Beware of BS.

So, I’m going to keep a very long story short tonight. That’s hard for me, so let’s see how this goes…

For the past few weeks I’ve been dealing with an internet scammer. It’s funny, because you don’t really ever think you’d get caught up in something like that, but it really does escalate quickly.

I was selling something. She was buying. So I thought.

First of all, she sent me more money than what we agreed on. Red flag. Yessssss, the fact that she sent me money without exchanging in person was weird, I know. But I didn’t care enough if she was willing to take that risk. I know I’m an honest person and will hold up my end of the bargain…once I receive payment of course. Then, she asked me to cash the “official” cashiers check and please send the balance after I took what was owed to me. Officially bullshit.

I’m not going to lie, some part of me deep down in my hopeful naive soul wanted to believe this person wasn’t bad. I’m, hopeful, but I’m not foolish. I’m also curious. And anxious. And the combination of those two create quite the frenzy.

The check was deposited, just to see what would happen. It cleared the next day. But I didn’t trust it. The bank said we were good and that we had the funds. I still didn’t believe any of this was legit, so my inner Nancy Drew got to work.

At this point, I was also pretty sick of the constant creepy texts I was receiving asking me to confirm when I was sending the check and even requesting I overnight it after I refused to send money via Western Union. GTFO.

I wasn’t sending shit and I knew I wasn’t. But I wanted answers. I couldn’t sleep and was up at 3:30am on the google. My gut feeling/common sense/bullshit meter proved to be on point. My scenario was almost identical to so many that I was reading about. I ended up tracing the check and finding out it was in fact fraudulent.

For two more days, I received texts throughout the day and night, and even a few phone calls. I didn’t answer, because what could he possibly say? Oh, and I knew it was a he at this point because I called them from a different number the day before and it was definitely not a female. Or someone with an American accent.

For the most part, I ignored the texts and didn’t answer the calls. This person would not leave me alone. Why didn’t I block them??? Like I said, I’m curious and I wanted to know how long someone would keep going on with such ridiculousness. And, I was pissed that he wasted my time and I didn’t want to entertain him with giving one more second of it.

Ok, wait a minute….

Did you just read that last sentence???? I actually have to stop myself sometimes and consider slamming my head into the wall. Why does that flow so freely from my brain in a situation where someone I don’t know and will never see is trying to scam me out of a couple thousand bucks??? Yet many of us let it slide when people we actually know and care about rip us off. And I’m not just talking about money. I’m talking about the important stuff, you know, like our hearts, our time, our feelings, our mental health…just the most valuable things in life. And, yet, we still answer those calls.

***

That little “aha” moment wasn’t planned, but it wouldn’t be erinjallday if I didn’t include my thought process. My intention with this blog was to share how easy it is to get tricked into an internet scam. Luckily I figured it out pretty quickly, but I never expected to be targeted as a seller. To be fair, I don’t do too much buying and selling online so I really didn’t know this reverse bait and switch was a thing (shouldn’t there be like a warning sign or something??) and if I didn’t I know then I KNOW one of you reading this wouldn’t know either.

So, what did we learn today??? Beware of dogs in the ol’ world wide web. And, also of those in your contact list.

Toodles, poodles.