Bamboozled on LinkedIn

Throughout this story, you may find yourself wondering "Is this girl dumb?" because I wondered the same thing about myself while putting all this together.

"Did I really fall for this?"

"There were so many red flags."

"It was obviously too good to be true."

My intuition was telling me so many different things to look out for but did I listen?

No.

That's not to say I wasn't hesitant, because I definitely was. I have just been trying my best to be positive and feel as though I actually deserve good things to happen to me. I've been a bit unmotivated and uninspired since my dad passed away in June. While I have my good days, they are rare. It's even rarer for me to feel that spark that I use to feel inside of me to want to do the things I love (dancing, making videos, taking pictures, writing, etc)

So when this opportunity presented itself, I felt that tiny spark of hope within myself again. I immediately had this sense of motivation and inspiration that I hadn't had in forever it seemed like. I was even singing in the car on the way to work again.

Before we get into it, I want to go over a few pointers.

• While I have been writing for as long as I can remember, I am new to freelance writing. The only freelance work I have really done is managing social media accounts for a production company. Other than that I have usually only done independent contract work as a performer/dancer.
• I am usually pretty smart about being aware of spam/scammers. I'm also extremely tech-savvy. I'm usually the one who my family comes to as their personal Tech Support. So the fact that I fell for such an obviously too good to be a true job offer, has really caused me to really question my own judgment. (Not to mention I am extremely embarrassed, and haven't told many people about this)
• At this moment, the only money I have lost (*knocks on wood*) is the $12.00 "Returned Check Fee" issued by my bank and the money that I was promised.
• I'm not putting this out there for sympathy. Trust me, I wish I could take this all to the grave with me and never speak of it again. But at the same time, I don't want anyone else to waste any time or energy like I have.

On September 29th, 2021 I received the following message on LinkedIn from "Richard Roy" -

“I’m reaching out to inquire about a project. We are urgently in need of a freelance ghostwriter for our upcoming project (Topic: "Effects of Alcohol Abuse"), Linkedin recommended your service, please let us know if this is something you can handle and if you have availability to discuss further. Looking forward to hearing from you.”

I tell him I am interested in learning more about the project. He sends me the following message:

I read over the information I was provided and for the most part, I thought it seemed pretty legit. While there were some grammatical or punctuation errors, I just figured that was the reason they were needing to hire a ghostwriter -lol-

The only other thing that was a tiny bit alarming was the inconsistency in how many words they wanted. At one part they say they want 3125 words (a little under or a little over is fine) and then another they say it's has to be 2435 words as they are willing to pay $1/word.

Skeptical, I accepted the job anyway.

I would also like to mention that I was also skeptical as I do not have many writing examples on my LinkedIn, just my resume for customer service/social media. I only offer writing as a service on LinkedIn.

I emailed Richard as he had asked me to do over LinkedIn messenger:

A little while later I get a response via Email from Richard

I would like to mention that Richard first mentioned the upfront payment, I did not. Being new to freelance writing - I googled if it was normal to receive an upfront payment for a project - according to my search, it seemed like a normal part of the process...based on prior work/references...which this guy had not seen.

I drew up the contract and our conversation goes like this for the next day:

The following day I noticed that my and Richard’s messages on LinkedIn had disappeared from my inbox. (This is why I do not have actual screenshots of Richard's original LinkedIn messages) I searched through my inbox using all the filters, checking archived and deleted messages. They were nowhere to be found. I chalked it up to a glitch in LinkedIn’s system or a possible feature of LinkedIn I wasn’t aware of.

Wanting to refer back to his original message about the project, I asked Richard to resend the message.

I also sent over the contract

The same day Richard sends back the signed contract:

And the original message from LinkedIn:

From this point, I basically give him my name and mailing address to mail the check and he says thanks. (All Oct 1st)

The only personal information I have given to this day is my name and mailing address (which now that this has all happened - I am slightly regretting and somewhat paranoid about)

October 5th, 2021 - The next time I hear from Richard:

Did he just say $9,375?!?!

Now in the back of my head, I’m still thinking this is too good to be true, and that should have been my first sign.

However, my dumbass accepts anyway.

I had already begun outlining and writing my rough draft way before this point - just in case it wasn’t fake, you know?

I respond and ask Richard a few questions about the next couple of phases:

Again, at this point, I should have been hella skeptical. Looking at it all now, I don't understand how I could be so gullible. But I guess that's the magic of money. It will make you do things you normally wouldn't picture yourself doing.

Honestly, I don't fully trust my own intuition right now. I'm sure it will take time, but I just don't understand why I let things even get as far as they did.

October 6th, 2021 - the following morning I have an email from “Richard” asking if I had received the check, I hadn’t yet but planned on checking the mail when I got off work.

