Tech Lease Group

Victim Location 44240

Total money lost $10,000

Type of a scam Employment

The email I received asked me if I was interested in an employment opportunity for a project manager position. The company offered to pay me $93,000 annually if I completed the proper interviews and a paid training/screening process. I completed a legitimate looking application for the position and submitted it. They invited me to participate in a phone interview to see if I qualified for the screening process. I spoke to a woman named "Shay Mills." I have had several phone interviews and this felt like a somewhat typical phone interview. The next day I was offered to participate in the training program. They said that by participating in the one-month training program I would earn $2,500. I accepted the offer to participate in the training program. Then i started receiving emails from my training coordinator name George Price. George gave me several detailed emails regarding the process of the training program and made me sign a detailed official looking employment agreement. It even had provisions for arbitration. I was told that I would be considered a 1095 employee of Tech Lease Group for the the training period and I would receive my payment at the end of the training process. They sent emails with case studies for me to complete. The case studies started out to be very easy and educational. The assignments actually got harder as time progressed. In the middle of the training process, they thought I was doing a good job so they decided to give me an opportunity to earn a little extra money during the training. They asked me to buy gift cards from either Best Buy or the Apple Store so that they could buy equipment for their new office. They told me that they wanted to save time by giving me access to one of their bank accounts so that I could use my personal credit card to make the purchases. They sent me detailed information via email that made the operation look safe, legal, and secure. The documents they sent were aimed to calm concerns regarding the use of the personal credit card for the purchases. They offered me a 10% commission for the money on the gift cards that I purchased and they limited the purchase order to $16,000.00. I felt that this was a needed break considering I have been struggling like hell to keep my finances in shape and I have been borrowing money from my parents to help with living expenses. Well after successfully purchasing $10,000 worth of gift card money, my credit card company withheld the money from a withdrawal that I made. I figured that there were auditors that found the use of the personal credit card suspicious since I had previously maxed out that same credit card and was now suddenly making large payments on it. What I failed to realize was that this whole operation was really one giant well organized scam. They were making me dig a hell hole for myself to be pushed in. The money I used to pay my credit card was either stolen or non-existent. The worst part is at the end I became responsible for paying back all the money used to purchase the gift cards. I seriously thought I had an opportunity to make a good living doing something that helped people find meaning and purpose. Instead I spent three weeks of my life chasing after my own financial despair.