Pirates and Thieves - Work At Home (and other scams) During the Time of Covid

 "The number one rule of thieves is that nothing is too small to steal" - Jimmy Breslin

I love this quote because in a time when most have nothing left to steal, the thieves of the world will simply steal time. 

That is, of course, the minimum providing we don't fall for the fake HR paperwork and give them our social security numbers and banking information for the paycheck that we will never see.

In the first 30 days of quarantine, I was solicited by scammers 15 times - and one almost got me. All was quiet for awhile, but as we enter into the holiday season, 

I have been a Virtual Assistant for more than a decade. So, during the lockdown, I turned to Zip Recruiter, Indeed, LinkedIn, Hire My Mom, Remote, Career Builder, and Glassdoor to look for work.

Scammers from ALL these companies found me. Some from companies I had not posted my resume' with found me as well.

In almost all cases, the scammers simply hijacked an existing company that is easily Googled and researched. Once you have established that this is a legit company, you (if all goes as planned) respond to their email with interest.

They will then request you interview with them via Google Hangouts or Whats App. This is your first red flag. 

Here's a screenshot from an actual email I received with some other red flags to look for:

In addition to the above, if a company offers to pay you an "advance" on your salary or offers to pay a huge amount of money for "home office set up", this should also be treated as suspect. Sometimes a company will try and gather your banking info to make a deposit into your account, and then rob you.

Sometimes, they will send you a check and then ask for the "balance" returned to them. Shortly after you've sent them the balance or return of over-payment, your bank will notify you that the check  you initially received was fraudulent and now you are suddenly at the center of a money laundering investigation when all you were trying to do is find some work.

If you fall victim to one of these scams, you will have very little recourse. Most of the scammers are from other countries and extremely difficult to track down.

There has also been an increase in click baiting people with false job offers, leading to confusion and frustration.

Some even tell you you have an interview with a company, and if it's a company you applied to, or you are using a hiring agency, you may show up to meet a very confused hiring manager who has no idea who you are.

Some of these look kind of like this:

What flax seed has to do with anything is beyond me unless you applied to be a flax seed salesperson.

Here's a few ways to determine if a work from home opportunity is legitimate.

1) The email should come from a company account, or provide a direct link to the company's website.

2) There should be a company phone number. If it doesn't match what's on the website, call the number and ask to speak to their HR department or hiring manager and confirm they contacted you.

3) They will schedule either a phone or face-to-face(or face-to-Facetime) interview. Not Google Hangouts or Whatsapp.

4) Search for employee reviews of the company. They can save you a ton of time and aggravation.

5) Make sure the job description has a clear outline as to what the compensation is. If they leave it blank, or if the range is 32k-180k a year, it's a good indication that it might be an MLM (aka pyramid scheme) or commission only position. 

6) If they agree to hire you without an actual interview, or offer you a much larger than normal salary for the position for which you are applying, be skeptical. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. 

Here's what you can do if you come across a scammer:

In most cases, you can "report" a job opening. There is usually an option to choose "scam or spam".

In the case of LinkedIn and "recruiters" who find and solicit you, you can right click on their profile and choose "report". Here's a screenshot from a scam account I reported so you can see where to find that option.

When in doubt, look for the company's physical location and (again) direct email and phone number to reach out. 

I emailed a company I knew existed, but doubted the job opportunity and they were super grateful I brought the ad to their attention. Who knows? They may even remember you when they are actually looking for new employees. 

And while this scam may not be about employment, it's one that I'm seeing more and more.

I received the below text immediately after making a purchase on Amazon, so I thought it might be legit. 

Once I logged in (ugh, I know. It got me), I was prompted to enter in a bunch of personal information and also information having nothing to do with my account directly (they wanted my phone carrier information and personal pin for my phone as well as my full social security number).

So while I recognized that it was a scam, I recognized it after "logging in" and therefore had to change my password and notify Wells Fargo immediately.

I also changed my Amazon password as it was pretty suspect that I received the notification right after a purchase. But damn, it looked real. 

When in doubt (and be doubtful of most things until we are in more secure times) call. Call the employer, call the bank, call Amazon - whoever reached out to you. Set up 2-step verification where applicable. I know it's a pain in the ass, but it's better than being robbed. 

Stay safe out there!

Myka Stauffer Is A Garbage Person - But Not For The Obvious Reasons. (And So Is James)

The obvious reasons being the adoption, exploitation and then abandonment of her son (I will not be using his name or photo in this blog post at all, but will refer to him as "H"). 

I will also not be sharing links to her videos as I don't think she should make one more fucking dime off of them.

