Playing with scammers
We’ve all encountered scammers, and many of us may have fantasized about how to get them back. Well, my computer skills are strictly elementary, so I have no ability to shut them down by checking out their IT addresses or anything sophisticated like that. All I can do is to try and prolong the interchange of emails to take up their time, give them false hope which will eventually shatter … and maybe, just a little, put the fear of God in them. And I had two opportunities to do so, so I grabbed them.
Both arose when I received emails in my capacity as Treasurer for a non-profit educational organization, the Pacific Coast Entomological Society (aka the PCES, which is officially based at the California Academy of Science, aka CAS, in San Francisco). At the time, our President was Kandis Gilmore (then associated with Sonoma State University). I figured the scammer obtained both of our names and titles from the web.
Dramatis personae:
The actors (Color coded to help you keep them straight)
[Date, time and commentary by me presented in bold type]
Kandis Gilmore (purportedly the president of PCES, but really a scammer)
Bob Zuparko (Me: really the treasurer of the PCES)
Brad Louis (My fictitious deputy … AND Kandis’s one time fling! I set up a gmail account in his name)
Nate Vandenberg (A fictitious “green” intern or temp or something, for whom I set up with another gmail account)
Kandis Gilmore (the REAL President of the Society)
Others mentioned
Buffington (Matt): A real person who works at the Smithsonian Museum
Chip and Dale: Walt Disney’s pair of animated chipmunks
Chris (Grinter): The current collections manager at the Academy
Doris: Purportedly my wife (I wish to make it clear, especially to Carolynn, that the only “Doris” I know was one of my aunts – a lovely person whom I met only once. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it)
Florence (or Flo): I thought Kandis needed a matronly type of assistant (name suggested by Michele Esposito, a coworker from the Academy)
Grover Dill: Character from the classic movie A Christmas Story
Jeff Selz: A random name I saw online
Leon Fibonacci: 13th century mathematician who figures elsewhere in my story as well (see Chapter 3, section 5)
Luigi Fercotti: A mobster from Monty Python’s Flying Circus
Luke: My nephew in the original scam, but Brad’s nephew in the second one (again, thanks to Michele for the suggestion of the name)
Mrs. (Fran) Kubelick: Character portrayed by Shirley MacLaine in the movie The Apartment (in which she is actually a “Miss”).
Norm (Penny): The former collections manager at the Academy
Officer Amotura: A genus of parasitic wasps from the family Pteromalidae. I just liked the way it sounded.
Scott Farkus: Character from the classic movie A Christmas Story
Vince (AKA Vinnie) Lee: A coworker from the Academy
SCAM #1: November – December 2020
Situation: Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays are approaching. COVID-19 is just getting started, and restrictions about attending work are being implemented.
Friday, 20 November, 2020 (I received an email (from presidentboard676@gmail.com) purportedly from the President of the PCES, Kandis Gilmore, entitled “Administrative Expenses (Event, Networking, and Program Services)”):
Hi Robert,
Do you have a minute to mail out a check or process a wire transfer today? Confirm if you can get it done, So I can forward you the details.
2 hours later (Bob to Kandis; at this point, I thought this was a legit request):
Kandis,
I certainly can mail a check today, if the recipient is in the USA. Wire transfers are expensive, and requires a trip to a Wells Fargo Branch, so that is not easy to do on short notice. We can also make payments using a credit card, PayPal or Western Union.
-Bob 30 minutes later (Kandis to Bob): Robert OK. Below is the details needed for the PayPal payment. PayPal Name: Allen Alexandre PayPal address I need you to process the payment to Allen via PayPal Family and Friends. Amount: $2,270 Payment For: Administrative Expenses (Event, Networking, and Program Services) Get back to me with the PayPal confirmation once you are done with the payment. Thanks, Kandis I was all set to make the PayPal payment, when I began to have a funny feeling about it. So I then called Kandis’ phone number and left a message, but also sent her an email at a different address than where these messages came from. In a little while, she responded, telling me she knew nothing about this, but had reported it to the Federal Trade Commission. I went online and found the Yahoo address noted above was traceable to a mailing address of a 27 year old male in Far Rockway (part of New York City). However, I don’t know if this is the actual scammer, or if it belonged to an account that was hacked by the scammer. This is the point at which I wondered how long I could keep stringing “Kandis” along. Saturday 21 November 2020 (Bob to Kandis): Kandis, Sorry for the delay, but I got caught up in a couple of other things. I sent off the PayPal payment 1st thing this morning. I hope you have a great rest of the weekend. -Bob 10 minutes later (Kandis to Bob): Robert OK. I need you to get back to me with the receipt of the PayPal payment. Thanks, Kandis. 90 minutes later (Kandis to Bob): Robert, I would like you to get back to me with the PayPal receipt as soon as you can. -Kandis 10 minutes later (Bob to Kandis): I’m off for Thanksgiving – I’ll get it to you when I’m back next week. -Robert 3 minutes later (Kandis to Bob): Robert, I need the receipt, So Mr. Allen can confirm the payment was from me. Monday 30 November, 2020 (Bob to Kandis): Kandis, I just got back to the office from my Thanksgiving trip. I thought, because of Covid-19 things would have slowed down, but I just got SLAMMED with a ton of backed up work and email. So I’m only now getting through this mess. About the payment to Allen – for some reason the Pay Pal payment I thought I made didn’t actually go through! I’m trying to chase down what happened – but in the meantime I’ll write to him to let him know what’s up. Hope you had a nice turkey day! -Bob A few minutes later: I emailed “Allen Alexandre”, using the address provided earlier: Dear Mr. Alexandre, I am the treasurer of the PCES, and our president Kandis Gilmore asked me to complete a PayPal payment to you for administrative costs. I thought I had done this the week before last, but apparently the payment did not go through for some unexplained reason – at least that is what it looks like at this end. (I was out of town all last week – hence the delay). Can you confirm that this bill is still outstanding? Thank you very much, -Bob Zuparko, Treasurer, PCES 20 minutes later (Kandis to Bob; I never heard back from “Allen Alexandre”, but I got this): Hi Robert, Mr. Allen is not available to receive the payment, So I need you to process the payment to available details below. PayPal Name: Christine Indiya PayPal Address: christineindiya@yahoo.com I need you to process the payment to Christine via PayPal Family and Friends. Amount: $2,270 Payment For: Administrative Expenses (Event, Networking, and Program Services) Get back to me with the PayPal confirmation once you are done with the payment. Thanks, Kandis Tuesday 1 December 2020 (Kandis to Bob, in email entitled “URGENT RESPONSES NEEDED”): Robert, I would like to remind you of the PayPal payment I requested. Get back to me once you are done with the payment. – Kandis 3 hours later (Bob to Kandis; the news about COVID-19 is true, and the CAS was closed to the public, but staff was actually still allowed in): Dear Kandis, Sorry for the late reply, but we have a problem. As you may have heard, the COVID-19 pandemic has put San Francisco County in the “purple tier”, and public museums like the Academy are now closed for the time being. Someone told me the governor is considering a policy that states people need to stay away from others not in their immediate household until Dec. 21, although I don’t know of that is true and if it is, if it has gone into effect