rSlash - r/Bestof Mom Stole My Identity and Racked Up $6,000 Debt

Episode Date: November 24, 2024

0:00 Intro 0:09 Credit card 3:11 Background 9:16 Van life 14:30 Landlord Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After decades of shaky hands caused by debilitating tremors, Sunnybrook was the only hospital in Canada who could provide Andy with something special. Three neurosurgeons, two scientists, one movement disorders coordinator, 58 answered questions, two focused ultrasound procedures, one specially developed helmet, thousands of high-intensity focused ultrasound waves, zero incisions, and that very same day, two steady hands. From innovation to action, Welcome to r slash best of Redditor updates, where OP is being scammed by her own mother. Our next Reddit post is from r slash credit score.

Long story short, I applied for a job for my last year of school which required a background check. When I found out that I didn't get the job a couple of weeks ago, I wasn't too shocked as I was sure lots of people applied for the spots. What did shock me was when I got a letter on Tuesday from the employer which said that information on my credit may have been used against me. It then listed a charged off account and multiple missed payments on my account. I've never been even a day late in my life for the one credit card I've had since I

was 18. When I went to pull my credit, I saw the charged off account, which looks like it was last updated in June. Immediately, I figured out my credit had been stolen and I called my mom. She said that if I didn't open the account, just to ignore it and if I get sued, tell the judge an unknown person stole my identity. That didn't make any sense to me as anyone could say that about anything whenever they get sued.

When I told her I was probably going to talk to the cops about it, she said that I wouldn't want those people in my life. My roommate said it sounded like my mom opened the account and she doesn't want to get in trouble for it. I was able to speak to someone in the fraud department for the card and they got me some information about it. It involved several cash advances from an ATM about a block away from my mom's house, along with a couple of stores in my hometown.

I told my mom about all that and I asked her to come clean. She refused and got mad at me for accusing her of stealing my identity. Finally, I told her that I'm going to call the cops about it and she blew a gasket saying she needed the money and to mind my business. She said that I can't call the cops because they might revoke her probation felony battery charges from last year and she might end up doing time and county." Then, one month later, OP posted an update. I ended up filing a police report for identity theft. The day after I did it, I got a call from

an investigator and we talked for about 20 minutes. We also talked a little about the job I applied for, which is federal, and he said their background investigator would definitely be pulling his report for the identity theft. Because of that, I decided to go through with the charges. Last week, the investigator called me back to confirm that I'd be willing to testify against my mother. Though he didn't think that it would come to that and it would likely end with a plea. I told him that I would Yesterday my mom got arrested on her way home from work I feel like she's going to snap like she's never snapped before on me when she gets out of jail probably later today

I don't plan on answering the phone. OP I'm proud of you for standing up for yourself But mostly I'm proud of the employer most of the time when you apply for a job and you don't get it, they just ghost you. You'll never hear from them again. This employer not only told OP that she didn't get the job, but also was like, hey, you might be a victim of credit card fraud. You might want to check that out. What a couple of bros. Our next Reddit post comes from Ask a Manager.

I started a new position recently and I was promoted quickly to a management position. Great! I have a long supervisor background and I'm looking forward to helping in a wider capacity. One of my direct reports is a very conscientious and ambitious young man named Scott who I found pleasant to work with. Last week during a normal conversation about a project, Scott brought up that he had done a background search on me and then asked me about an arrest on my record. It was some insurance snafu that led to a driver's license snafu. And when I was pulled over for a normal traffic stop in a rather conservative county, I spent a night in lockup.

Which was both humiliating and illuminating. This is not immediately Googleable. I gave it a try myself after he brought it up, and some of the specific details he used leads me to believe that he went to one of the publicly available background report sites and paid the nominal fee to obtain a detailed report. His question was framed as follows. I'd been doing some research, and I wanted to clarify what happened in X state because it wasn't clear if the arrest was in X state or Y state. I currently live in Y state, but

there's nothing easily found that links the two without paying for it. In the moment, I answered truthfully that these items were more than a decade ago and they were the result of a particular set of circumstances. I then excused myself from the conversation and returned to my office. The longer I think about it, the more weirded out I am. Scott would like to advance and I feel like a follow-up conversation is definitely warranted. But I'm struggling with an approach aside from, hey, you super violated a boundary for me and that'll go over like a ton of bricks if you do it with future managers.

