Paul Thomas
Complaint 19860 Details

He posted an ad on Craigs List looking for a part time assistant. I applied and I was “hired”. He called me to say he was going to be sending me an email with my duties, that he was in England, and that we would meet when he was back in a couple weeks. He emailed me with some tasks that I was going to do, like organizing his paperwork, making travel arrangements, etc., along with purchasing supplies for a charity he supports. He then called to say that the orphanage he supports had a sick child that needed surgery and that he was going to send me money to forward to them. I was a little suspicious, but thought since he had talked to me and send the other information, that it was going to be OK. On Tues 8/16/11 2 money orders of $918 each arrived by Express mail from a David Malana at 22 Chapel St, in Brooklyn 11201-1902. I was to forward the money to his contact, supposedly at the orphanage - RECEIVER: MARTIN KUYE ADDRESS: 1000 AYALA AVENUE CITY: MANILA STATE: MANILA COUNTRY: PHILIPPINES ZIP CODE: 1250 I sent the money by Western Union on Wednesday 8/17/11. Late that evening I received an email from him stating that they now needed more money sent to the “orphanage,” and that it was to be sent in 2 transactions of $2000 each from a different location. He also asked me to check on hotel reservations for two of his clients. The morning of 8/18/11, a Fedex overnight package, tracking # 7950 8955 0241 arrived from Aleck Bennett, Acorn Media South, 1163 Mill Ridge Drive, Lawrenceville, GA 30045. I now felt very uncomfortable with all of this and told him I was not going to do ANYTHING else for him, that I was sending the money orders back where they came from, and that he was no longer to contact me at all. He was very upset and told me that “a child's life was in the balance.” I told him that if a child 's life really was in the balance that it would be on the doctors' conscience, and that I was through. He then told me to forward the money orders to Kathryn Simerly, 5221 11th Ave NE, Seattle WA 98105, which I did. I still had a feeling that I had been used, and my suspicions were confirmed on Wednesday 8/24/11 when I received notice that the money orders had been returned.