yet. Although I still have access to email, I’m otherwise frozen out from everything at the Academy (including our PayPal account) for the time being. I’ll let you know when things change. Please stay well in this scary time. -Bob 3 minutes later (Kandis to Bob; I loved how “Kandis” borrowed my sign off line): Robert, OK. I would like you to know that this payment has been on hold since November and the recipient is getting pissed due to the excessive delay on the payment. I urge you to process the payment as soon as you can. Please stay well in this scary time. -Kandis 3 hours later (Bob to Kandis): Kandis, Yes, I feel terrible about this. Why don’t you send me the contact info so I can explain our limitations – I find the “personal touch” can help out immensely. -Bob 10 minutes later (Kandis to Bob): Robert, I need you to spare 5 minutes of your time to process the PayPal payment, I’m done giving her excuse since November. Log into the PayPal account and process the payment via Family and Friends. Get back to me with the receipt once you are done with the payment. -Kandis 2 hours later (Bob to Kandis; thinking of an old WKRP in Cincinnati episode, I remembered that the crucial thing about conning someone was not how smart you are, but how greedy they are. So I added the PS as incentive to hopefully keep “Kandis” in play for the rest of the month): Kandis, I’m afraid that is impossible right now. I thought you realized that I can only process PCES business when I’m physically at the Academy (well, except I can still email folks). So I’m out of luck – I can’t even get in the building right now (I know you don’t live in SF, but both the City and Academy take COVID-19 VERY seriously! I suppose if I was less of a Luddite, I might be able to handle the PCES business remotely, but hell, I don’t even own a smart phone, so if I can’t get access to the Academy, where all our records and internet links are, I’m dead in the water. I’m so sorry about all this, but this pandemic thing is something none of us ever figured for, so I’m just trying to cope the best I can. -Bob PS. I just went back and checked your initial email and saw that the first request for payment was on Nov. 20th, and our standard disclaimer reads that we try to make payments within 30 days of receipt of request, so TECHNICALLY I think we have until Dec. 20th to pay, which is right about when the restrictions are likely to lift (according to the radio – about Dec. 21st!), so if that is right, then we’d only be a day or two late. I’m not sure because I don’t have the paperwork in front of me (it’s at, where else? The Academy), but I think our contracts specify that any late penalties we might be on the hook for run to something on the order of 1% per week (7 consecutive days, not calendar weeks), so if we make the payment anytime between Dec. 21-27th, then we will only owe an additional $22.70, which is something I’m sure we can afford. Wed 2 December 2020 (Bob to Kandis; wanting to make ensure I still had the scammer on the hook, I concocted another email to send, to assuage any suspicious feelings, and help reinforce the idea that Kandis and I are physically distant): Kandis, Just an FYI: I forgot to tell you that during the week I was away for Thanksgiving, someone (I think it was probably Chris) dropped off Norm’s old collecting gear at the Academy. Since you were instrumental in helping to arrange this. I just wanted to let you know that we got the stuff so everything is now copacetic! -Bob 5 minutes later (Kandis to Bob): Robert, OK. Do you have a minute to handle a request for me today. Are you available? -Kandis 2 minutes later (Bob to Kandis): Kandis, Sure, what’s up? -Bob Robert, The task I need you to handle for me now is for you to get me eBay or iTunes gift cards at any store around. I am not available to do that myself because am all tied up with things, so I feel you’re the one that can be of help at the moment. I need you to purchase either of the cards I mentioned above and you’re to get 8 ($800) $100 each and get back to me with the back view of the cards where the claim codes are. I will get you reimbursed once I am all done on Friday. -Kandis 10 minutes later (Bob to Kandis): Kandis, I’m sorry, I’m a bit confused here – what are these for? -Bob 5 minutes later (Kandis to Bob): Robert, It is for a charity donation. Get back to me with the pictures of the gift cards as soon as you can. -Kandis 20 minutes later (Bob to Kandis; I didn’t want to respond immediately, so I was watched videos for a bit): Kandis, Are you sure that donating to charities is part of the Society’s mission? I don’t recall we’ve ever done anything like this before. -Bob 2 minutes later (Kandis to Bob): Robert, Yes. Email me the pictures of the gift cards at your earliest convenience. -Kandis 20 minutes later (Bob to Kandis): OK. I can probably do this tomorrow or Friday at the latest. -Bob 11 minutes later (Kandis to Bob): Robert, Tommorrow will be Perfect. -Kandis Thursday 3 December 2020 8:45am (Kandis to Bob; Kandis’ grammar seems to be slipping a bit): Hi Robert, I would like to remind of the gift cards I requested. Get back to me as soon you can. -Kandis 7 hours later (Bob to Kandis and copied to “B. (for Brad) Louis”, using a fake gmail account I just set up earlier): Hey guys, Well, bad news I’m afraid. Last night I heard that my brother’s boy Luke tested positive for the coronavirus. He was at the family’s Thanksgiving dinner last week and now the WHOLE family needs to be tested. And today I woke up with a headache and some achiness myself (no fever though!), so I went to the doctor this morning. After HOURS of waiting they finally took some samples. So I gotta stay in the house until the results come back (could be as early as tomorrow) – if I’m lucky, I can act as usual, but if not, then I’m in for 2 weeks of quarantine. I’m keeping my fingers crossed on this, but right now I’m sweating bullets. Brad: I still have the package that you wanted me to send to Buffington at the Smithsonian. If I get cleared then I can bring it to the Post Office, either on Saturday, or early next week. If not, well, we’ll probably have to wait until after Christmas – sorry! Kandis: Before I went to the doctor I asked Florence to get the cards and send the codes on to you. When I got back home I found a phone message telling me she had just done so, so that should be OK, at least. – Bob 20 minutes later (Kandis to Bob): Robert I need you to email me the code right here. Please stay well in this scary time. -Kandis 15 minutes later (Kandis to Bob): Robert, I need the codes email to me right here. Please stay well in this scary time. -Kandis Friday 4 December 2020 9am (Bob to Kandis): Kandis, Sorry I wasn’t clear on this – I don’t have them. Florence was the one who bought the cards, and she emailed the codes to you yesterday. -Bob 4 minutes later (Kandis to Bob): Robert, I never got the code. Tell Florence to send you the code than you forward it to me here as soon as you can. -Kandis 2 hours later (Bob to Kandis; I made some errors in my typing and decided to not correct them to emphasize I wasn’t doing very well): Kandis, Could you please just email her yourself? I’m actually feeling alittle feverish this morning and am having a haard time concentrating on other things. -Bob 10 minutes later (Kandis to Bob): Robert, I can’t find Florence email right here. -Kandis 4 hours later (Bob to Kandis and Brad; email entitled “COVID-19”. I included the chatter about the insect drawers to emphasize that I was treating all this as normal correspondence): Hey guys, I just got the lab report – I’m positive for COVID-19 all right. Crap! And I’ve definitely got a fever too. So I’m gonna be hunkering down at home for the next two weeks. I’ll try to keep in touch via email, but I can’t promise anything at this point in time. Brad: I also wanted to remind you that Vince can probably cover for me if you can’t – he’s done this before. Also, if you get a chance to get into the Academy, the Ichneumonidae drawers on the front counter can be put back away into the collection – I was in the middle of curating them when we closed down and I prefer they not be left out.. Keep your fingers crossed for me. -Bob 3-4 hours later (Kandis to Bob; so nice to learn that my welfare is at the forefront of Kandis’ mind): Robert My prayers to you. Florence is yet to send me the code because I never got the code , Email me Florence mailing address or help forward the codes here. -Kandis Sunday 6 Dec 2020 8:45am (Kandis to Bob; email entitled HEALTH STATUS): Robert, I would like an update regarding your health, Kindly get back to me whenever you can. PS: I’m yet to receive the cards from Florence, You can email me Florence address or ask her to forward the cards to you. Please stay safe. – Kandis I figure this is almost played out as Kandis will probably get antsy since I’ve now managed to twice miss sending her anything, while Brad has now entered the picture as well. So, in an attempt to exit this play with Bob Zuparko still apparently unaware of the scam, I invented another person, Nate Vandenberg, and had him email this message to Brad in order to set up a prior correspondence trail. 