Here is the account of events of just three nights ago. This is written in fashion for my bosses boss. Names and sensitive information will be altered.
I'm sharing this in hope for support and understanding as I am really embarrassed and feeling very violated. I also want to spread awareness of this incident and hope that others don't fall for it as well.
note: I work night audit at a hotel and this is my third week in working here.
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This is the recording of the sequence of events that happened tonight to the best of my memory and ability.
Around midnight, I received a call from "Steven Watson" on the hotel phone. He told me that on monday, sept 12th, at 11:30am there would be a fire safety prevention inspection. and that I needed to write down some information.
In this, I have attached a picture of all the notes he gave me and told me to write down (reddit note: not sharing that here). You'll see that he was telling me that tomorrow (today) there was going to be a delivery of a bunch of replacement equipment for all the fire safety things; all the fire alarms, smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, ect. He, "being part of our company", explained that he paid the first initial payment and that Joe (reddit note: fake name for my boss) had to pay the rest on his end.
He was expressing that this was very important but he was calm and collected. He was very convincing and asked me questions about myself to keep conversation going and a sense of friendliness.
There were guests that came up and asked something and I attended to them. Then soon after, a guest told me their keys weren't working. This next bit is really only relevant to understand the context to my situation and how he used it for his gain.
I made new keys but they came back saying those didn't work. I then followed them up to their room and tried with my fob key. This didn't work either. I went back and forth trying to figure stuff out. During, "Steven" was being patient and I went to text Joe about this to ask what to do and I quickly got a text off a number unfamiliar to me saying they were Joe and that this fire safety thing was very very important.
I was worried about not doing what I had thought Joe needed me to do in time. But I also know that guests come first. I can provide screenshots of the texts sent to me by "Joe". It might be important to mention that I did text Joe's actual number but he didn't answer and Joe always answers so him not responding there was odd but the fact he responded off a different number soon after saying he received my text from the other phone but couldn't respond as he was in the middle of trying to work this situation out.
It was a bit of back and forth and "Steven" was even trying to help me with the guests door.
The guests were understandably very upset, and "Steven" even said I should give them an empty room to sleep in and in the morning have our maintenance fix the problem. I looked up an empty available room and then when I proposed that idea to our guests, they were not having it. Eventually, thankfully, their room was a joined room and their party had the room over and finally responded and was able to get their door open from the inside.
I purposely apologized but they were still quite upset and a bit drunk. but they finally got in their room so I was able to go back to what "Steven" wanted me too.
My brain was a bit fuzzy and jumbled as that had just happened with guests. I was instructed by "Joe'' that there was a yellow envelope with documents and cash for the payment and that I had to stay on the phone with "Steven" and find it. This was said to be the payment for the new fire alarms and such. They had said that my boss had forgotten to sent it out and that it was urgent so I had to do it. I didn't quite understand the second half of what that would look like but with the pace of things I didn't think as much as I should have about that.
At this point, I was told I had to get into Joes door, at all costs. They made that seem normal. I was instructed to try all sorts of keys to get in. I also texted Cole (reddit note: fake name for my coworker) but then I said to "Steven" "I just texted my coworker, maybe he knows which key to use" and "Steven" quickly said "oh no, Joe is really embarrassed about this since he should have sent it out a while ago. Please don't get anyone else involved. We will figure it out and work through this. Tell them you were worried about the guests who couldn't get into their room and that you've gotten it handled." and so that's what I did, thinking I was helping Joe out and protecting him from being embarrassed.
This is where I feel incredibly stupid for falling for, but they said that I had to break the door open. and I hesitated, being taken off guard by such an action. Yet they were calm and collected and explained this was very important. I got some somewhat pressured texts from fake Joe. so I listened as they told me I had to break the door handle. They said "we pay for insurance every month, its totally okay. The door handle is nothing." They told me I was going to need a hammer of sorts and maybe some other things. So I got a big sledge hammer from the back.
He was telling me things like please be safe, don't hurt yourself, but this is important. I finally broke open the door by hitting it a few times. He then said I needed to check everywhere for that envelope and cash payment. Everywhere. Saying the mess I made didn't matter so long as I found it.
