Story time: How We avoided a scam…well kinda!

​This story takes place about 5 or 6 years ago.
I had a regular client named Larry.
He was a great client that ordered 3 or more times per week.
Larry was the ultimate bachelor.

Often during the week Larry would order multiple errands and deliveries at once. Sometimes he would even order a couple days of deliveries to be completed during the week with varying drop off times and locations. They might include shopping and dinner pick up or dropping off a payment and picking up mail.
I can remember the week of the scam so well. Larry needed new pillows. He found some he thought he would like at Big Lots. He also needed groceries and cleaning supplies.
The biggest part of his order was a satellite that would help him get cable tv reception. He was going to have a friend install it on his RV. It was at the RV store that is located near the Concord Motor Speedway. I can not remember exactly how much everything cost but it was a pretty penny. At that time, I did not have any caps on the amount of money I paid for client items. Especially great returning clients like Larry. I paid for most of the stuff in advance except for the satellite which he paid for when he ordered it.

I am thinking that everything for that week added up to around $300. Well, the first day I went to get the satellite it had not come in yet. The next day when I went back the guy was telling Larry that they did not charge him enough for the satellite he wanted. After a lot of back and forth at the store he decided to just let me go ahead and take it. The people at the RV store were very nice and they said they wanted to keep Larry as a customer.  Plus, he said he could not get the card they had on file to clear for the additional charges and they would just take the loss.
I invoiced Larry for the total and headed out of Concord to the camp. It was the end of our work week together and so it would be time to settle up for the week. I wish I could remember the exact amount with purchases and errand fees but I don’t. I just know that it was a pretty big number. The total of the pillows alone was $80.
When I arrived at Larry’s house, as usual, we talked for a little while. He looked over the satellite and I told him the whole story about the card and everything. I wanted to make sure he knew that the ​gentleman was really nice about everything and that the card would not go thorough anyway after a while.
Larry wondered if the man at the RV store thought that he intentionally caused the card to no longer work. Like he had maybe taken the money off on purpose. He called and talked to the RV store and their employee let Larry know that there were no worries. What really worried Larry was that there should have been plenty of money on the card.
After getting off of the phone it was time for me and Larry to settle up. I took that same card and tried to swipe it. It was declined. I tried it 2 more times with the same results. It was declined each time. 

Larry was completely baffled. He was really upset. I did not want to add to that panic so I suggested that he called and checked the balance. Sometimes cards just stop working. It has happened to me personally.
He called and got his balance and to his surprise he actually had a negative balance. He should have had $1000’s of dollars in that account. He did not have immediate access to his other accounts.
Larry was so apologetic and upset. I let him know that all the time we had been working together, I knew that something had happened beyond his control.
I left that day not really knowing what was coming next. Larry asked me if I would be able to come back the next day or Monday and help him get it all figured out. I agreed and finished up all the things I had to do for the day.
On Monday all the financial establishments were open. We called around and started to get things worked out.

After looking at the charges on Larry’s card the bank asked him if he was in Florida the day before. He assured them that he wasn't.
Still he had a ton of charges on the card from there.
Someone really loved McDonald’s and Walmart. Not sure if they were on vacation or they lived there but, they were having a ball with Larry’s card information.
The bank figured that Larry ordered something online and that is how the information was stolen. They even said that they had a picture of the thief on surveillance using the card when we talked to them later on.
Larry was reimbursed all of his money and so was Rollin. Plus, a very generous gift to boot.
I guess you can say we got scammed but, in the end, we got justice.

Karen aka The Delivery Diva

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