7 hours later (Nate to Brad; entitled “Bob Zuparko”): Brad, I just got a call from Bob’s wife. He took a turn for the worse and she had to take him to the hospital. If I hear more I’ll let you know. -Nate 20 minutes later (Brad to Nate): Nate, Thanks for letting me know. I was worried about this, since Bob is getting up there years. Let’s keep our fingers crossed. Brad Monday 7 Dec 2020 10am (Nate to Brad): Brad, I just heard from Doris again. Bob is now on a ventilator, so he’s at least going to be in the hospital for a while. -Nate 25 minutes later (Brad to Nate and Kandis; I’m hoping that Kandis doesn’t wonder exactly HOW Brad has gotten her email address (although it could be explained by the fact that Bob did send an email to both Brad and Kandis earlier). Nate & Kandis, Damn, I was afraid of that. Hopefully Bob will be OK, but since we don’t know how long he’ll be out of action, I guess we’ll all have to scramble a bit to cover things. Nate: I hope you can continue to get the word out to the others – especially Vince. Oh, and Chip and Dale as well. Although the Academy is closed, I have enough clearance to get in, so I may be able to access Bob’s PCES records there. I’ll try to get there some time later this week. In the meantime, if either of you know of any outstanding business or projects that Bob was involved in, please let me know, so I can get those completed ASAP. Kandis: I know we’ve talked about this before, but this seems like a good time to bring it up again. Although Bob is a really nice guy, and he’s been a decent treasurer for the Society for a long time, frankly I’m still concerned about his rather lackadaisical attitude towards his office. Things like getting the proper receipts, submitting the necessary forms on time, etc. He still seems uncomfortable or unknowledgeable about certain electronic methods (he doesn’t have a smart phone, and still has problems completing simple tasks (like PayPal!). And then last year there was the business of his messing up the accounts of Grover Dill and Scott Farkus. I think I can cover for him in the short run (especially if Vincee [sic] can help me out, but after that I think we REALLY need to find a permanent replacement for him – the sooner the better. Brad 90 minutes later (Kandis to Brad): Brad, OK, I need you to complete this PayPal payment, Below is the details needed for the payment. PayPal Name: Christine Indiya PayPal Address: christineindiya@yahoo.com I need you to process the payment to Christine via PayPal Family and Friends. Amount: $2,000 Get back to me with the PayPal confirmation once you are done with the payment. -Kandis 1 hour later (Brad to Kandis): Kandis, OK, I’ll check that out when I go to the Academy later this week. Brad 20 minutes later (Kandis to Brad; I almost fell over laughing at this one!): Brad, OK. Can you handle another request for me today? Bob really messed up. Kandis 2 plus hours later (Brad to Kandis): Kandis, What is your request? I’m snowed under with work down here right now and don’t have a lot of spare time today. If I can’t help, maybe Nate can? So what are your thoughts about the Treasurer’s position? If we decide to replace him, should we wait for the annual election? Since that’s not until September, that would leave us without an established treasurer for 9 months, which makes me feel uneasy. I checked the bylaws and they don’t say anything about “extra” elections, but on the other hand, they don’t mention whether we can appoint an “acting” treasurer or not. I suspect we should be fine if we can just get someone to act in Bob’s lace [sic] in the interim(I’m still hoping we can get Vinnie to step up). I think the only POSSIBLE problem is if Bob comes back and still has a great desire to remain in his position. But that is all down the road, so I guess we don’t have to worry about that right now. Brad 8 December 2020 7:40am (Kandis to Brad): Brad, I would like us to wait for the annual election. The task I need you to handle for me now is for you to get me eBay or iTunes gift cards at any store around. I am not available to do that myself because am all tied up with things. I need you to purchase either of the cards I mentioned above and you’re to get 8 ($800) $100 each and get back to me with the back view of the cards where the claim codes are. I will get you reimbursed once I am all done on Friday. Thanks, Kandis. 3 ½ hours later (Kandis to Brad; email entitled “URGENT RESPONSES NEEDED”): Hi Brad, I would like to remind you of the gift cards I requested. Get back to me with the pictures of the cards as soon as you can. Kandis. 30 minutes later (Brad to Kandis; I had to think long and hard about this, since no way Brad would respond to this as Bob had. Previously I’ve wanted to incorporate an office romance, so I figure this was my last chance – hope it doesn’t give the game away): Kandis, Yes, I agree – we can wait until September. I’ve gone ahead and sent Vince an email, and am now waiting for his response. Of course, you know I’d love to help you in any way I can, but with what happened at the Xmas party last year, I think we REALLY need to concentrate on keeping our relationship strictly professional. If HR should catch wind of anything that looks the least suspicious, then both of us could be in hot water. Surely you can get someone else to help you – why don’t you try asking Flo? She seems to thrive on doing odd jobs like these for people. Always yours, B. 20 minutes later (Kandis to Brad; whew, Kandis is still in play. But I was surprised that she didn’t connect “Flo” with “Florence”): Brad, OK. Get back to me with Flo email address. Kandis 20 minutes later (Nate jumps back in the picture with this message to both Kandis and Brad): Great news guys! I just heard from Doris – Bob is off the ventilator (or respirator –whatever it’s called), and is responding to treatment. It is still much too early to tell when he’ll be leaving the hospital, but evidently the doctors say that he seems to be over the worst of it. I’ll let you know more as I hear it. -Nate 8 minutes later (Kandis to Nate; one guess as to what her request is): Nate, That’s great. I need you to handle a request today, Are you available? -Kandis 2 minutes later (Brad to Nate and Kandis): Nate, Thanks for the news – I really wasn’t sure if Bob was going to get through this or not. Kandis – Looks like I will be able to get into the Academy tomorrow to handle that PayPal payment for you. -Brad 12 minutes later (Nate to Kandis): Kandis, Sorry – I’m at home today. Can it wait until tomorrow? -Nate 5 minutes later (Brad to Kandis’ email from about an hour earlier): Kandis, Sorry – “Flo” is what I call Florence sometimes. I know you have her email address. B. I’m getting a little anxious here. This was on a Tuesday, and I was originally hoping to spin this out until Friday. But now things are happening too fast, so I now plan that we will come to a crisis tomorrow, when Brad will be at the Academy. He will JUST ABOUT make the $2000 PayPal payment, but the multiple requests for the gift cards will THEN come to his attention, and he will realize what’s going on. Let’s see what happens. 