To be fair, this is an overtly aggressive office culture and asking to explain your professional background in a fair amount of detail to coworkers and employees is par for the course. But while I understand that having a background check run by the company during the hiring process, I'd like to keep my personal background personal. Okay, this to me, you guys, it reads like blackmail. I think Scott is trying to let OP know that he knows what he thinks is dirty information about OP,

and he's trying to hold it over OP's head so that he can, I don't know, get a promotion or time off or something. And it's just not working because it didn't really come across as blackmail, it came across as just creepy. Anyways, five years later, OP posted an update. Scott was indeed a younger employee and deeply convinced of the superiority of his own intellect and gender. He had a five-year, ten-year, and fifteen-year life plan with ambitious goals.

Unfortunately, this was coupled with no more sense than God gave a goose. His previous work experience in an unrelated field left him with the impression that it was absolutely reasonable to deeply examine the people around him but then verify his findings through research. Scott was intensely interested in my career experience and how I progressed in the field. Coupled with his desire for promotion and deeply flawed perceptions about reasonable follow-up questions, this led to a rather extraordinary situation that I wrote in about. Armed with the knowledge that Scott was about as intuitive as a pile of bricks, I was planning a follow-up conversation the next time that we worked together.

He beat me to the punch when he asked me again about the information that he had found as soon as I approached his desk. This time, whoa, this time he had a copy of my arrest photo pulled up on his screen. I reacted much more decisively this time, telling him to close the browsing window immediately and pulling him into my office for a one-on-one conversation. Looking back, I think I used the phrasing given in the advice almost verbatim about work boundaries and everyone deserving privacy. Scott was mostly confused by this response.

In his view, it was perfectly reasonable to look for deeper information about almost anyone. His rationale behind asking me about what he'd found was he wanted to alert me this information was out there. I told him that it was unacceptable behavior and demonstrated incredibly poor judgment that he would dig this far into any colleague, much less his manager. Then to bring it up multiple times. The company completed background checks for every employee. If they proceeded with the hire, one would assume that nothing relevant was in the report. I also let him know that this was such an egregious situation

that we would be documenting both conversations and issuing a write-up. And this endangered his future with the company. After I had some distance from this situation, I genuinely believed that Scott was an incredibly intelligent person demonstrating that anyone can be an absolute idiot. Did I document the situation in detail? Absolutely. Did I discuss this with HR and my

boss? Absolutely. And my boss was ready to fire Scott. HR was flabbergasted and incredibly helpful in how they handled the situation. My documentation plan was supported with the agreement that Scott was on his final chance. Did Scott get promoted into another position? Not while I was there! After this incident, he did demonstrate and earn his desire to improve as a team member and make amends. We parted on decent terms. Alright, this is pretty crazy behavior.

We've all, I don't know, looked up a coworker on Facebook, you know, Googled someone's name. That's normal. But to pay for your boss's mugshots is bonkers. Let me just take a picture of your face so I can cross-reference it with an AI search that scans the video of every single video on the hub to see if you've made any adult content because I need to know who I'm working next to. Yo, relax buddy. Our next Reddit post is from r slash relationship advice. My ex boyfriend and I were van-living across country.

He kicked me and all my stuff out last week. I am now two states away from him and I have his dad's watch. He's demanding that I deliver it to him. So yeah, we were both remote workers and decided that we could van life and see things while still working. We lasted about a month until last week he flipped out over the way that I sipped my coffee and told me I had to leave. I thought he meant like we would pack up and figure out how to get me home.

No, he meant I needed to get out with all my stuff in the middle of the state park in New Mexico and figure it out on my own. I was scared and pissed, so I hurriedly packed everything and got out. A very nice older couple heard the screaming and saw me with a pile of my stuff and asked if I needed help. I said yes and they said that they would drive me to Albuquerque in their RV and we could figure out what would happen next. Well, it turns out they're the sweetest people ever and we eventually came to the conclusion

that it'd be easier for me to travel with them home to Kansas and now they've allowed me to stay with them, paying them an insanely fair amount for rent and food. I just have to edit the wife's book and help the husband with his guitar playing. Well, it turns out that in the hurry of packing, I grabbed my ex's watch that belonged to his dad. I got in touch with him and told him I was sorry it truly was an accident and I had no intention of keeping it. How would he like me to get it to him? He said that I needed to meet him in Utah.

I said that was ridiculous, I could send it to him. He said that it was too valuable to trust a mail or FedEx and it needed to be hand delivered. I said I was in Kansas and not coming to Utah. But that I would return the watch to his brother when I go home in March. He said no, the only solution was for me to drive it to him. I said, I don't even have a car. He said, you're probably screwing half of Lawrence, use one of their cars. At that point, I blocked him.

