Happy ending! I gave the scammers no money. But even I'm impressed by how they lead me around—a very interesting experience. They got me to the point I was sitting in the Target parking lot with one leg already out of the car, while he told me to stay in the car until he finished telling me what to do. I was to get $6,000 in $500 gift cards using Target and Best Buy cards.
What?!!! When they see an 80-year-old lady ordering gift cards to the tune of $6,000, someone will call the cops. No, they won't, he says. Tell them you are buying them for your grandchildren.
I don't know what changed my mind. Possibly more to do with the fact that up to this point, if I've bought a dozen gift cards, that's a lot. I haven't put out $6,000 for anything in a store. I still wasn't convinced there wasn't a real problem. I told him I would pay back the money when the $8,000 deposited- by mistake- to my account cleared. I pulled my left leg back into my car and headed home.
On the way, I called Raymond James. They told me for sure it was a scam, go down to the bank and change my account, have them put an alert on my accounts under their watch, and cancel the credit card I had used to pay them for their service.
As I drove to the bank, Sheldon, the one assigned the job of reeling me in, called me a dozen times. I told him I was heading back to the bank to change my account. He texted me to tell me the deposit wasn't' going to show up," It was beneath the ledger." I didn't answer his subsequent calls. He stopped calling.
Back story: This scam was initiated at 8:30 this morning when Alex called to tell me their server had collapsed, and they wanted to refund my money. He connected me to someone else. This guy wasn't on his game. He got angry at me because I didn't have online banking or a pin number. He snapped at me, telling me how selfish I was. He could live on $700 for a year. (A homeless person can't live on $700 for a year in the US.) That prompted me to call Raymond James to say that I was thinking of just dropping my claim and telling the men to split the money. I felt sorry for the guys. But in the meantime, one of my Raymond James angels found another charge from Microcon on my account. This upped the amount owed to $1614.
I called Alex, who I now understand was my primary handler, to tell him I planned to let them keep the money and give him instructions to split with other guys he worked with. He immediately transferred me to Sheldon, his supervisor. (He heard what I had to say. I wonder how it made him feel.) Until I hung up in the Target parking lot, I was on the phone with Sheldon the whole time.
He directed me to go to the bank and open online banking. The whole time Sheldon was on the phone with me. After the bank, I drove back home. He had me sit at my computer and open the online banking account. He told me to enter the amount. For some reason I couldn't fathom, he told me the 'first' payment could only be $800. I type in $800. Oops! Oh, no. It registered as $8,000. No, problem. Sheldon forgave me for my mistake. He says all humans make errors. He told me how to fix it. He told me to get dressed and go to Target. Huh? Did he think I went to the bank naked? All these tells. All ignored. Of course, I was upset about the mistake.
Sheldon told me to leave my computer on while I was gone. Ah, another story. My main computer, my MacBook Air, was not in the house because one of their workers had told me to take it to a local tech shop to get an update. It needed an operating system update. The tech told me that he couldn't do it for me. If he did, I might lose files, etc. Best to take it to a tech who could do it for me and preserve my files. The computer I was working on was Mike's Surface Pro tablet. (I wonder now if there are honest workers who knew I was scheduled for a hit and made sure I got it out of the house.)
When I got back to the house, the screen was different, just a blue screen with a rectangle of some sort with numbers. I called the tech store in town, told them my situation. They said to bring it in immediately. I did.
The tech took one look, clicked an icon, and brought my desktop icons up. There was my regular screen. He said they were harvesting passwords. They got a bunch- all Mike's. The only password I had on the tablet was for the NY Times Crossword Puzzle. At least I got a new list of passwords that Mike had used. Maybe this whole ruse was his way of getting his passwords to me. I have complained a-plenty that he didn't make giving me his passwords on his deathbed a priority. Not. I have made a file with my passwords as a result. Yvette, Damon, and August have the password for my computer and the name of the file. It is on my Mac, which was in the shop. These guys had no access to it.
