My 18 year old was scammed out of 3K on her first day as intern

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - update. The company decided to reimburse her almost the full amount ((90%). They sent her company computer equipment and had her uninstall the programs they had her put in.
And surprisingly, she is still going to be paid by the hour. They are trying to make her whole so she is a very lucky girl.
I came home yesterday to see a huge pile of ripped open gift cards on the dining table. She was organizing them in case the police follows up on her report. The sight was kind of shockingly cinematic, like a scene from a drug bust where all the booty is piled up dramatically below a pendant light. Seeing the physical items is much more visceral than hearing about it and I couldn't help but wonder what was going through her mind when she was ripping this stuff open. I asked her and she said she just kept wondering when the boss would pay her back.
At that point, it occurred to me that because job came from someone in our social circle, that also led her to relax her guard. It might also have compelled her to comply with the elders in her social circle. Ugh, at least she wasn't led into joining a cult.
To all the naysayers who can't believe a fresh high school graduate could snag an internship, I would almost have agreed and only a month ago thought summer opportunities were pretty much closed out.
My kid is going on a funded gap year program in Asia and the company has a lot of interest in the Asia market which is probably why they are interested in working with her.

They are interested in her because she will travel to Asia in the future? Lady you and your daughter are both not smart.

Why is she being reimbursed if she has the gift cards in her possession?

Obviously she gave the scammers the numbers in the gift cards. For these scams, do you think people are sending them the physical cards? That would be a pretty big tip-off, no?

But if the whole story is "buy these gift cards to give out to our employees" then why would she give the scammers the numbers?

She thought the scammer was the CEO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - update. The company decided to reimburse her almost the full amount ((90%). They sent her company computer equipment and had her uninstall the programs they had her put in.
And surprisingly, she is still going to be paid by the hour. They are trying to make her whole so she is a very lucky girl.
I came home yesterday to see a huge pile of ripped open gift cards on the dining table. She was organizing them in case the police follows up on her report. The sight was kind of shockingly cinematic, like a scene from a drug bust where all the booty is piled up dramatically below a pendant light. Seeing the physical items is much more visceral than hearing about it and I couldn't help but wonder what was going through her mind when she was ripping this stuff open. I asked her and she said she just kept wondering when the boss would pay her back.
At that point, it occurred to me that because job came from someone in our social circle, that also led her to relax her guard. It might also have compelled her to comply with the elders in her social circle. Ugh, at least she wasn't led into joining a cult.
To all the naysayers who can't believe a fresh high school graduate could snag an internship, I would almost have agreed and only a month ago thought summer opportunities were pretty much closed out.
My kid is going on a funded gap year program in Asia and the company has a lot of interest in the Asia market which is probably why they are interested in working with her. [u]

No. Just no.

What's wrong with Asia? It's a huge market over there. China is probably the one country propping up LVMH.

[Anonymous]

100% her fault.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - update. The company decided to reimburse her almost the full amount ((90%). They sent her company computer equipment and had her uninstall the programs they had her put in.
And surprisingly, she is still going to be paid by the hour. They are trying to make her whole so she is a very lucky girl.
I came home yesterday to see a huge pile of ripped open gift cards on the dining table. She was organizing them in case the police follows up on her report. The sight was kind of shockingly cinematic, like a scene from a drug bust where all the booty is piled up dramatically below a pendant light. Seeing the physical items is much more visceral than hearing about it and I couldn't help but wonder what was going through her mind when she was ripping this stuff open. I asked her and she said she just kept wondering when the boss would pay her back.
At that point, it occurred to me that because job came from someone in our social circle, that also led her to relax her guard. It might also have compelled her to comply with the elders in her social circle. Ugh, at least she wasn't led into joining a cult.
To all the naysayers who can't believe a fresh high school graduate could snag an internship, I would almost have agreed and only a month ago thought summer opportunities were pretty much closed out.
My kid is going on a funded gap year program in Asia and the company has a lot of interest in the Asia market which is probably why they are interested in working with her.

Leaning toward OP (or someone impersonating OP) has breaks from reality...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:100% her fault.

Agreed. I would have had the audacity to ask the company for a refund on something they were clearly not at fault for. I am still perplexed why OP thinks they were at fault at all.

That said, people here are vicious. I can totally understand how a young and inexperienced person could fall for such a scam in the midst of a stressful and hectic day. This is a good reminder that we need to educate ourselves and our kids about such scams and not just assume they will be immune in all circumstances.

[Anonymous]

How did your kid have access to 3 k?

[Anonymous]

I mean…this is no different than if she had fallen for the Nigerian prince whojust needs a nice American to help him get a bank account and will give you a million dollars in thanks.

Being an adult sucks sometimes. Being a naive adult sucks worse.

Her boss can’t save her from herself. Land that helicopter and accept that this mistake will cost her about 5 weeks of work. I’m sure she’ll be more careful next time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How did your kid have access to 3 k?

My kid has made $3k-4k every summer since he was 16.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:100% her fault.

Agreed. I would have had the audacity to ask the company for a refund on something they were clearly not at fault for. I am still perplexed why OP thinks they were at fault at all.

That said, people here are vicious. I can totally understand how a young and inexperienced person could fall for such a scam in the midst of a stressful and hectic day. This is a good reminder that we need to educate ourselves and our kids about such scams and not just assume they will be immune in all circumstances.

