Okay, I admit it. In the past, every time I read about somebody being scammed, some part of me did feel that if they were stupid enough to be scammed, then maybe they really deserved to be scammed.
Those of you who've read my previous posts should know well enough where this is going. You know how I posted about feeling really lucky? Well, as it turns out, I wasn't really all that lucky after all.
Long story short, the mystery shopper position was a scam. On hindsight there were red flags that I should have noticed. To my credit, however, there were also a fair number of things in place that reassured me otherwise. So on the 'did the scammed person deserve to be scammed?' scale, I guess it could be called a somewhat balance in my case, if not leaning in the 'yes' direction.
To answer the obvious question that immediately comes to mind (or, at least, the question that I hope immediately comes to mind): yes, I'll be fine. My brother offered to bail me out, so I'll be fine for the time being. I'll need to find a new job - and then some - to make back the lost earnings and the money I've been loaned, but I think I will be able to manage that.
What really stings here is not even the humiliation or the embarrassment at being taken for a ride. What really stings is that this is not supposed to happen in New York. I've had (more than) my fair share of financial problems in Singapore, but I've always managed to keep them in Singapore. Although I left Singapore this time with an outstanding debt, that wasn't by any means my choice. I did have the money to repay the loan, but the person refused to take the money. So, in effect, every time I've left or come back to New York, I've either been financially sound or actually even cushioned.
But this whole sorry mess means that I'm working from a position in the red - right here where it has never happened before. And while this may not practically be any different, psychologically it's very disheartening. It almost feels like no matter where I may emigrate to, financial problems will follow me thereafter. Which is bullshit, of course - I've been okay every other time I've been here - but that is what it feels like.
On the bright side, I suppose this makes my life slightly more interesting, albeit in a rather sad way.
so what exactly was the scam about?
elvenarcherZ said...
October 19, 2007 at 11:06 PM
It was a variation on a theme: company gives you a cheque to test out a money wiring service, you wire money to the company, cheque bounces after a delay, bank comes after you to make up the shortfall, by which time company has taken the money from your account and disappeared.
I was mostly taken in for two reasons: I thought that the cheque had cleared the day itself, since I drew more money than I had in my account for the wiring service; I didn't know what had happened was that I had been given an advance on the cheque, and the teller didn't tell me that was the case. Also the wiring service required a government-issued ID from the person on the other end for reception of the money, so I figured if things went wrong I could have the wiring service ID the person. As it turns out, the scammers had fake documents.
That's more or less it. Painful lesson, but - what to do.
ichoisarius said...
October 20, 2007 at 12:48 PM