After my close escape, I was in shock. I needed some comfort. I called Dorothy, Judy, and Yvette. No answer from any of them. I called Jean, my Arizona friend. First, she gave me advice. I yelled; I needed comfort, not information about what to do. She did her job and did it well.
I got to hear scam stories from others. Damon called a wrong number for airplane tickets when he had to get from NYC to LA quickly. Darby told me how her husband got a $6,000 check for services for a wedding, and he was supposed to send the money to others who were providing other services. When they suspected something and refused to do it, the guy threatened to call the cops on them. I'm sure I will hear more.
Damon, my stepson, had the phone on speaker as I told my story. August, his son, told me all the details of the scam. He said I was involved in a 'long scam.' He said that companies like theirs pay Google to be the first on the list of sites. He told me every aspect of the scam, including the black screen, before the online banking site came up.
I signed up with these tech services about two and a half years ago while sitting in Mike's hospital room during his first visit. He wasn't on dialysis yet; they had just diagnosed serious kidney problems and knew he would be on dialysis shortly. They wanted to figure out why he had kidney disease. They were concerned his kidney problems were caused by something pernicious. No, high blood pressure was the cause.
While sitting there in his hospital room, working on my book, my Microsoft word shut down. I searched for Microsoft customer service and got these guys. It didn't sound quite right to me from the beginning. They assured me they were contracted by Microsoft. The combination of desperation and ignorance worked like a charm.
My sleep was somewhat troubled after my day's adventure, given how close I got to being taken. How did I get myself into this situation? Damon used to say my name should be gullible. But there was something else. I made a life commitment to assume people mean well. I preferred living that way and was prepared to take some losses along the way.
When I was living in Brooklyn, my mom and I got on a bus when we discovered that neither of us had the necessary change. A youngster on the street said he would get the change for me. I handed him five dollars; he ran to the corner candy store. He came back with the change. (As I'm typing this now, I realize I should have given him some money. I don't think I did.) My mother was furious with me. I told her I would rather live trusting and be disappointed than live in a constant state of distrust. But that night, after escaping the scam, I was shaken. I applied the principles of Buddhist psychology, which teaches all suffering comes from craving and aversion. I assume that all situations evoke both responses.
First, I released anything negative about my negative feelings about the situation. The words are "Release anything negative I hated about my experience with the scammers and keep anything positive or anything I still need." The first release didn't do much for me. The second release did. I released anything I loved about my involvement and kept anything positive or anything I still needed. That brought immediate calm.
What came up was grief, grief for the lost relationship with Alex, my handler. OMG! He wasn't particularly nice to me; he never asked how I was or showed any personal interest in me. What I realized was there was an intimacy there, the intimacy between the predator and the prey. I asked people I know who hunt if they experienced that intimacy with the animals they hunt. Yes. The scammers spent two years cultivating me. I felt and still feel sad about the loss of the relationship. I also felt sad that they lost their prey, me, after all their hard work.
I was surprised by my feelings, as many of you who read this might be. Trust me, I will not re-engage with these men. I doubt I could even if I wanted to. They have shut down all connections, all telephone numbers, all site addresses. If I could get to them, I could send the authorities after them.
Alex may have made an error. He called by a number that came up as being from Equatorial Guinea. He also sent me a text with his (or a name) and an email address. I will call Best Buy headquarters to see if they want to follow up. Why Best Buy? The website they showed me said they were from the Geek Squad. Were there signals that this was bogus? Oh, yes. Did I see those signals? On, yes. Why didn't I respond immediately? I don't know. Maybe the intimacy bit. It was seductive. Maybe laziness. Perhaps my ignorance of an alternative. I don't think of myself as an easy mark. I did assume they had done something wrong and were all going to jail. I wasn't totally blind but followed this lead anyway. I am without intimacy now. I miss it. Of course, my intimacy with Mike was based on love, not just desire for something he didn't want to give me, or I didn't want to give him.
August warned me that I would get follow-up calls. I haven't yet. I don't think I will. These guys were pros. They know when they have lost their catch.
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