40 minutes later (Kandis to Nate): Nate, I can’t find Florence email address right here, Can you get back to me with that? -Kandis 1 hour, 15 minutes later (Brad to Kandis): Kandis, I just talked to Florence. I couldn’t quite get the story straight, but she told me that last week Bob asked her to get some gift cards for $800. She sounded pretty upset because Bob told her she was supposed to have been reimbursed on the 4th. I told her that Bob wasn;t [sic] able to pay her because he’s in the hospital, but she said you were going to pay her, which makes no sense whatsoever. Do you have any idea what she is talking about? B PS I still hope to process that payment to Indiya tomorrow. 10 minutes later (Nate to Kandis): Kandis, Sorry, I don’t have it at home. I’ll shoot it to you first thing when I come in to work tomorrow. Cheers! -Nate PS Vince told me he’s coming in tomorrow as well to help cover for Bob until he’s well enough to return. Wed 9 December 2020 7am (Kandis to Brad; Kandis is not as sharp as I thought – after virtually throwing “Florence” in her face, she still thinks she’s in the clear, AND she is mixing up Bob with Brad!): Bob, Yes, Tell Florence to email you the gift cards she got, So you can forward it to me. Go ahead with the payment and make sure you process the payment via PayPal Family Friends. She will get reimbursed as soon as possible. -Kandis 1 hour later (Nate to Brad and Kandis, entitled “Possible scam”; there’s no more putting Kandis off – it is now time to “discover” the scam. I got the phone number for the 101st precinct from the web. Far Rockaway, if you remember, was the location for “Allen Alexandre”. I particularly wanted the person who “discovered’ the scam to be a lowly “gee-whilikers” type of intern at the Society): Hey guys, When I got into work just now I found a really strange phone message waiting for me from someone named Jeff Selz at the Northeast Bureau of the Federal TradeCommission, wanting to talk to someone here about a scam. He also said we could call the 101st police precinct in Far Rockaway, New York at (718) 868-3400, and ask for Officer Amotura. This was so strange that I’m feeling a little weird about dealing with it. I’m hoping you can take over here. -Nate 1 minute later: (Kandis to Brad and Nate; I think I can sense the desperation – do you?): Brad & Nate, Don’t worry, I will be handling that. -Kandis 9 minutes later (Brad to Nate; “regrettably” this was cc’d to Kandis as well): Nate, Don’t send any more emails to Kandis at “presidentboard676”. -Brad Curtain. FINAL THOUGHTS I came DAMN close to making that initial PayPal payment. This may be why I was so intent on trying to turn the tables. Turns out Dr. Johnny Fever from WKRP in Cincinnati WAS correct. The key to pulling off a good scam is not how smart one is, but rather how greedy the con is: although things were collapsing at the end, “Kandis” still stayed in the game trying to get those gift cards. Also, turns out I was pretty lucky in the timing of the scam attempt, to wit: the chance opportunity provided by having a long holiday vacation during the period, followed by a resurgence in the COVID-19 pandemic. Had this scam been attempted during “normal times”, no way could I have kept things going as long as I did. As this developed, I had three goals in mind: 1) Keep the scammer going for as long as possible, 2) Don’t let him/her know that I figured out the scam early on, and 3) Get the scammer to realize that the chance of scoring the $2000 PayPal payment failed solely due to the continued attempts to score the gift cards in addition. Unfortunately, I’m not sure the subtlety of 3) got through, and so I was a little disappointed at that. But at least I did manage to keep this going for almost 3 weeks, and I think the scammer never realized I had tumbled to the thing on Day 1. Oh well, at least I had a fun couple of weeks leading this person on a merry chase. And I learned to be a little more circumspect in replying to emails, as well as just how easy it is to set up multiple gmail addresses. SCAM #2: December 2021 Well, I had so much fun with the first scammer, I almost jumped for joy when a year later, I was targeted by another. Whoopee – the game’s afoot! (again). Wednesday, 8 Dec. 2021, 7:20am (Received an email, from president.executive21@gmail.com, entitled “(PCES) Financial Update”. Included was a logo for Sonoma State University – all the succeeding messages from “Kandis” included this contact info and logo, but I’ve omitted them from this transcript]: Rob, I trust this email finds you well. I need your feedback regarding our finances below are my queries Stay safe and well Kandis Gilmore Saturday, 18 Dec. 2021, 3.43pm (Bob to Kandis w/ cc to Brad Louis; setting the stage for Bob being a little, shall we say, “loose” in my financial dealings): Dear Kandis, Sorry for the delay in answering your email. But I just got back from my little vacation in the Barbados, and only found your message today. I can look into your requests when I get back to the Academy on Monday, but frankly I wasn’t sure what you meant by “1-3 months transaction summary” – which months did you have in mind? Also, which financial statements were you referring to? And which unpaid expenses were you referring to? The postage expenses billed to us by the Academy? In fact I paid those just before I left at the end of November. And don’t worry about those payments made in my name – that was just a way to correct the books with regard to that silly misunderstanding about the cancellation of the Buffington donation that I explained to you earlier. Cheers, -Rob Saturday, 18 Dec. 2021, 4.09pm (Kandis to Bob): Dear Rob, Thank you, Happy Holidays! Stay safe and well Kandis Gilmore Sunday, 19 Dec. 2021, 10:53am (Bob to Kandis): Kandis, I will be able to send you the report tomorrow. -Rob 22 minutes later (Kandis to Bob): Hi Rob, Please let me know if you will be able to make the payment tomorrow, I look forward to the financial report. Thank you, Stay safe and well Kandis Gilmore Monday, 20 Dec. 2021, 10.20am (Bob to Kandis; NB. the numbers are way overblown – much greater than the Society’s actual worth. Note the travel and incidental numbers – they will come up again): Kandis, I’ve made the payment on all our outstanding bills, so we’re up to date on that front. Attached is the report you asked for, but was curious why you wanted November’s numbers now, rather than waiting for the end of the quarter. Regards, -Bob November 2021 Financial summary General Fund Income: Dues 9,925.00 Subscriptions 23,500.00 Author charges 100,225.00 Royalties 160,685.00 Dividends 107,825.08 Interest 1,904.20 Total 404,064.28 Expenses: Journal publication 85,593.02 Reviews & honoraria 1,100.00 Legal fees 45,050.00 Bank fees 1,075.50 Postage 3,303.66 Supplies 1,149.50 Travel reimbursement 175,059.03 Incidentals 33,075.00 Total 345,405.71 Net gain 58,658.57 MacGillicutty Fund Forward from October 33,380,271.49 Interest accumulated 166,901.35 Ending amount 33,547,172.84 Aphidiid Fund Forward from October 1,050,759.22 Interest accumulated 5,253.80 Payments 285,000.00 Ending amount 771,013.02 22 minutes later (Kandis to Bob; the PNC Bank appeared to be real, as well as the Arrowhead Drive address, but I could find no mention of a Cynthia Liles in Pennsylvania on the web; to be careful that I’m not disgorging any private financial information, I have “X-ed out” some of the numbers from the information below): Hi Bob, I acknowledge receipt of the financial report I requested for the November’s report to make sure our finances is up-to date, Could you please transfer $2,850 to the banking details below Beneficiary Name: Cynthia Liles Address: 831 Arrowhead Dr, Pocono Lake, PA 18347 BENEFICIARY BANK INFORMATION Account Number: XXXXXX6105 