However, if you're not familiar with this story, you can read about it here: Garbage People Make Money Off Of Special Needs Child, Then Put Him in Foster Care and Still Keep Making Money Off Of Him

I'd like to say that there have been many cases of children being "returned" after being adopted and I am not commenting on my feelings about all that. 

But, in this case, I'd like to comment as a mother of a child with Autism and other special needs.

This shit is hard. 

It. Is. Hard. Not being able to give your child the help they need is not a crime. Sometimes, the family does not have the means or resources and have to opt for a therapeutic foster home or residential care. 

That has to be a heartbreaking and very personal decision and is in no way the same thing as what Myka and James did. 

I gave birth to my child and did not have the advantage that Myka and James had of knowing what his needs and issues would be beforehand. I wish I had. It would have have been great to be able to have a plan in place to meet those needs.

Myka is also a registered nurse. Girl, if a nurse in a mansion can't handle it, then we're all fucked. 

But, like a lot of parents (adoptive and biological), I went through the long and difficult process of evaluations, meltdowns, IEP meetings and sleepless nights before we began to unravel my kiddo's mysteries.

The reason the Stauffer's are garbage people is that they highly publicized the adoption process which gained them tens of thousands of new subscribers (subscribers that didn't hop on board when they tried homeschooling and going vegan). 

They monetized these videos and asked for donations which I don't have an issue with (the donation part), except for the fact that she is clearly well-off and living in a nearly million dollar home. 

Her YouTube channel's net worth for the month of June is over $160,000. So, she clearly financially gains from using her children as revenue. 

Again, do you know what I could do with $160,000 a month?? It would be more than buying a new pair Golden Goose  sneakers for $500. Myka also posted a video stating she didn't want to pay the $500 a month for H's therapy while wearing a $6,000 watch.

Even though H is no longer part of her family, she continues to leave up and monetize videos with him in them. 

That is reprehensible. She may be a sociopath. I dunno. 

Myka routinely posted videos of H having what she called "meltdowns". Biiiiish. You have no idea. Now, it's possible that we weren't seeing the worst of it, but the videos she posts to gain sympathy are most likely what she thinks will get her the most of that.

H was actually acting like a toddler. Because he was three. I did not see one major tantrum in any of these video clips. Myka stated that he bites, kicks and hits. Ya know, like a three year old. 

I should also mention that H was 3-4 years old and willingly doing chores. Mine is 11 and I'd drop dead of shock if he took it upon himself to do a damn chore. 

As far as their treatment of H, they were garbage on top of garbage. James frequently complained that H always wanted to eat and "stared"at James while he was eating which drove him "crazy".

Myka duct taped H's thumb so he'd stop sucking it for comfort. 

She and James used this child, who was suffering with Autism and Adoption Trauma  to gain followers and to make money.

In addition, her biological children lived with H as their brother for two years before he was "re-homed" (which is a fucking gross use of that word for a human being). She gave birth to another son after they adopted H who has never known life without him.

How are they supposed to recover? 

I'm sure the trip they took to Bali after she unloaded H into the foster care system helped take the edge off. 

When subscribers stopped seeing H in the Stauffer's videos, they demanded to know where he was. In a crocodile tear filled video, Myka and James claimed they gave him to a new home based on advice from doctors (Yeah, ok. A doctor told you to put your 4 year old up for adoption because he has Autism) and H's own request to be re-homed. Your non-verbal child requested to go into foster care? Sure, Jan.

And even if he did say he wanted to go to a new family, my kid does that on the regular. That doesn't mean I drop him off at the fire department. You don't let a 4 year old decide his whole life. 

So, you may be asking what the point is of this blog besides raging.

Nothing. Not a damn thing. 

I'm furious. 

You do not "return" children.

You do not use children as revenue.

You do not use international or special needs adoption as a prop for your Vlog.

And you most certainly do not get to say it's too hard while wearing $500 sneakers in your mansion. 

Mentally Ill Doesn't Mean Less Credible

Last September, after the hospitalization of my son, I suffered a “nervous breakdown” (whatever that means) and was admitted to a psych facility for three days myself.

On my third day, a young girl was admitted who had been found unconscious, in a CVS bathroom, after overdosing on Fentanyl. 

Video footage showed she had come in with a man, and because she was found undressed and the person she’d come in with stole her car and left her there, she felt she had been raped and demanded a rape kit in the emergency room. 

They didn’t do one.

On day two she demanded it again. Again she was denied, but told her they would do one when she was transferred to where I was.

On day three she was transfered and ,during intake, she asked about the rape kit and filing a police report and she was told they don’t “do that here”. 

Because the evidence would no longer be viable after three days, she panicked. She was told she had to shower, and when she refused, she lost “privileges” for not complying with her ADLs (Activities of Daily Living). This meant she could not use the phone when she asked to call the local rape crisis number.

She told me they weren’t taking her seriously because she is bipolar and also an addict. She checked herself out, called an Uber, and went to the nearest police station.

I can’t even imagine going through all that in a 72 hour period. It’s horrible.

If she had not been a patient in a psych unit, she may have been taken seriously. 

Society loves to be magnanimous when it comes to people who are mentally ill. It’s “just like diabetes” after all. However, if a person with diabetes claimed to have been assaulted, we wouldn’t suggest her low blood sugar made her imagine it. 

While there is a perception that mentally ill people are more likely to commit crime, the research shows the opposite. People with mental health issues are almost three times more likely to be the victims of violence.

According to the NCBI, “The popular belief is that people with mental illness are more prone to commit acts of violence and aggression. The public perception of psychiatric patients as dangerous individuals is often rooted in the portrayal of criminals in the media as “crazy” individuals.  A large body of data suggests otherwise. People with mental illness are more likely to be a victim of violent crime than the perpetrator.[1] This bias extends all the way to the criminal justice system, where persons with mental illness get treated as criminals, arrested, charged, and jailed for a longer time in jail compared to the general population.”

In my own life, it was (is) a common occurrence in my relationships (and some friendships and even family relationships) to not have my needs or experiences validated.

If there is an issue with a partner or family member, I found that they were less likely to compromise (because THEY don’t have the problem) and any upset, tears or yelling was automatically attributed to having mental health issues. 

No argument can ever be won.

Statements like “did you take your meds today?”, or “you need to get a new therapist, this one’s not doing anything for you”, are demeaning and frustrating because a person who feels like there is an issue to be addressed has no resolution, which actually will make their issues worse.

Feeling unsupported and unheard can negatively affect typically functioning people. It is all the more difficult when you have a mental illness.

Can you imagine thinking you hear an intruder, or feeling like someone at work doesn’t like you, and having the person you talked to about it chalk it up to you just being “crazy”? 

If a person’s mental illness makes perception hard for them, how does it help to dismiss them all the time instead of helping them sort it out?

If they say they were the victim of a crime, that needs to be taken seriously. Given the statistics above, it is more, not less, likely that they actually were victimized.

Perpetrators rely on their victims not being believed.

Having a mental illness does not make you a less credible person. It can make you a more sensitive, reactionary, fearful or introverted person, but it should have zero bearing on how you should be treated.

If you want well people, treat people well. 

Suffering from mental health issues is exceedingly lonely. Connection, friendship, community and love are vital to all human beings. Practice kindness. The world is hard enough. 

Just because you don’t have a label doesn’t mean you’re emotionally or mentally perfect. Each of us have moments of madness. For most, it passes. For some, it doesn’t. 

It costs nothing to be kind. 

Here’s a really good link which addresses common myths about mental illnesses. https://www.mentalhealth.gov/basics/mental-health-myths-facts

Sour Diesel - A Nerd's Journey

About three weeks ago, out of seemingly nowhere, I stepped down and felt a blinding, white hot pain in my ankle. It felt like a nerve frayed and exposed while it's sizzling electrical threads blew in the breeze.

As much as I tried to manage the pain, it seemed to spread all the way up my leg, landing at the Hoover Dam of it's power source located in my lower back.

Fucking Sciatica.

I am not a doctor. However I was a massage therapist for many years. Before that, I was a medical assistant and billing specialist. 

I have taken Anatomy, Physiology and Pathology three times. I have a bulging or herniated disk (who knows which one because my insurance wouldn't pay for the MRI without 6 months of "conservative treatment" first but that's another story.) 

So, I am at least familiar with sciatica. 

Who knows? I may have been abducted by aliens and the nerve was damaged during experiments.

*Note* Full disclosure, I smoked right before writing this.

Unless you've been living under a rock, or are Jared Leto, you've been painfully aware that everything and everyone is now cancelled because of Covid19. 

This also means that doctors have very limited availability if you come down with a run of the mill illness or injury. 

After three days of being laid up on the couch in wracking pain, no doctor's office with availability for new patients, and being too much of a coward to take the Gabapentin I have for fibromyalgia, I decided to call a dispensary. 

Disclosure: Recreational marijuana is legal in Nevada where I live. However, I do have a Medical Marijuana card from Pennsylvania where I visit often. 

I'm covered either way. So, chill out narc.

I called a local dispensary, talked to someone for a bit, and within 2 hours, I had a delivery of Sour Diesel brought right to my door.

