}

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I don't really believe that financial crimes are on the rise as much as there are new ways for people to commit the same types of crimes with crypto currencies. But that is jus my impression and opinion.

My story here is more about frauds that I have been a victim of in the past. Both of them have to do with fake work at home job opportunities that turned out to be money laundering schemes.

The first time it happened I opened a bank account as directed and they were going to send me checks to deposit and send them back a certain amount and keep the rest. Simple and Easy, right?

And that was exactly the problem. It was too easy. When I looked at the account online there was money in it. Great! So the next day when I went to write the check that I needed to send there was a red amount in there and I was pretty upset trying to figure out what had happened. My husband and I went to the bank to find out and they told me that the account had been closed for suspicious activity and I would not be allowed to open an account there again. Of course when I tried to contact the company to tell them what happened I couldn't get a hold of them. Big surprise, right?!

The second instance happened many years later. Also a job opportunity but it had a little different twist. For this one they sent me a check to deposit and then go and buy myself office equipment after I made the deposit. I was a bit uncomfortable and it was a Friday so the check wouldn't even clear till at least Monday. I told them that I would absolutely not do anything until the money cleared my account.

Lucky for me I was a little wiser this time. And since I wasn't going to do anything until Monday I started doing a little more digging around. The first red flag was that the bank on which the check was supposedly drawn did not even have a branch in the location that the check said it was from. I called the bank's main branch to ask because the check didn't look quite right. I think the misspellings were a clue. I told the bank manager what happened and she asked me to send copies of the documents as email attachments. I also had to call my bank to which I had remote deposited the check.

The only reason this did not cause me any legal issues is because I was waiting to take the money out until it cleared. That gave my bank time to get the money out of there and return my account to where it was before.

Again, when I tried to contact the other company to tell them I couldn't get a hold of anyone. They had spoofed the name of a large pharmaceutical company saying that they had a branch overseas. Whatever. I am out!

I have no pictures to share because both of these incidents happened many years ago and I don't have space to keep that garbage laying around.

Two lessons:

1. It is never that easy to get a job so don't be desperate and don't accept any money under the terms they are asking about. There are legitimate work at home jobs and you just have to do more due diligence to find them.
2. If you happen to accept a position like the one I am talking about tell them that you absolutely will not take any money out unless and until their check clears your bank. And then do your due diligence and try to find out if you have deposited a fraudulent check. My bank cut me the slack because I hadn't had any incidents with them, I reported what had happened immediately, and I didn't spend the money.

I think if a similar thing hadn't happened to me earlier I may not have been suspicious and I could have had a real problem on my hands. It is one thing to do things that make you a little uncomfortable but this felt completely wrong and it made my stomach queasy. I am grateful it turned out okay.

This is something off the topic but another way to not be the victim of financial fraud. Shred EVERYTHING that you even think might be able to be used to steal your identity.

After my mother passed away last year we shredded everything that had her name, her birthdate, address, etc. I would rather wear out the shredder than stress out about whether or not some crook might find a way to use our personal information to screw us over.

Stay tuned for another story that happened to my husband and I regarding identity theft and someone taking out a business relief loan in our name because of COVID.

Oh yeah and we don't answer the phone either unless we know the name and number on the caller id.

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_{Posted via proofofbrain.io}