06-16-2022, 03:21 PM
Bad portents came in hot and heavy.
The company sent me a check to buy the equipment I will need to do the job, ie video editing. The money was for a computer and a printer and a bunch of peripherals. When the check actually arrived, I was stunned. I figured this was the first opt out point. But no. Big check. The sent me the check via text so I could photograph it from my phone for a mobile deposit. And that worked. And the money posted this morning.
Now that I have the money, I'm supposed to buy the equipment. I figured they would give the vendors where they wanted me to buy things and I would go buy things. Nope. There is one vendor. I just give him the money and delivers me the equipment. (He just texted. He said he was leaving SF at around 5 and would be here at 6:40. I told him that wasn't happening) My first thought was why didn't the company just send him all the money and skip the middleman? (I'm leaning towards money laundering)(Did I mention the check was drawn on a Valve Company in NJ? I checked out the Valve Company website. Not shaky at all)
The Vendor guy texts me to tell me how he wants me to get him the money. I'm to go to my bank and withdraw all the money in cash and then take it to his bank and deposit in his account. I offer just to go to his bank and deposit the money via personal check. Nope. Cash or cashier's check. Okay. He then says I could use Zelle to send the money. I've never used Zelle before, but I can figure it out. It will save me an hour drive and trips to two different banks. I wait while he finds someone that I can Zelle the money to. It's an odd name. It's in a southern state. I get a lot of fraud warnings when I send the money. And I'm doing it increments, because you can only send so much before it taps out. I send three chunks of money before Zelle says I've reached my limit for the day. Problem is, I still have a big chunk to send. And Vendor Guy wants the money before he ships. The next idea is to use PayPal. Fine. I can use PayPal. I just need to transfer the money from my bank to my PayPal and then send it to his PayPal. Fine. I do the transaction and PayPal says I will have the money in 3-5 days. Whoops. Please stop this transaction. PayPal informs me it cannot stop this transaction. Suck it.
All this time, I'm texting with VG. I'm looking like an idiot. But I didn't choose to play the idiot role. Anyway, my next step is to try CashApp to send the money. I have to download the App. I hope to get my request in for the money before PayPal gets in it's request for the money. For whatever reason, CashApp takes forever to download. I keep getting texts from VG asking me if I have the App yet. And I'm only using a little hyperbole when I say it took forever to download. Usually an app comes down in seconds, a minute at the most. This app took ten minutes to hit my phone. Whew. I want this to be done.
CashApp won't approve the transfer from my bank. Or the bank won't send the funds. Either way. CashApp is no go. Frustration has set in big time. VG suggests using Apple Pay. Again. I've heard of it. But never used it. I just need to find it on my phone. I google. It's pretty straight forward. It's already in my Apple Wallet. VG keeps texting. Best of all, my bank transfers my money into Apple Cash. VG gives me a phone number where I can text the money. It's really sketchy. It looks like I'm sending an image with $1000 on it. Apple Cash likes nothing about this transfer. Since the phone number I'm sending the money to isn't in my contacts, Apple Cash wants to be really sure I want to send the money. Really really sure. In all caps. I'm not sure, but I hit send anyway.
The transaction doesn't go through. I'm told the service is unavailable. I try again. And again. And again. Always the same result. Service unavailable. I don't know if it is on my end or if it is Apples fault. Either way, the money still isn't going through. VG gives me another number to try. Same result. It's like I'm begging for these people to steal my identity. I'm ready to punt. But the cash has to be transferred today.
I'm ready to go to the bank. VG says I can go to the iTunes store on my phone and buy iTunes cards and send them via email. And I'm to send them to, wait for it, my new boss. My head hurts. But I do it. It takes forever to find out where in the store you can purchase these cards. And there is a limit on the cards, so I'll have to buy a couple to make up the rest of the money. Shakier and shakier. I swear I'm laundering money. Eventually, I find out where to buy the cards. And I buy one. When it comes time to check out, they want my Apple Password. I give it. The computer rejects it. I give it again. Rejected again. I go into my Apple Keychain to make sure I am entering the right password. I am. Still rejected. I think I hit the rejection limit because I was now being told I need to go to the iTunes Support department and straighten this out. Guess what. There is no iTunes Support Department. There is just a helpful hints page which isn't all that helpful.
All this time, VG is texting me with helpful suggestions on where I can get these cards. He suggests grocery stores nearby. He suggests Walmarts nearby. VG doesn't have a good grasp on where I live. I finally get him to stop helping. I leave my phone and just use the desktop. I go to Apple's website and use my Apple Card to buy the iTunes cards. I send them to my boss. I send screenshots of the sales to VG. I am done. Done. Done. Done.
I received my first text from VG at 9:30. I sent my last text at 12:45. I sent a different text off to the boss saying I was done. I also very politely asked why they didn't just the money to the Vendor and skip my part in this mess. He said my name needs to appear on the invoices for accounting purposes. Plus, it's the way they do things. Same as it ever was.