Routing Number:XXXXX0096 Swift Code: PNCCUSXX Bank Name: PNC Bank Bank Address: 249 Fifth Ave., Pittsburg, PA 15222 Phone: (888) 762-2265 I will request for the quarter report at the appropriate time, Let me know once the transfer has been processed. Thank you, Stay safe and well Kandis Gilmore 1 hour 45 minutes later (Bob to Brad & Kandis): Brad, Could you please cover this request from Kandis? Thanx -Bob 5 hours later (Brad to Kandis): Kandis, I’m afraid I’m a little confused. I was rushing off to a meeting this afternoon when I saw Bob and he told me that you were requesting a money transfer for $28,500. I just got out of the meeting and found the email that he had sent to me earlier, and it reads “$2,850.00”. [Just my attempt to see how greedy the scammer was]. Can you please confirm which is the correct amount? Thanks ever so much, Brad 38 minutes later (Kandis to Brad): Brad, Yes it’s the correct amount, Please let me know once the transfer has been processed. Thank you, Stay safe and well Kandis Gilmore Tuesday, 21 Dec. 2021 7.14am (Kandis to Brad): Hi Brad, Could you please confirm if the transfer has been processed. Thank you, Stay safe and well Kandis Gilmore 2 hours, 12 minutes later (Brad to Kandis): Kandis, I’m afraid you didn’t understand my question: WHAT is the correct amount? $28,500.00 or $2,850.00? -Brad 6 minutes later (Kandis to Brad; well, well, she didn’t appear to be TOO greedy): Correct amount is $2,850. Best, Stay safe and well Kandis Gilmore 38 minutes later (Brad to Kandis and Bob): Kandis & Bob, I just realized that I never got a PDF for this request. Did Kandis send one to you Bob? If so, please forward to me so I can complete the transaction. -Brad 6 minutes later (Bob to Brad & Kandis): Brad, No, sorry. I forgot to ask Kandis for it. Kandis – could you please fill out a PDF and shoot it over to Brad? Thanx, Bob 27 minutes later (Kandis to Brad; do you find it as interesting as I did that this meeting JUST came up then?]: Brad, I am heading to an important meeting at the moment. I will send the PDF later, Kindly proceed with the transfer, Let me know once it’s done. Thank you, Stay safe and well, Kandis Gilmore 3 hours later (Brad to Kandis): Okay, just send me the form when you can. -Brad 1 hour later (Kandis to Brad): Hi Brad, Could you please confirm if the payment has been sent? I will send the form when I return back to the office. Best, Stay safe and well Kandis Gilmore 38 minutes later (Brad to Kandis): Kandis, Yes, I’ll confirm with you when I process the payment. I’m taking off for Xmas, and will be back in the office on the 27th. Hope you have a great Christmas – but don’t eat TOO much! Brad Wednesday, 22 Dec. 2021 (Kandis to Brad): Brad, I apologise for my late response, I couldn’t make it to the office yesterday. I should return to the office on the 28th. I will send the form as soon as I return, Kindly make the payment today before you take off for Xmas, I wish you and your family Merry Christmas, Let me know once the transfer has been processed. Thank you, Stay safe and well Kandis Gilmore Monday, Dec. 27, 2021 (Brad to Kandis; I REALLY had a fun time throwing myself under the bus like this): Kandis, Sorry, but last week my last day at work was Tuesday (luckily the Academy has a generous policy when it comes granting holiday leave – I’m guessing that Sonoma State is not quite as “progressive”), and so I didn’t see your response on Wednesday until I got in to work this morning. So I went looking through my old emails and I still couldn’t find any sign that you ever sent me the PDF. According to your last email, you’ll be back tomorrow, so I can easily wait until then, but I need this form filled out first. Now I don’t mean to make heavy weather out of this, but we really need to keep to our new accounting protocols. I’m sure you don’t need to be reminded about the trouble we were in with the IRS this spring. And allow me point out that the conditions the Feds imposed on us included that we clean up our record-keeping, ESPECIALLY while we are still on probation with them (which will run for the next 6 months AT A MINIMUM). And of course, this was the whole reason I was elevated to be Bob’s deputy: to keep an eye on things. Now don’t get me wrong – Bob is a really nice guy, and he’s been a decent treasurer for the Society for a long time, but frankly I’m concerned about his rather lackadaisical attitude towards his office. Things like getting the proper receipts, submitting the necessary forms on time, etc. And I hesitate to mention this, but I’m not really sure how kosher his vacation to the Barbados was. [Hmm, Brad has a pretty sharp eye!] But regardless of this, I don’t think he’s the guy we can depend upon for sticking to our new rules and maintaining a clear paper trail. For example – this last request for the money transfer to the person in Pennsylvania: Bob forwarded me your email with the amount of $2850 noted, but when he saw me in person he mentioned it was $28,500! THIS is exactly the type of sloppiness that is getting us in trouble with the authorities, and one of the reasons why our new protocols require us filling out the PDFs prior to any monies actually going out. Heck, it was really lucky for us that this time Bob decided to forward your request for payment to me (lately he hasn’t been too reliable in delegating these requests – just the other day, I discovered by accident that he underpaid a bill to Dill & Farkus). So I can imagine the deep s*** we would have been in if instead of asking me to process the payment for $2850, he instead just went blindly ahead and paid out $28,500 instead. In confidence, I’m not sure why the Board still considers him savvy enough to justify his remaining Treasurer. So please, when you get a chance, just fill out the darn PDF (you should be able to download a copy from the website – just login as an administrator, go to the “Accounting” tab, click on “Forms”, select “Payment & Disbursement Form (PDF)” and print out a copy. There are only a handful of lines you need to fill out – once you do that, upload the form and email it back to me, and I can get the transfer done STAT. I know that Flo is familiar with this procedure, so if you can’t do it yourself or have any questions, you can just ask her. And even if there is a problem with printing it out (I am aware we’ve been having some software glitches, based on the type of printer on the local network, and I don’t know what kind of setup you have at Sonoma State), I can accept a hand-written form, but I DO need all the questions on the form answered, like the contact information for the Payee (ESPECIALLY the email address and telephone number), the reason for payment, and the date and your signature (no need to bother about which fund should be used for payment – I can figure that out). Oh, and if you have an invoice or other type of receipt from the Payee, that would be gold. Sorry to be such a tight *** about all this, but in the long run I think you will agree with me that we need to run a tighter ship around here. Again, please keep this to yourself, but even though I have a lot on my plate right now, I wanted you to know that I’d be willing to step up and take on even more responsibilities should the Board decide that it’s time to make a change. -Brad 52 minutes later (Brad to Kandis, Bob, and Nate; admittedly, this was a “rerun” of me attending Thanksgiving dinner in the previous scam attempt – strange how BOTH Bob and Brad have a nephew named “Luke”] Dear folks, I just wanted to let you know that I may have been exposed to COVID-19. We had my brother and his family over to dinner for Christmas, and I just learned my nephew Luke MAY be coming down with the virus (tests are still pending). IF it turns out he tests positive, then the Academy’s protocol calls for me to clear out of the building and go home until I can get cleared. OTOH, if Luke tests negative, then I should be in the clear and everything can proceed as normal. Just an FYI. -Brad 1 hour 7 minutes later (Kandis to Brad; interesting