We Almost Got Scammed!

I am superparanoid. I get it from my father. I can't help it. I was brought up in a huge city halfway filled with people who would screw you over completely if it got them a dollar. I then moved to a tiny village where people tried to screw me over because they thought it was funny. I then got massively screwed over by someone who I thought was one of my very good friends.



So ya, I'm not just paranoid - I'm SUPERparanoid. I don't answer phone calls if I don't recognize the number. I don't open emails if I don't know who sent them. I may miss real things but I have never had my myspace info fished, my yahoo email hacked, and I literally "don't see" most advertisements on the internet. (It drives my kids nuts LOL)



My husband grew up in small towns where he was liked and respected (you should SEE his facebook friends list!). No one would dare screw him over because he would literally beat the crap out of you. A lot of people were too scared to piss him off. He is a little more trusting than I am.



We were looking into different loan options because we are thinking of attempting to buy the property we live on. We had saved up a lot of money but we still didn't have enough and the decision will need to be made in the near future, and if we don't end up buying this place we need to set up and research to buy a different place - preferable an actual house. So as we were looking into different options my husband went online and tried to find a loan place. He got a phone call. He did not tell me about it and I didn't question it but the time came to send in a down payment.



He had talked to a particular woman several times so I figured they all had everything down pat but since The Mr. can't leave work I had to go do the down payment. This lady told me I couldn't use the business quick pay form - I had to use the green and yellow PERSONAL form and Western Union the money OVERSEES in EUROS to some random woman in SPAIN.



Things that make you go, hmmmm. I asked my dad about it (he's paranoid, too so I knew he'd agree with me that this transaction was a little funny), but The Mr insisted I go ahead and send the money. As it happens there was an earthquake in California that messed up all of Western Union's servers so I could not send the money.



So I went home and tried to research this company - Southeast Financial Services - and the Better Business Bureau gave them the rating of "F" and it listed that they tried to contact the owner of the property that the offices have as their address and the owner said there has never once been a company or business of any kind in that EMPTY building. They have been getting complaints about Southeast Financial Services since the beginning of April and as far as they can tell there is no record of any company with that name since before April of this year.



I told my husband I was pretty sure it was a scam and the people at Western Union said they'd never heard of sending cash oversees as a down payment for a personal loan. They wanted $1800! And then we were supposed to call them back and give them our bank information so they could direct deposit the loan. My dad and I agree - just give us a check and WE will deposit it, thank you. The $1800 wouldn't have been THAT terrible to loose but if they had our bank information and wiped out all the OTHER money we have saved up? We'd be dead broke and probably homeless. My husband agreed it was questionable and he wanted to start ignoring the phone calls.



I have no such compunction. Someone messing with MY family and MY FIVE CHILDREN whom I feed and clothe? Nuh-uh. Call my a55. I called her up and left a message saying I didn't feel comfortable sending money to a company who says they're based out of the U.S. but they don't transact in American dollars. I had a problem sending money direct to some random that was never discussed. I have a problem with a company who doesn't use the company forms in Western Union. I wasn't comfortable doing long-distance business with a company that wasn't BBB afiliated.

She called me back saying the BBB was a monopolizing money-hungry company that gave EVERYONE "F"s that didn't affiliate with them. She said if I wasn't comfortable (and she couldn't understand why I wasn't) dealing in Euros she could find me an invester out of Jamaica or Russia (?). She said they've been dealing with Western Union for 14 years and they just "cut out the middle man by transferring in euros because the american dollar isn't worth much anymore". She refused to answer any questions about the empty building or the random I was to send the money to. She said the BBB was a slanderous company and there were lists and lists of names of websites complaining about them. She said they did not have accurate information. She actually got angry with me and insisted I find a lawyer.

K

LOL It's almost funny. A real professional doesn't get angry at a person for researching their company. I asked her to cancel the paperwork because we weren't going to sign. She told me to discuss it with my husband. She said he told her we desperately needed the money asap. I know that's not true because we DON'T need the money that badly. I confirmed with him and he insists he never said any such thing. I believe him.

Sorry Kathy Andrews! Not gonna get OUR money!

BEWARE OF SOUTHEASTERN FINANCIAL! SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM!