#TrueStory: I fell for a scam

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @JenSquard

This is one of the most embarrassing things that has ever happened to me, and I hate sharing it.  But some spam reminded me of it today, so I decided to share.  

A few years ago we had a litter of boxer puppies.  They were registered and pure, and worth $600 each.  We advertised locally and all that jazz, and got a call one day from a communication company that spoke for hearing disabled people.  She said she would read to me what the deaf person on the other end typed in, and act as a go-between for us.  This person was interested in purchasing a puppy, but lived a few hours away.  We communicated several times, and their English wasn’t great - but I had never really interacted with a hearing disabled person, so I didn’t have anything to go off of.  

They explained to me that they wanted to pay to ship the puppy to them.  They wanted to just send me a check, have me take out enough to pay for the puppy and my time, and have me Western Union the rest of the money to the shipping company.  Looking back it is so obvious, but at the time it seemed legit.  Even when they did some strange and shady stuff, I honestly just figured it was because *cringe* the person was disabled, so communications were strained.  Don’t judge me.

One day I even got a knock on the door in the morning - it was my neighbor, and they had contacted them to tell them to come tell me to talk to them, as I hadn’t responded the night before.  Freaky deaky stuff, but again, I was just super psyched to be selling a puppy.  We got the check from them for way more than the amount, cashed it, and Western Unioned the money on to them.  Then I was contacted by another deaf person wanting to do the same thing, through the same translator service....um, okay, no.

I finally got wary after red flag number 87...or was it 88?  A week later the bank called to let us know that the check we deposited and took the Western Union money out of didn’t clear.  We got bent over in a serious way.  We were lucky, in a sense, that we didn’t lose a puppy on top of it.  This is a super common scam, and people are not only losing thousands of dollars, but they are selling their merchandise to these people, so they are losing out on that, too.  

I’m not a dumb person.  My hubbard isn’t a dumb person.  Our real life skills and experience are totally up to par....and we still got dooped.  Or duped.  I don’t know, but it sure did suck.  The fact that someone tricked us so completely is embarrassing, like sooooo embarrassing!  Looking back it’s as dumb as falling for the Nigerian prince crap, but it is what it is.  

*sigh*

Wanna hear more?  Then find me on Twitter: @JenSquard