Had a salesmen come to my door today aged 23 and skillfully made me initially believe he was just trying to practice public speaking and when I related to him and said I took speech in college he brought out a form and said he was trying to earn a scholarship by selling magazines subscriptions to send to troops in the military. After relating him in a few other ways I decided to help him out. Wrote him a check for $50.00 and sent him on his way. When I went back inside I noticed that the check I wrote him was invalid and from a closed account with no current information on it and wouldn't be processed and even if I had enough money in my standard account to cover it. I said on my receipt that if the check couldn't process they would charge me a $30.00 fee and if I wanted to avoid it send a letter in the mail within 3 business days to avoid it. Thought it was odd that they didn't have a email.
I ran out and tried to find him about 3 minutes later but he wasn't even on my street anymore. So I got in my car and started searching the neighborhood for him but I couldn't. However, I did find some other guys doing the same. The first I stopped him and let him know that I was looking for the guy who I made the transaction with. He then called who he called "The Boss" and told him the situation and then asked me if I wanted to write another check. I said no because I couldn't and he said he would let "The Boss" know and to try to find him on another street. So I headed back out to see if I could find the original salesmen. Ended up running into the same guy again and let him know that I couldn't find "Rueben" and that he should let them know I what kind of car I was driving. So I start back out and in a bit of panic tried to track them down quickly. Ran into another one of them as he was talking to one of the neighbors and parked got out and waited for him to finish. When he did I told him the situation and said if he ran into Rueben to dispose of the whole transaction. Decided I had done enough and went back home.
Then I looked up the business and website and found all of these reports, that their business was completely fake, that their were people who's live are getting ruined by this and freaked out a bit. Then I realized that if they did try to cash the check it wouldn't process anyways, that they wouldn't pursue legal action and couldn't seeing as the house I was at wasn't my official address, that me and my mom would be moving out of the house in a few months anyways, and started to put it out of my mind.
But then as I filled this report out I hear a knock at the door and it is "The Boss" and Rueben. Not too worried because I had two barking dogs behind me I went out and played it cool and talked to him. He said that he heard I was trying to track down one of his guys and that he wanted to tell me that he owned the business and that it was "legit". Rueben came up and handed me my check and then they asked me to get the receipt that I gave them.
I went and got it, gave it to them and told them that I was sorry for wasting their time even though we all knew that I knew what they were doing. They left and I instantly ripped up my check and started finishing this report. They were probably hoping that I hadn't started the process of compiling evidence for a report to the police or to tell others about it but luckily I had already written it all down. I assume the names are fake as well as the address but at least there is some kind of paper trail to go off of.
If this happens to you and you notice it in time try your hand at this but only if you keep your distance and your car running. Don't risk them getting to close in case they get violent. Lie and don't reveal you know what is going on and that they are doing something illegal. Stay civil but make it clear to them in a round about way that you are in the position that they cant harass you without getting caught, that have to fix it or they will end up getting caught.
If at all possible try to remember as much about them as possible like their car (light blue dodge SUV), licence plate number, what they look like (which by the way, all of the salesmen were all wearing identical outfits of grey hoodies, t-shirt and jeans had the same haircut and all looked similar in the face and "the Boss" was wearing a red hoodie and white cap and jeans and was a bit taller than all of them) and all the information they tell about themselves (Ruben said he was from Wisconson, had attended USF in florida and that he was in the military, had a hip replaced and screwed up his knees).
Lucky the mistake I made with the check put me in a position where they didn't actually have and accurate information and it ended up working out without me getting screwed. I'm about to go flag down the cop car that patrols my neighborhood and give him the heads up.
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