how Kandis keeps having reasons not to supply the paperwork): Dear Brad, I hope you had a great Christmas with family, I have a very tight schedule until 3rd January, I will do the best I can to send you the receipt/invoice, I understand that we have to keep our accounting protocol, Bob has been the treasurer for awhile and he knows the gravity of getting things done on time, I was hoping you would’ve get the transfer done by now since I promised to provide the PDF for record purpose I understand the importance of documenting all expenses but some payments has been past due and needs to be paid without hindrance because this could affect our finances as well. However you can always confide in me as I am with you but it doesn’t seem like you are as much as I do in you, I can assure you that I will not tell Bob about this I understand you are trying to protect the society interest which I do appreciate and I feel you are capable, competent to handle our finances as we can not afford any loophole hence I will discuss this with members of the board and support you to make sure you take over from Bob he might be going through some personal issues that should not affect our finances in anyway, I hope you were able to sort out the underpaid bills to Dill & Farkus? I would appreciate if you could download the form and send it to me, Yes I agree it’s time to change for a new dawn I hope you will be ready to be tranquil and understanding [!!!??? -ed.] when you finally take up Bob position as treasurer, I’m sorry to hear about your nephew LUKE I hope the test come out negative for you to still remain in the building and things can go back to normal. Season’s Greetings, Stay safe and well Kandis Gilmore 5 hours 30 minutes later (Nate to Brad ; looking ahead, I knew I had to come up with something to forgo me printing out the form for Kandis, so I developed this Monday evening conversation so Brad could forward it on the Kandis on Tuesday and sidestep printing the PDF for her): Mr. Louis, I’m sorry to bother you so late and all, but I need to get into the mailroom and everyone else is gone and I don’t have the code. I was helping Mr. Zuparko with some files but I haven’t seen him in like 20 minutes, so I think maybe he’s gone home. Anyway, he wanted me to shred some files (gosh, that sure sounds like a spy movie, doesn’t it?), but the shredder is in the mailroom, and like I said, it’s locked and I don’t have the code. So I was hoping you could send it to me, because Mr. Zuparko sounded like it was really important I shred this stuff ASAP. Anyway, I’m sorry for bothering you this late again, and I hope you can send me the code. I promise I will lock up after I’m done. -Nate Vandenberg 20 minutes later (Brad to Nate): Nate, Hold everything. What is going on there – I need you to tell me EXACTLY what Bob asked you to do. -Brad 13 minutes later (Nate to Brad): Mr. Louis, Thank you for getting back so quickly. I’m the only one here and it’s a little spooky, you know? Anyway, Mr. Zuparko had a phone call about 6 o’clock and I was just about to leave for the night and he asked me to hold on for a minute. Then after a couple of minutes he told me he had some stuff he wanted me to do and promised me some cash if I’d stay late. So I said sure and hung around as he was still talking on the phone, and then he came out and started going through the file cabinets. Anyway, he asked me to fetch the financials for the last 3 years, and that took a little bit of time, I tell you. He was looking through that stuff and gave me a couple of file folders (some were pretty bulky) and told me he wanted to shred them. He grabbed some more files and I thought he was going to look through them right there, but then I couldn’t find him so I guess he must’ve left. Anyway, he probably forgot that the mailroom gets locked up at six and that I don’t have the code for it. Like I say I looked around for him and waited like 20 minutes or so but he never came back, and now I can’t shred the stuff, which he thought it was pretty important to do, I guess. Anyway, so that’s when I wrote you. I was going to call Mr. Zuparko, but I don’t know his phone number. So what should I do now? -Nate Vandenberg 1 minute later (Brad to Nate): Nate, Drat, I wanted to call you, but I don’t have your phone number. Tell me, this is very important – what files did Mr. Zuparko take, and which ones did he want you to shred? -Brad 5 minutes later (Nate to Brad): Mr. Louis, I didn’t see the files he took, but they were your regular manila folders, but they had a bright red edging across all the edges. The one he gave me to shred is labelled “Fibonacci”. It’s a thick one too! Do you think you could just give me the code to the mailroom? Mr. Zuparko was awful insistent that I get this done tonight. He even promised me twenty dollars! Anyway, it’s getting pretty late and I haven’t had dinner yet, so I’m not sure what I should do. -Nate Vandenberg 2 minutes later (Brad to Nate): Nate, Dammit – don’t do anything! I’m coming right over. I want you to sit tight and don’t do anything! I should be there in 20 minutes. Tuesday, 28 Dec., 2021, 7.29am (Bob to Kandis; (I realize the s*** about my accounting irregularities is about to hit the fan, and prepare to get out of Dodge]: Kandis, A family matter has arisen, and I need to take some time off to handle the situation. I’ll let you know more in a couple of days. -Bob 37 minutes later (Kandis to Brad): Brad, Below is the email I received from Bob today [the 7.29am email], I thought I should let you know, Please find the attached receipt as requested, Let me know once the transfer has been processed. Thank you, Stay safe and well Kandis Gilmore Attached to this email was the following. This was fascinating – they glommed onto the real Insect Biodiversty lab in South Dakota, and had my address at my other job! Donation Receipt Date: 07/22/2021 Donor Name or Business: Pacific Coast Entomological Society (PCES) Contact Person: Robert L. Zuparko Donor Address: 1170 Valley Life Sciences Building, Berkeley, CA 94720-3112 Phone: (510) 643-0804 E-Mail: Cash Donation – Amount $2,850.00 Service or Purpose Donation – (PCES) Scholarship & Awards Program The Coleopterists Society c/o Insect Biodiversity Lab Box 2207A, SAG 361 Brookings, SD 57007 Donations are tax deductible as allowed by law. (23-7319132) Invoice Ref#: COLEOPT4706421 Coleopt: presidentt@presidencymail.info Phone: (201) 308-3552 C/o Beneficiary: Cynthia Liles Bank Name: PNC Bank Account Number: XXXXXX6105 Routing Number: XXXXX0096 1 hour later (Brad to Kandis): Kandis, Sorry to be so blunt about this, but the shit has really hit the fan. Last night I got an email from Nate Vandenberg, who is Bob’s intern or something (see email thread below). Bob had asked him to shred some files and to make a long story short, I went over to the office to check out the situation. Well, it was bad. Bob evidently has removed the files pertaining to the IRS investigation from this past spring, and he was asking Vandenberg to shred the Fibonacci file, which suggests that Bob is getting worried about anyone taking too close a look at all those trips he’s been taking – I think he went to the Barbados THREE times, just this year alone. I saw the Financial summary for November he prepared for you, wherein he listed $175K for travel and $33K for “incidentals” JUST FOR THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER ALONE. God dammit – he didn’t even bother to try to hide his excesses. So we need to do a couple of things quickly. I don’t want to get the cops involved yet, but first thing we need to do is to shut down Bob’s access to files. I don’t have the authority to keep him from the building, but I was hoping you could ask him to meet with you in person up at Sonoma State this afternoon. I suggest you tell him that you need to have a face-to-face with him about the Slosson fund, which I know is a pet project of his. This will give me a chance to go over all the files here to see what may be missing, and secure everything. There is a security company I’ve worked with before that deals with just this type of problem, and I’m hoping to get them in here by 1pm. Of course we’ll need to inform the Board, but I was rather hoping to postpone that until after I’ve had a chance to assess just what damage has been done. I also hesitate to bring this up, but because you authorized Bob’s trips, you may wish to think about reviewing your own files and communications with Bob, just to ensure that nothing sticks to you. Of course, I personally believe that you never acted questionably in this matter, but we have to be cognizant of the possibility of outside authorities combing through all of records, and they assuredly will not in the mood to granting any of us ANY leeway whatsoever. Let me know if you have any questions, but we have to act quick to stem this thing. 