The watch is pretty valuable and has a lot of sentimental value and I will return it. It was my oversight that I have it in the first place. What are my obligations to follow his instructions to get the watch back for him? Then one week later OP posted an update. Well I got lots of mixed advice, but most people said the best option was to contact his brother. Before I did, I decided to unblock my ex just to give him one more chance to give me an address where I could ship the watch.

This is the actual text conversation. Hey, I'm sorry I blocked you. I just didn't appreciate the insults, but I want to get your dad's watch back. Can you let me know where to send it? I'll pay for shipping, no problem." Then 30 seconds later… I stashed the watch in your bag because I wanted to prove to myself what an awful person you are and good job at proving me right again.

I was like, wow, so many people in the original post said that he probably put the watch in my stuff as I was packing in order to force communication and force the opportunity to see him again. Well, you were exactly correct. I didn't even respond to his text and I blocked him again. I have no intention of keeping the watch, so I decided it was time to contact his brother, who along with his wife has always been very nice to me. He was super appreciative and we spent a couple of days going back and forth figuring out

the shipping, but the watch arrived to him on Friday and all is good. The brother even Venmo'd me $1000 for being so honest and for contacting him. I make really good money, so I told him it wasn't necessary at all, but he insisted, so we agreed to donate it to a food pantry here in Lawrence. But I'm still so creeped out thinking that on the day when he kicked me out of the van and he was screaming at me calling me all sorts of names, he was scheming to stay in touch with me. He was slamming all my stuff into bags, but that was cover for him hiding the watch.

The fact that it was so deliberate, yet he thought of it so quickly, is so scary to me. We got along so well before we left, and he always seemed like such a great guy. I don't know if the confined space of the van is too much for any couple couple or if it brought out a side of him that I didn't know was there. Makes me sad and scared at the same time. But I am relieved that it's over. I like this comment. So he framed you to prove to himself that you were awful and he's dumb enough to fall for his own frame job? I really, truly can't wrap my head around how stupid he must be. Down in the comments, people are talking about how scary it must be for a woman to be left on the side of the road like that. And yeah, it really is. But the thing that I can't get over that I see in this story and lots of stories on Reddit is how you can have a totally normal

relationship. You're happy, your partner's happy, and you've been happy together for like five years and then all of a sudden you sip coffee wrong and the guy just goes ballistic. I mean, is every relationship just one bad day from going up in flames? Our next Reddit post is from r slash LegalAdvice. I moved out of my apartment on June 30th after two years. I checked my resident portal yesterday and saw that my landlord charged me over $5,000 for meth remediation, along with about $1,500 and other replacement charges related to the remediation, like painting and carpet. I was shocked considering I never used drugs in this apartment.

I drove to the complex to speak to the onsite manager and she told me that when they did the final walkthrough, there was suspicion of drug use. However, the document provided to me of my final notice has an Images for Charges section and they did not attach any images. They performed a contamination test and the test was positive. So they hired a company that came to the property and did a remediation of my unit. So slightly relevant, about a month before I moved out, the tenants below me were arrested and charged for meth trafficking. They had interesting visitors at all hours of the day

and night, and I assumed they were using the drugs in her apartment as well based on her behaviors that I observed. I asked the lady who works for the landlord to provide me with the result of the contamination test that was performed before I moved into the unit, and she said they hadn't performed that test. So I don't believe that they've ever tested the unit before now. Information I was able to find online from reputable websites claimed that meth residue stays on surfaces for at least five years, so the meth could have been there before I even moved in. So what should I do? Then OP posted an update. Three days before collections were about to start charging me,

I found my current attorney. She doesn't advertise handling landlord tenant cases, but I was desperately leaving voicemails for every attorney in town at this point, and I told her that I'd pay whatever her fee was just for her to hear my situation. It was Sunday, and she came into the office to meet with me in person. Our consultation was three hours. I cried many times. And she got increasingly angrier at the actions of the property management company. She reviewed all the evidence I'd gathered and sent a demand letter to the property management the next day referencing many of the documents I'd provided. The letter also demanded that I be refunded about two thirds of my deposit and prevented

them from being able to send me to collections. About a week later, I received a phone call from my attorney informing me that the company had removed all the charges from my account, and I'd be receiving the check for my refund in the mail within 10 days. And that's exactly what happened. And the lawyer only charged me a $300 flat fee for everything, even though her normal fee is $700 bucks an hour. That was r slash best of redditor updates, and if you like this content, be sure to follow flat fee for everything, even though her normal fee is $700 an hour.