on April 12 at about 1:30pm and continuously since then as I have received more evidence. On April 15 at 8:19am, she said that a check has been sent out to me and should be delivered at some point that day and to let her know when I receive it. In another text she said that "there was a lot of items I couldn’t get the other time so when you get the check… you’re to deduct the 59$ I owe you, have a week’s payment also taken out then have the balance set to the clerk to get the remaining items." On 4/15 at 10:31am she told me that the check has been delivered and I should confirm I received it. It came in a USPS tracked envelope and I took it to my credit union, had the teller verify this second check was fraudulent and switched all of my account numbers. Mary texted two more times on 4/15 asking if I was there and emailed me this morning (4/16 at 7:39am) asking if I have received her texts. I have not responded. I have blocked the phone number of Mary on my phone. In total, I have lost $2470 from the cash I sent to the address for David J*** and 59$ on the FedEx Shipping and magazine. I have the physical 2nd check and envelope, a photocopy of the first check from my credit union, screenshots of emails, texts, receipts from the FedEx shipping and magazine, and bank account screenshots to show the transactions.