The job is off to a great start.
Money Launderer.
The company sent me a check to buy the equipment I will need to do the job, ie video editing. The money was for a computer and a printer and a bunch of peripherals. When the check actually arrived, I was stunned. I figured this was the first opt out point. But no. Big check. The sent me the check via text so I could photograph it from my phone for a mobile deposit. And that worked. And the money posted this morning.
Now that I have the money, I'm supposed to buy the equipment. I figured they would give the vendors where they wanted me to buy things and I would go buy things. Nope. There is one vendor. I just give him the money and delivers me the equipment. (He just texted. He said he was leaving SF at around 5 and would be here at 6:40. I told him that wasn't happening) My first thought was why didn't the company just send him all the money and skip the middleman? (I'm leaning towards money laundering)(Did I mention the check was drawn on a Valve Company in NJ? I checked out the Valve Company website. Not shaky at all)
The Vendor guy texts me to tell me how he wants me to get him the money. I'm to go to my bank and withdraw all the money in cash and then take it to his bank and deposit in his account. I offer just to go to his bank and deposit the money via personal check. Nope. Cash or cashier's check. Okay. He then says I could use Zelle to send the money. I've never used Zelle before, but I can figure it out. It will save me an hour drive and trips to two different banks. I wait while he finds someone that I can Zelle the money to. It's an odd name. It's in a southern state. I get a lot of fraud warnings when I send the money. And I'm doing it increments, because you can only send so much before it taps out. I send three chunks of money before Zelle says I've reached my limit for the day. Problem is, I still have a big chunk to send. And Vendor Guy wants the money before he ships. The next idea is to use PayPal. Fine. I can use PayPal. I just need to transfer the money from my bank to my PayPal and then send it to his PayPal. Fine. I do the transaction and PayPal says I will have the money in 3-5 days. Whoops. Please stop this transaction. PayPal informs me it cannot stop this transaction. Suck it.
All this time, I'm texting with VG. I'm looking like an idiot. But I didn't choose to play the idiot role. Anyway, my next step is to try CashApp to send the money. I have to download the App. I hope to get my request in for the money before PayPal gets in it's request for the money. For whatever reason, CashApp takes forever to download. I keep getting texts from VG asking me if I have the App yet. And I'm only using a little hyperbole when I say it took forever to download. Usually an app comes down in seconds, a minute at the most. This app took ten minutes to hit my phone. Whew. I want this to be done.
CashApp won't approve the transfer from my bank. Or the bank won't send the funds. Either way. CashApp is no go. Frustration has set in big time. VG suggests using Apple Pay. Again. I've heard of it. But never used it. I just need to find it on my phone. I google. It's pretty straight forward. It's already in my Apple Wallet. VG keeps texting. Best of all, my bank transfers my money into Apple Cash. VG gives me a phone number where I can text the money. It's really sketchy. It looks like I'm sending an image with $1000 on it. Apple Cash likes nothing about this transfer. Since the phone number I'm sending the money to isn't in my contacts, Apple Cash wants to be really sure I want to send the money. Really really sure. In all caps. I'm not sure, but I hit send anyway.
The transaction doesn't go through. I'm told the service is unavailable. I try again. And again. And again. Always the same result. Service unavailable. I don't know if it is on my end or if it is Apples fault. Either way, the money still isn't going through. VG gives me another number to try. Same result. It's like I'm begging for these people to steal my identity. I'm ready to punt. But the cash has to be transferred today.
I'm ready to go to the bank. VG says I can go to the iTunes store on my phone and buy iTunes cards and send them via email. And I'm to send them to, wait for it, my new boss. My head hurts. But I do it. It takes forever to find out where in the store you can purchase these cards. And there is a limit on the cards, so I'll have to buy a couple to make up the rest of the money. Shakier and shakier. I swear I'm laundering money. Eventually, I find out where to buy the cards. And I buy one. When it comes time to check out, they want my Apple Password. I give it. The computer rejects it. I give it again. Rejected again. I go into my Apple Keychain to make sure I am entering the right password. I am. Still rejected. I think I hit the rejection limit because I was now being told I need to go to the iTunes Support department and straighten this out. Guess what. There is no iTunes Support Department. There is just a helpful hints page which isn't all that helpful.
All this time, VG is texting me with helpful suggestions on where I can get these cards. He suggests grocery stores nearby. He suggests Walmarts nearby. VG doesn't have a good grasp on where I live. I finally get him to stop helping. I leave my phone and just use the desktop. I go to Apple's website and use my Apple Card to buy the iTunes cards. I send them to my boss. I send screenshots of the sales to VG. I am done. Done. Done. Done.
I received my first text from VG at 9:30. I sent my last text at 12:45. I sent a different text off to the boss saying I was done. I also very politely asked why they didn't just the money to the Vendor and skip my part in this mess. He said my name needs to appear on the invoices for accounting purposes. Plus, it's the way they do things. Same as it ever was.
The job is off to a great start.
Money Launderer.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm