Description

This job scam took place on Microsoft Teams. I was offered a remote work from home position and hired. They were going to send me office equipment and teach me Peachtree Software. This has already been reported through the Financial Crimes Division of the East Baton Rouge Sheriffs office - Officer Otto Harshbarger has issued a warrant to Microsoft on my behalf. This took place at the end of December first week of January 2023/2024 and still has not been resolved. My husband an Army Veteran of 23 years was also a victim also with my sister in California who witness this crime. My husband passed away this year at the end of March. We feel we were targeted since it was the same time our CD was up for renewal at Chase Bank. Chase Bank has not assisted with recouping any of these funds either. We were scammed over $16,000 and I had to close my bank account on funds that was inheritance money from my Mother. All the authorities have been notified along with the Sheriffs office, with no resolution. Also, I had just resigned from my work from home position with Global Payments due to short term disability ending and reported to Lincoln Financial. I found this job with the Louisiana Workforce Commission (global payments) and was trained to detect scams as part of my work in the financial services industry for several years. The person who had the same name as an employee at the Thule Group instructed me to get gift cards from ebay, amazon, and apple. Each of these companies were advised of the scam, and were not able to assist with recoup of funds from scammer. Gift cards were purchased near my bank branch at CVS Pharmacy, Walgreens, and Albertsons. Each of these retailers were notified and were unable to assist or reimburse me in anyway for this scam. Most of the cards were purchased at Albertsons, and cash was pulled from my account as instructed in order to get the "computer equipment" delivered (which never came) to start my new job. I had confirmed that this person worked for the Thule Group over the holiday week, and came to find out a week later, these people had scammed several other people in the same way, using their company information. This case has still not been resolved and I have not heard back from anyone about the $16,180 that was stolen from us.