12 minutes later (Brad to Kandis; attached was the exchange of the 6 emails between Brad and Nate on the previous night): Kandis, Here is the email thread that I had with Bob’s intern last night. -Brad 1 hour 4 minutes later (Kandis to Brad; it was actually quite touching to see Kandis stand up for Bob): Brad, I’m worried about what’s going on with Bob also I am unaware that the travel expenses is up to $175k and $33k for incidentals that’s a lot, I do not want to jump into conclusion that Bob has some hidden agenda, I’ve know him to be a man of dignity this is a sensitive matter and we need to handle it scrupulously and not to accuse anyone yet, if you recalled I did mentioned that Bob might be going through some personal issues, We do not need to make thing worse for him right now, Do not get the cops involved yet until we get hold of him, I’m out of office until until 3rd January, hence I will not be able to meet up with Bob, But I will keep in touch with him to find out what is really going on with our finances, I do review my file often so nothing whatsoever stick to me, I’m trying to get hold of him I will let you know once I find out anything, Would you still be able to make the payment today? Please let me know. Thank you, Stay safe and well Kandis Gilmore 4 minutes later (Brad to Kandis & Nate; again establishing Nate’s bona fides and making excuses why it’s not business as usual): Kandis & Nate, A call for Bob came through that was transferred to me. It was from a Mr. Luigi Fercotti (spelling?) who said it was vital he speak with him. I have no idea who this guy is. Do you recognize this name or what he might be calling about? Normally I wouldn’t bother you with something like this, but everything’s going crazy today, and I’m running around just trying to keep a lid on things, so any insight you could offer would be appreciated. -Brad 16 minutes later (Nate to Brad & Kandis): Mr. Louis, Gosh, no – I’ve never heard of him before. But I’ve only been working for Mr. Zuparko for 3 months, so there’s a lot of things I’m still unfamiliar with. Do you want me to call him back and ask if there is a message? You’ll need to send me his phone number. Sorry I couldn’t be of more help. -Nate Vandenberg 1 hour later (Brad to Kandis; I was nervous about whether Kandis would get suspicious when I had Bob arrested … but it didn’t faze her. Back in high school, we looked down upon the small town of Milpitas, mostly because of the odor from a nearby water treatment plant): Kandis, Well, I just heard some news on Bob. Evidently he was arrested for Drunk and Disorderly in Milpitas about an hour ago. What the hell was he doing in Milpitas of all places? This of course is not great news, but there is an upside – at least he apparently didn’t try to hurt himself or anyone else, and a D&D charge isn’t one that should reflect on the PCES or our finances. So it could have been a lot worse. I’m going down there now to see if I can bail him out. I see no reason why the press might be interested in such an arrest, so I’m hopeful we can keep this low-key. -Brad 2 hours later (Nate to Kandis; providing confirmation that Brad left for Milpitas and therefore can’t handle usual business): Dear Ms. Gilmore, My name is Nate Vandenberg and I am working under Mr. Zuparko. Mr. Zuparko is not in the office now, and it looks like Mr. Louis has left as well. Mr. Louis asked me about a Mr. Fercotti. I’m afraid I didn’t recognize the name, so I couldn’t help him. Anyway, they both seem to have gone now and I’m the only one left here, and I’ve finished the tasks that Mr. Zuparko asked me to do. I don’t have a phone number for either Mr. Zuparko or Mr. Louis, and neither of them have responded to my emails. I saw that you were cc’d on the last email I had from Mr. Louis so I was wondering if I might ask you if you think I should go home now. I know it’s only 1.15 pm, but my cat is a little sick and so I’d like to get home to see her, as long as I don’t have any work to do here. Yours sincerely, Nate Vandenberg 22 minutes later (Kandis to Nate; Kandis is really kind and considerate, isn’t she?): Dear Nate, Best, Stay safe and well Kandis Gilmore Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2021, 11.07am (Nate to Kandis; I had Nate use TWO email addresses for Kandis: the one used by the scammer, and the one for the REAL Kandis, as I figure it is time to end this. Yes, “Kandis” accepted the D&D arrest, but I thought it 50:50 whether she would buy the tale I was about to spin. In any case, once she saw that Nate was cc’ing to another email address for Kandis, I figured she’d drop everything and run): Dear Ms. Gilmore, Well, gosh, there was some excitement here today. When I got in, both Mr. Zuparko and Mr. Louis were here and they were having words (Mr. Zuparko looked terrible). Mr. Zuparko was saying that Mr. Louis was angling for his job and Mr. Louis was shouting something about the Fibonacci file. Then Mr. Zuparko went in his office and came back out with a gun and started waving it around and he SHOT Mr. Louis in the leg! He then went back in his office, and one of the secretaries called security and they came up and they called the police. The police told us to go down to the parking lot and a little while later we saw the police take Mr. Zuparko away. Mr. Louis didn’t look like he was shot too bad, but an ambulance came and took him away too. When they took him out they passed right by me, and he told me to tell you what happened. I don’t have your phone number, so I’m emailing you instead. There seem to be two email addresses for you and I wasn’t sure which one was better, so I decided to send this to both. So sorry for the extra one, but I’m still a little nervous, I guess. So, this has been something, let me tell you. Nate Vandenberg 2 hours later (Kandis to Nate; how about that, she bought the tale! AND she hung around, insisting that we use only the one email address for her!): Dear Nate, Thank you, Stay safe and well Kandis Gilmore 5 minutes later (Kandis to Brad; she is REALLY hoping to get some $$$ out of all this): Hi Brad, Best Wishes, Stay safe and well Kandis Gilmore 1 hour 25 minutes later (Nate to Kandis; I was wondering if Kandis would try to get money from Nate as well, so I included some bait in the form of PayPal): Ms. Gilmore, Sorry, I have no idea where they took Mr. Louis. They took him away in a regular ambulance – it wasn’t from any specific hospital or anything. I mostly have access to the financial files, but Mr. Zuparko was training me on bank deposits and PayPal stuff. -Nate Vandenberg 17 minutes later (Kandis to Nate; great, she took the bait!): Okay, Paypal should be easy, all you need when sending paypal payments is the recipient email address, Do you now have access to Paypal? Let me know. Best, Stay safe and well Kandis Gilmore Thursday, Dec. 30, 2021, 9.16am (I have been keeping the REAL Kandis Gilmore in the loop, and we have decided that it is now time for her to join in the conversation in this email to Nate which was cc’d to the “Kandis” email address): Hello Nate, Sorry for my delayed response, I was traveling back home from visiting family for the holidays. I’m sorry this happened and I’m glad you