Morally and ethically, the company is responsible, not the intern. The scammers posed as the CEO, she thought she was doing the right thing. If she were not at the company, she would not have responded to some rando.

It's good the company is making it right (mostly). That's what they should be doing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:100% her fault.

Agreed. I would have had the audacity to ask the company for a refund on something they were clearly not at fault for. I am still perplexed why OP thinks they were at fault at all.

That said, people here are vicious. I can totally understand how a young and inexperienced person could fall for such a scam in the midst of a stressful and hectic day. This is a good reminder that we need to educate ourselves and our kids about such scams and not just assume they will be immune in all circumstances.

Morally and ethically, the company is responsible, not the intern. The scammers posed as the CEO, she thought she was doing the right thing. If she were not at the company, she would not have responded to some rando.

It's good the company is making it right (mostly). That's what they should be doing.

Anyone can pose as the CEO of any company. If an employee is gullible enough to fall for it, the company is responsible? You can't be serious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:100% her fault.

Agreed. I would have had the audacity to ask the company for a refund on something they were clearly not at fault for. I am still perplexed why OP thinks they were at fault at all.

That said, people here are vicious. I can totally understand how a young and inexperienced person could fall for such a scam in the midst of a stressful and hectic day. This is a good reminder that we need to educate ourselves and our kids about such scams and not just assume they will be immune in all circumstances.

Morally and ethically, the company is responsible, not the intern. The scammers posed as the CEO, she thought she was doing the right thing. If she were not at the company, she would not have responded to some rando.

It's good the company is making it right (mostly). That's what they should be doing.

I guess in that case, the country of Nigeria owes many elderly Americans a lot of money.

[Anonymous]

The question all these opinions poses is - does an employer have a responsibility to protect an employee?
I'm not sure of this if the employee is the sole beneficiary of this protection, but if the employer is benefiting too, then yes.

If I was an employer, I would not want my employees to randomly click an attachment originating from outside the organization and subjecting the company to ransomware. I would have regularly updated security filters and periodically squeeze 15 minutes of IT security talk into staff meetings. Which are exactly what I have gotten at my mid-size and large corporate job experiences.
What happened to this kid could have happened on a company computer and instead of a 3K scam, an innocent "welcome" pdf that's actually a virus that costs much more than 3K to clean out of the company server. The worse scenario is holding the company server ransom.

One could argue that protecting the employee is protecting the company.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - update. The company decided to reimburse her almost the full amount ((90%). They sent her company computer equipment and had her uninstall the programs they had her put in.
And surprisingly, she is still going to be paid by the hour. They are trying to make her whole so she is a very lucky girl.
I came home yesterday to see a huge pile of ripped open gift cards on the dining table. She was organizing them in case the police follows up on her report. The sight was kind of shockingly cinematic, like a scene from a drug bust where all the booty is piled up dramatically below a pendant light. Seeing the physical items is much more visceral than hearing about it and I couldn't help but wonder what was going through her mind when she was ripping this stuff open. I asked her and she said she just kept wondering when the boss would pay her back.
At that point, it occurred to me that because job came from someone in our social circle, that also led her to relax her guard. It might also have compelled her to comply with the elders in her social circle. Ugh, at least she wasn't led into joining a cult.
To all the naysayers who can't believe a fresh high school graduate could snag an internship, I would almost have agreed and only a month ago thought summer opportunities were pretty much closed out.
My kid is going on a funded gap year program in Asia and the company has a lot of interest in the Asia market which is probably why they are interested in working with her.

Leaning toward OP (or someone impersonating OP) has breaks from reality...

Almost certainly. It's either that or a troll, but the tone seems off for a troll.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The question all these opinions poses is - does an employer have a responsibility to protect an employee?
I'm not sure of this if the employee is the sole beneficiary of this protection, but if the employer is benefiting too, then yes.

If I was an employer, I would not want my employees to randomly click an attachment originating from outside the organization and subjecting the company to ransomware. I would have regularly updated security filters and periodically squeeze 15 minutes of IT security talk into staff meetings. Which are exactly what I have gotten at my mid-size and large corporate job experiences.
What happened to this kid could have happened on a company computer and instead of a 3K scam, an innocent "welcome" pdf that's actually a virus that costs much more than 3K to clean out of the company server. The worse scenario is holding the company server ransom.

One could argue that protecting the employee is protecting the company.

It is nice if they are able to afford absorbing this loss financially. They are not morally obligated but this kid was very lucky. I hope the OP teaches her to own up to her mistake instead of blaming the company. I would not want to keep someone on payroll who had a tendency to avoid personal responsibility for doing ridiculous things.

It would also be nice if the US government/IRS could pay back all its citizens when they get scammed by fake IRS calls. After all they could not have fallen for a scam by some rando had they not been a part of the system. But the fact of the matter is that not all entities can absorb these damages. I still do not see how the company is at fault. OP seems to blame her daughter’s use of her own personal device, as well as installing company software. What has this got to do with anything? Also, does OP expect the company to filter out all external emails? How does one do business with people outside the company then? I think it’s wise to slap a warning on all external emails but I honestly don’t think this would have prevented the OP’s kid from falling for this scam.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do college students really get full remote job offers?

YES