I am not a pot smoker. I have actually had 2 bad experiences in the past with panic and paranoia from smoking, so I figured it just wasn't for me. I literally thought there was one kind of weed. 

I read the label on my vape oil and it said "Sour Diesel".  I had literally no idea what that even meant. I turned to the interwebs for more information. Sour Diesel has many wonderful properties. It can enhance focus, help with pain, increase energy and support creative thinking. Because I already take Lexapro for anxiety and depression, I was less afraid of the panic I'd experienced in the past.

Another fucking disclaimer: When I got my MMJ card in Pennsylvania, I had to see a doctor a few times first. I was taking Lexapro then as well and my doctor told me it was safe to take both. I moved to Nevada before I could even visit a dispensary there because the process in PA took more than a year.

Check with your doctor if you're taking medication first please. Do your research. Call a dispensary. Don't get in trouble.

I started the slowest a human being can possibly start without just leaving the vape pen in the bag. Holy hell. I took one puff with the battery on the lowest setting. Apparently, concentrates can hit you harder, because I felt "something". 

It was extremely subtle.  But the pain subsided and I was able to walk for the first time in almost a week. 

I went out for a walk. Yes, yes, I practiced social distancing. Jesus Christ.

I repeated this dose every 4 hours.

Day two I took slightly more. Two puffs. I noticed my vision got way clearer. Like, focused. I was super interested in details. I stared at shit a long time, fascinated.

Here's some actual event footage:

I went for a walk again. In fact, I have been walking about a 1/2 mile to a mile a day since I started using marijuana. The pain is manageable and on most days, I can move normally. The positive effects it's had on my Fibromyalgia has been a pleasant bonus. 

I will see a doctor as soon as this quarantine is over (I know the weed is not a cure) but in the meantime, this is helping me tremendously without side effects and without dependency. I use what I need for the day and, according to my family, I don't seem stoned in any way. There is no "couch lock" and no panic or paranoia at the doses I am taking. 

It did make me hungrier though. 

And because I just wrote that, I am now starving.

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk. 

Oh! If you'd like to support legalization in your state, check out Norml.org for ways to be an advocate for cannabis reform.

The Keepers of the Stardust

“Nobody can do for little children what grandparents do. Grandparents sort of sprinkle stardust over the lives of little children.” -- Alex Haley

Recently, amidst COVID-19 panic, Lt. Governor Dan Patrick suggested that grandparents should be willing to die for the long term recovery and benefit of the economy.

As abhorrent as that is, there were people who defended or even agreed with the statement.

I thought I'd lost my faith in people when I saw a 12 pack of toilet paper online for $385. As the lock downs continue, I am finding new ways to lose my faith.

I will not give give Dan Patrick, or anyone who feels the elderly are expendable, any more of my words. 

I want to tell you what my grandparents were to me. I invite you all to comment and tell the story of the important elders in your own lives.

My maternal grandparents were a safe haven for me. I was being abused, we were poor, my parents' relationship was volatile, and we moved every year.

At my grandparent's house I was safe. There was enough food. At Halloween, my grandmother made me costumes that sufficiently hid the fact that my parents couldn't afford one. 

My grandfather picked me up from school and allowed me to stop for secret candy that we made oaths to never tell my mother about. 

They sprinkled stardust all over my childhood. 

I had new back to school clothes because of them.

I learned the capitals of all the states because of them.

I learned how to balance a checkbook (back when we had them).

I learned that mothballs and lavender will keep mice away.

That you can turn several slivers of soap into a new bar.

That motherhood is an exclusive club.

Vicks VapoRub  and Robitussin will cure anything. 

How long to cook a turkey.

That onions frying in a pan will fool your family into thinking dinner's happening when you have no idea what you're making.

Latch hook.

Crocheting. 

That you leave your Christmas tree up until Epiphany and never put the baby Jesus in the manger until Christmas Eve.

That you never cross a picket line. 

How to get the lumps out of mashed potatoes. 

Never open an umbrella in the house.

That life is short and try "not to get so upset".

Every day I think of them. Their hard lives. The poverty they grew up in. The difficulties they faced of which we cannot comprehend. 

Our elders are warriors.

They deserve our care, our love, and our respect. Dying alone in the ICU so that resources are available for others in one of the wealthiest countries in the world is a horrifying thought.

They have already taken too many for the team. 

A quarter of a million children in the United States under the age of 1 live with a grandparent.

30% of physicians in the U.S are 60 or older.

Our lives are dependent on each other.

We need to protect them like they protect us.


As we grow old…the beauty steals inward - Ralph Waldo Emerson

#Covid19 #coronavirus #danpatrick #pandemic