are safe, but I am quite puzzled about this second email address you have for “me”. <president.executive21@gmail.com> is not an email account that I use. Have you been corresponding with someone through this email address? Where did you hear that was my email address? Thanks again Nate. Hope you are well. Kandis 2 hours later (Nate to Kandis & “Kandis”; I was hoping the misspellings would generate a feel of authenticity to Nate’s response. “Omicron” was the latest COVID-19 variant that was just making the news at that time): Ms. Gilmore, Sorry for the delay – but yesterday was really eerie. First there was what happened with Mr. Zuparko – after they took both Mr. Zuparo nad Mr. Louis away, the police closed down the office as a crime scene. So I went home early and my cat was still sick so I took her to the vet where they told me she had feline lukemia. So I just got into the office now – I’m SO sorry I was late getting in, but I had to go to the drug store this morning to get some medicine. Gosh, I’m also sorry about the email address mixup. I think I got one email address from an email sent to me by Mr. Louis, and I got the other email address from another email that you sent out last week about early closures of the office for Christmas and New Years. I’m sorry, but I seem to be messing up everything today. Do you still want me to make a PayPal payment? Like I said, Mr. Zuparko had started to train me on that, but I never actually did one on my own, so I’m a little nervous about getting it right. I don’t think Mr. Zuparko is coming back soon, so maybe I should wait until Mr. Louis comes back? Someone said he is still in the hospital and that everything is slow there because of the Omicron, so I don’t know how long that will take. Nate Vandenberg 24 minutes later (“Kandis” to Nate; note the inconsistency in the spelling of “Harvey”] Dear Nate, Thank you, Stay safe and well Kandis Gilmore 1 hour 30 minutes later (REAL Kandis to Nate & “Kandis”): Dear Nate, It sounds like you have been going through a lot. I’m sorry to hear about your cat, and I hope the treatment is successful. You are mentioning a PayPal payment, but I do not know what you are referring to? Can you please give me more context before you authorize any payments? With Dr. Zuparko’s absence I’ll have to pay more attention to our finances. Sincerely, Kandis 37 minutes later (Nate to “Kandis” & REAL Kandis): Ms. Gilmore, Mrs. Kubelick asked me to run an errand, so I just got back to the office and found your message. So I think I made the payment OK (but to tell you the truth, the PayPal webpage is a little confusing to me). But I think it went OK. -Nate Vandenberg 15 minutes later (Nate to “Kandis” & REAL Kandis): Dear Ms. Gilmore, Gosh, I’m getting confused here. Like I said, I just got back from running an errand and saw your message from 11.53am asking that I do a PayPal payment to Hervey Oates for $950. So I tried to do that right away. But then PayPal messaged me back with an error message, I guess you’d call it. I looked at your email again and saw that you asked I make the payment to “Hervey” Oates, but the email address you sent me read “Harvey” Oates. So I apologize, but I guess I put the wrong name in. But now you say you don’t know about this? I’m sorry, but I’m just not understanding what’s going on here. There are people in the office talking about post-traumatic stress syndrome after seeing Mr. Louis get shot. I thought I was OK, but I guess maybe I’m not? I think I better talk with Mrs. Kubelick about this. Nate Vandenberg 4 minutes (REAL Kandis to Nate & “Kandis”): Nate, I order you to immediately Stop Payment on any and all invoices until this can be sorted out. I see that I have been impersonated by someone using the “Kandis Gilmore <president.executive21@gmail.com>” to solicit funds fraudulently from dubious PayPal addresses. I know you’ve been through a lot lately and encourage to to take time for your self. I repeat, do NOT send any PayPal payments until we can sort out the details. I do not want us to be the victim of fraud. Thank you Kandis Curtain POSTSCRIPT I was grateful to the real Kandis Gilmore, who let me run my game as I chose, and then generously helped out on the last day to provide a way for the PCES personnel to “discover” the scam at the very end. I borrowed a lot from the previous scam. I was planning on using the uprise of the Omicron variant to postpone things, but it turns out I didn’t need to. I also used “Luke” as Brad’s nephew … forgetting that in 2020 he had been my nephew. But I was pleased that it was the young, green intern Nate who first noted the discrepancies of Kandis’ email addresses, and not the more experienced Bob or Brad. Admittedly, I was also impressed that when “Kandis” had to produce a receipt, she referenced the Coleopterist’s Society in South Dakota (a real organization), indicating that they were able link to another entomological group. I also thought that as soon as Nate discovered the duplicate email addresses for Kandis, the scammer would pick up and run. But I was mistaken – they kept at it up until the last minute – that is persistence! I did contact the Federal Trade Commission about the attempted scam, but didn’t expect much from that. Hope you all enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed playing the game. Oh, and I have never been to the Barbados, just to Bermuda (that’s my story at least and I’m sticking to it). Proceed to Index
5 minutes later (Kandis to Bob):
1. Do you have the recent financial statements, have you look into our budget lately
2. Could you please provide the expenses spreadsheet for 1-3 months transaction summary
I reviewed the budget a few weeks ago. I notice we have unpaid expenses that need to be disbursed. Kindly advise if you will be able to initiate bank transfer or PayPal today, I would appreciate it if you could send the financial report at your earliest convenience.
Warmest Regards,
Department of Biology
Sonoma State University
1801 E Cotati Ave.
Rohnert Park, CA 94928
I hope you had a great time in Barbados, [Don’t worry, I would have, had really been there !]. You can send the financial report from November at your earliest convenience, Could you please advise if you will be able to make PayPal or bank transfer payment for the (PCES) sponsorship program today or Monday? I understand why you had to make those payments in your name, Kindly advise if I should send the payment instructions.
Yes, I would advise you to go home and take care of your sick cat, since you’ve already finished with the tasks Mr. Zuparko asked you to do, also your cell and home phone number so I can send it to Mr Louis should any of them need to contact you, Please make sure all the doors are locked, enjoy the rest of your day.
Thank you for keeping me posted, what happened today is terrible, I hope Mr Louis gets better. I’m worried about Mr. Zuparko. No one really knows what is going on in his mind, do you know where Mr Louis has been hospitalised? I doubt you have any access to (PCES) finances? Please keep me posted on how Mr Louis is progressing. I hope he gets back on his feet soon.
PS: All future correspondence regarding Mr Louis and Mr. Zuparko including (PCES) finances should be sent directly to this email.
Nate sent me an email about what transpired between you and Bob, I hope you are getting better, Please let me know if you need anything and keep me posted on how the situation is, I hope things get better between you both and I wish you a speedy recovery.
I hope you were able to get the medicine for your cat, there’s beem some mixup with my emails but it’s been sorted now as stated in my previous email all correspondence should be sent to this email regarding financials I do not use the other email often. always send email separately, hopefully Mr Louis get back on his feet soon so he can train you more on how to attend to emails without complications, Could you please transfer $950 via paypal to (harveyoates32@gmail.com) Hervey Oates, Let me know once payment has been sent.