October 6th, after work 5:30pm - I get home and have received a check in the mail via FedEx. The name on the envelope was "Amanda Medina". The check was issued from a "Revest Investments". The total was $9,375.00 which was signed by a "Nicole" I couldn't make out the last name.

I emailed Richard to update him.

As you can see, Richard is very adamant about me letting him know when the check has cleared - again I chalked this up to him wanting to get going on the project, and let me know more info.

Again, I was a dumbass.

October 7th -

The following day I inform Richard that I have deposited the check and that it is being held.

He reassures me that the funds shouldn’t take that long to clear

October 8th, 2021 - The following morning, another email from Richard:

I inform him that it has still not cleared but that I will as soon as it does -

That same day the bank releases $225 of the check, I inform Richard:

October 8th, 2021 6:00 PM - My last and final email from Richard:

Monday, October 11th, 2021-

By now I have checked my account probably more than 1,000 times, and the check has still not cleared. I don’t really stress it though because $225 has been released - so I assume the bank must have approved the check somehow and are just waiting to clear the rest of the funds. Plus, I had just deposited a check of about $3,000 just a month or two prior and they held it for about 5 business days, so everything seemed pretty consistent with what I knew of my bank at this point, or so I thought

It should also be noted that at this point I was about 1,050+ words into the article

This is when things got weird, and I actually started to worry a bit.

3:11 pm - I receive a message on LinkedIn from a “Wilson Jeffrey”:

What. The. Fuck?!?!?

Millions of thoughts race through my mind but the one overbearing one that has been in the back of my mind since I received the first message from Richard…. FAKE! SCAM! FRAUD!

Then the positive side of my brain tries to compensate

“Well, maybe Richard hasn’t communicated to Wilson Jeffrey over here that I am already working on this project.” “Maybe they have multiple seminars that they are putting on and need multiple writers”

So I write back to Wilson:

That’s when I thought the conversation was over.

He then responds with:

Yes, without you seeing the full message - you just know that it is word for word the same as Richard's message - just with a different name and email at the bottom

As much as I should have taken this as the last and final red flag - I didn’t. I should have called my bank right then and had them cancel the check but I didn’t.

Instead, I email Richard:

By the end of the day, I still hadn’t heard back from Richard. I went to bed anyway, although I had a million thoughts racing through my head.

Tuesday, October 12th, 2021 -

I wake up and although I can barely open my eyes, I check my bank account.

Still no deposit.

I check my email - no email from Richard.

That’s okay, the check still has about a week to clear. So, I fall back asleep for a little bit.

I wake up again and check my email - still no email from Richard. However, I do have two emails from my bank. One stating that my bank account balance is lower than my $50.00 limit (typical, this happens often and I usually transfer from one account to another.

I open the second one and my stomach drops.

My account is overdrawn. Guess by how much?

If you guessed $9,375 - you’d be correct.

Trying to still process the reality of life after waking up - I calmly gather myself and get up to take a shower. Hoping that by the time I get out, the bank will have surely corrected their mistake, and deposit the check.

By the time I get out of the shower though, nothing in my account has changed. Nor do I have any emails from Richard.

I called my bank and they informed me that the check has been returned due to “Insufficient Funds”

I ask if my account is going to stay overdrawn - she assures me that it has already corrected itself and the check has been returned to the sender.

I email Richard a couple more times (although at this point I know it’s useless)

I get no response

I even message Wilson a couple of times on LinkedIn and this is how that went:

Now - what bothers me the most isn’t the money because technically I didn’t lose any money, just the $12.00 returned check fee and the money that I was promised. And it’s not the time I had spent on the article for a seminar that doesn’t exist. It is mostly the fact that someone random (possibly multiple people) have my address. Granted I do live in a gated community, so that’s somewhat reassuring.

Again, my dumbass is not looking for sympathy. I just want people to be a bit more cautious than I was. I am usually very skeptical when it comes to things on the internet. This one just seemed very detailed, thought out and more legit than the scams I have seen via email or other social media platforms.

If anyone is wondering, I have reported this to LinkedIn and this was their response -

It’s currently 1:10PM on October 14th as I finish this up. I have still not heard from Richard nor have I received a response from Wilson.

Nor do I expect to.

The thing I am most confused about is whether or not this was an actual scam. Again, the only personal information of mine that they have is my first name, last name, mailing address, and whatever information they receive with my returned check. I do not know what this person gains out of this?

If you have any ideas or any possible insight, I would truly appreciate it. You can leave me a comment on this post or email me at [email protected]

****UPDATE****

October 21st, 2021 5:21PM

I receive yet another message via LinkedIn from Wilson Jeffrey:

This time, I am a little less polite than I was the first time: