I am in the process of beginning to really hustle to take care of my debt. I am full of energy and ideas and on one of those days I decided to check out Craigslist and found a listing for a home needing a house sitter. I should of known there was a problem when I thought the last name was strange. Who has the last name Phillip instead of Phillips? Red Flag #1So, Mr. James Phillip says that he lives in a nice home in Boulder and travels a lot. He has an import and export business and would like to have someone stay at his home when he’s traveling. He casually mentions a daughter and it all seems fairly reasonable to me. Red Flag #2-British English. He mentions that his daughter is with her “mum.” Now, you have to understand why this is still seeming somewhat legit to me. I know people who import/export goods in Boulder, have big houses, and travel a lot. Still seems ok. I tell him a little bit about myself and things seem fine. Red Flag #3-I am offered the job without being seen! Even though I have offered to meet with him on more than one occasion. I have also given my contact details which is completely foolish. He then mentions that he is traveling the next week will send the payment to me and the house information. I email saying that this is strange to me and that we should meet. He mentions that his secretary will contact me. Red Flag #4-Neither he or his secretary are contacting me as quickly as I think they should be. Finally, RED FLAG #5-The amount that he offers to pay me CHANGES! By $2000. He wants to send me at check for $2450 and then would like for me to cash the check. Withdraw the $450 for my wages and use the remaining amount for “expenses” I email and tell him do not send me a check as I won’t cash it (at this point I realize this is a scam). I don’t take money for work I haven’t done and that unless he uses the work protocol that I had suggested-request funds as bills come in-then I couldn’t work for him. Yes, I was slow.
But, this person knows the culture of Boulder really well and this person did the following which made the scam more believable to me: he didn’t say he was out of the country when we began corresponding. If he had said he was out of the country I would have thought it was strange immediately. The city has tons of people traveling (more so than most places) and having people taking care of their places.
What now? Besides feeling stupid I will be doing everything to monitor my information and will set up something to keep credit cards from being opened under my name. I will be filling out Fraud Alerts (which actually you and I should do anyway!) So, I think this situation is a lemon that I’m turning into lemonade.
I have been made aware of three things
- As suspicious as I am about things-I still can fall for a well coordinated scam
- Fraud Alerts are important! Check out the following post that I found on How to Block Fraudulent Credit Card Posts.
- Trust your gut. Every time I don’t I jack myself up. Mr. James Phillip-without an “s” I thought something was weird-just wasn’t paying attention. Which is what they were hoping for.
- No, I haven’t heard from them since I told them not to send me the check (this one is extra)
(google pic)
On to other cool things!
Wisebread!! I was used as a source for an article:
16 Ways to Kick-Start Frugality (I’m #6)
This was super exciting to me and I’m really hoping that people will try out some of these frugality suggestions.
Week #3 of the Shop My (Your) Closet Challenge
Wear your staple pieces in your wardrobe.
(all pics from google images)
Jeans
White buttoned down blouse
(short or long-sleeved)
Black Turtleneck
Audrey Hepburn-a true classic
Don’t forget to post your pics on Facebook to either my page:
The Shop My Closet Project
or
The Debt Free Divas Facebook Page
Don’t forget the last week of April we will be doing a Rafflecopter drawing for prizes!
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Interesting. I guess I don’t know why someone would do that if they are paying you. But yeah, if they can’t meet you in person then it’s always suspicious. In LA CL is so bad with apt scammers. I feel so bad for people who fall for the filling out the credit report before seeing the apt scam. Although the email stories these people send about how they are missionaries in Africa make me laugh every time.
They almost got me until the $2450 check! Thank goodness I kept thinking it was a strange situation. But, now I feel really stupid. That’s ok! You live and learn 🙂
Craigslist has gotten bad with scammers, so I don’t even like to sell stuff on it any more. I used to petsit in Boulder, and the surrounding area, but never had any scammers at that time. Good thing it felt strange to you, because you might be $2350 short. Besides, you helped the rest of us learn from it, so don’t feel too bad.
So, you totally understand why I was so trusting! You know how Boulder people roll-very easy going. So, It really took me by surprise. I’m glad that I told them that I wouldn’t cash the check and not to send it to me. But, it really pisses me off! As they have my name and address. Luckily, I think this is a soft target crime and doing anything else would be too much work. I also wonder how many people they scammed? They took their ad off sometime last week. I checked.
That nearly happened to me. Someone emailed me offering to buy a couch I was selling on Craigslist, sight unseen. They wanted to send me a check for more than I was asking for the couch, with the understanding I would write a personal check for the difference to the shipping company. This is a pretty common Craigslist scam. Sucks.
Wow! It’s so hard because I don’t want to think the worst of people. I will be more vigilant and anything that deals with services I will approach differently.