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The original was posted on /r/scams by /u/TrumpYoRump on 2024-09-24 02:51:10+00:00.

Long story short, I fell for a fake job scam that has now costed me $4,500 of my money. I am completely devastated. The job was supposedly an illustration/ design job where I was tasked with creating several illustrations for a public school convention. The email and conversation I had with the “hiring manager” seemed very legitimate. They provided a link to the schools website, the name and phone number of the person who actually worked there, and also had the school logo on the email as well. They also sent me instructions and a due date for the job. They sent a contract for me to sign which all looked legitimate. I was aware of multiple fake job scams and I double checked multiple times to make sure there was nothing fishy, looking at the school’s website, checking the staff and reviews, the address, etc. Nothing rang any alarms at first.

The amount they sent me was a little over $6,000 from the “sponsor”. When the check came, they said there was an issue with the check and that some of the money was meant for another artist who was working on another project. The check came in at over $9,000. They also told me if there were any issues with transferring money to the other person, that they would reimburse me the money I would be owed. I cashed the check in through the bank and waited for the money before working on anything or taking directions from the “hiring manager”. The money did get sent to my account. They told me to send a starting payment of $1,000 dollars to the other artist via PayPal to see if he would receive it. I immediately should have stopped myself here and thought about why I should be sending the money and not the school itself or the sponsor, but my dumbass was not thinking properly. What raised even more red flags was that they said there was an issue with the artists PayPal and that he would not be able to get the money immediately, so he would opt for a Visa gift card. I can’t believe I fell for a gift card scam, but I was so blinded by the money plus feeling like I was doing a job that I liked that I obliged.

After I sent the money through PayPal and spent 3,000 on cards, the “hiring manager” said they would reimburse me with the money I was owed with another check. They wanted me to do this weird thing through email where I would print the check myself and I realized something was off only then. I checked my account, and sure enough, the money was charged back and I lost $4,500. Thankfully I did not give them any of my Bank information or my card info.

I will check with the bank to see if anything can be done, but I’m pretty sure that the money is gone at this point. I will also try to contact PayPal to see if it is possible to get the original 1,000 I sent, but I doubt they can help there.

I feel so ashamed and stupid. I can’t believe I fell for this. I should have known it was too good to be true and I feel awful. I was very happy that I thought I was being hired for a job that seemed suited for me and I was too naive and nice to see through it. Hopefully this can be a warning for other people to not be an idiot like me.