I was scammed on Poshmark. $1,800 later…

Photo by Jp Valery on Unsplash

“Your account balance is below $25.”

That happened sometimes. I would see my parent's accounts do that when they made a transfer, so I wasn’t concerned that Saturday night as I sat at Starbucks.

I walked into my house and my father instantly asked me why I had taken out $1,800. My account was in the negatives and that notification was meant for me. My heart sank and my thoughts raced with confusion. It took only a few minutes for me to realize my mistake.

A week prior I had received a comment on a dress I had posted on Poshmark. “Email me @…”

Eager to sell the dress, I emailed them and asked if they were interested in the dress. They replied yes and asked questions regarding the condition of the dress, and I replied quickly saying it was brand new, tags, and all.

I found it suspicious that this wasn’t on the Poshmark app, why did they have to email me? They said that they would send me a check in the mail for the dress because they couldn’t cash it themselves. Their story was long and persuasive; persuasive enough for me to cash a check for $1,800.

But I didn’t tell anyone what I was doing. The biggest mistake of my life. I clearly didn’t think what I was doing would make me lose money. How could it? They gave me a check, and then I had it cashed and sent back the money with the dress they bought. No worries, right?

The check sent was a cashier’s check. Once it was processed at the bank, they realized it was fraudulent and took the money out of my account. And by the time this had occurred, the money I sent to the scammer was gone.

When I think about the mistake I made, it’s easy to see exactly where I went wrong. I believed a lie and just didn’t think much of it. I had no idea that was even how checks worked, and I was dumb enough to let that mistake cost me most of my savings.

I did go to the police, but it was easy to see that after they recorded all the information, nothing really could be done.

“We see this a lot,” the officer said to me. “Just be careful and don’t ever sell something off an app that’s not on the app.”

This whole situation made me stronger, and more money hungry. It also made me realize not to do sketchy things on the internet.

When our parents say don’t talk to strangers they really mean it.