I felt weird but I deal with diagnosed anxiety and was internally assuming that yes this is a lot but if "Joe" says so, I gotta do it. And dismissed the feelings of anxiety as my usual response to most things.
Steven then had me download whatsapp so we could video call. He asked me to show him the office on video call to see if he can spot the envelope with me. I searched and searched. Then I went to the front and checked the cash drawer as he told me to. He saw the cash from my video recording and asked me how much it was. I read off the previous till recite.
He went okay okay is there any more cash? And I said I didn't think so. But he had me look. I was having pretty heavy tunnel visioned at this point. I found more cash in Joe's office.
At this point, he was conveying that this was extremely important and that if I didn't do it, Joe was going to be in really really big trouble. And that Joe was kinda freaking out about this. Because of that, I was going to gather as much money as I could to start the payment. And that Joe was working with the other people to let this be enough for now as to not get in trouble.
I'm fairly sure he said it had to be 2,000 and I had just around that after collecting money from the till, the drop box, the cash box in Joes office, and an envelope with money it in from Joes office.
He was then telling me I was going to need to drive somewhere to drop it off. In the back of my head things started to feel really funky. My body really started to move just on auto pilot. I got in the car and drove to the given address. This ended up being a shell.
In here, they have bitcoin. I remember thinking this was really weird. Why would Joe use bitcoin? It didn't make sense. Why would he have me leave the hotel? But I walked inside with the money in a bag.
Then everything clicked in a way. and I tried calling Joes cell, the real one. It was blocked and the guy was still on the phone from the app and he was like hey what's going on? I had thought I hung up but realized I didn't and made double sure to hang up.
This time the call went through and I got ahold of Joe. He sleepily answered hello and it all started to really sink in. I asked him if there was something going on, my voice barely able to come out of me. He was confused and said no and was asking if I was okay and what was going on. At this point it all completely dropped on me and I started to cry, and cry hard, and tell him I'm sorry over and over and I tried to go through what happened but I was was a bit of a mess.
Joe told me first to get back to the hotel. I hung up and as I was driving back, I called my sister crying and freaking out and she was trying to calm me down. I got back to the hotel and Joe was calling me back and then from there we went through what happened.
He helped to have me back track and fix some things like putting keys back and away and double and triple and extra more checking of this and that. He asked several times if I had given any bank information, and I know that I did not. I definitely understood his concerns, and I also knew through and through I did not release that information.
From there, I did my best to clean up the mess I made and to get done the normal nightly tasks. My sister did end up driving to my work as from her side of things, she thought I was either dead or held at gun point because of the ealier call I had made. We cried together and then I got back to work.
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There are some things I left out. Things like the really weird comments here and there he made that were flirtatious that in the moment, I internally excused for being just some old man being creepy but that he was my bosses boss and definitely in a position of power and authority so as society would have it, I just told myself it was nothing and to try and not let it get to me. But now, ive been feeling really extra uncomfortable about those details and I haven't shared them with anyone. As I am a survivor of childhood sexual abuse so these things make me feel heavy shame and discomfort.
But there, that is what happened. And my boss is seriously the kindest human being on this earth as he said he is not going to fire me and that yes, it was a pretty bad situation, but that in the end no harm was truly done and that the broken down door really didn't matter much to him. My coworkers have been overwhelmingly kind and sweet to me about the situation too, and I am forever grateful. I was feeling like it was truly the end of the world.
I still am feeling like I'll never recover from this and that this is the most embarrassing thing I have and will ever do. I feel very violated and uncomfortable in my skin. This was really really scary. I can't believe I fucking broke down my bosses door like what the fuck. One of my roommates made a joke saying "never have I ever... robbed my own work place" ... I could kill him lol.
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tldr: Scammer posed as apart of my works company and that a fire inspection was coming and payment was due. Had texts coming in from someone claiming to be my boss as well about it. There was an unrelated incident happening that added to my inabilty to see the scam for what it was, that also allowed them to take advantage of the situation even more. Convinced me into breaking down my bosses door and collecting all the cash money I could find and driving to the nearest shell. But then they mentioned bitcoin and as I stood there at the gas station, it all sunk in and I, thank fucking god, didn't give them shit. However, I did break down crying oop. And my boss is a true mvp for how he handled me and the situation.
