From Charity Case to Med Spa Date

Summary

Scam Goddess — “From Charity Case to Med Spa Date”

Host: Laci Mosley
Co-host: Priscilla Davies
Release Date: October 6, 2022
Episode Theme:
An uproarious, secrets-spilling “Con Fessions” episode where Laci and Priscilla read and hilariously dissect listener-submitted stories about scams witnessed or survived—from the dirty tricks of nonprofit fundraising to wild med spa insurance frauds.

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Episode Overview

The main theme of this episode is exposing and laughing through the underbelly of everyday scams, especially those hiding in plain sight in “legit” institutions like nonprofits and trendy med spas. Laci and Priscilla read listener letters, sharing absurd anecdotes, giving advice, and riffing on the realities of working in shady organizations—all with their signature irreverent comedic style.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Nonprofit Scams Exposed

Listener Letter: Balthazar
Segment Start: 01:49

• The Realities of Nonprofits:
  • Nonprofits often serve as vehicles for the wealthy to launder money, shelter reputation, and avoid taxes.
  • Hosts acknowledge that while some nonprofits do good work, large organizations often have boards with high salaries and reduced transparency.
• "Random" Raffle Winners:
  • Raffle winners are not chosen randomly; staff select winners based on likelihood of future big donations, not fairness.
  • Regular folks—derided as “normies” or “ugly poors”—have zero chance against the rich.
• Silent Auction Manipulation:
  • Fake bids are used on virtual auction platforms to artificially drive up prices. Sometimes this backfires on staff themselves!
• Matching Donation Myth:
  • Nonprofits claim a “matching donor” will double your gift, but in reality, the matching money was already given—they’re just leveraging it as bait.
• Advice for Donors:
  • Donate to small, local mutual aid groups—“If you can pull up on them, then don't give them your money.” (05:21, Laci)
  • Large charities like the Red Cross or Salvation Army are often not the most effective or ethical choices.

Memorable Quotes:

• “Nonprofits, as you know, are a scam to launder money and reputations of the rich...” (01:59, Balthazar’s letter)
• “Once you start hoarding wealth, shit be free. Ain’t that wild?” (07:12, Laci Mosley)
• “If you can't pull up on them, then don't give them your money.” (05:21, Laci Mosley)
• “Ms. Red Cross, she gotta run it up that red pole and spread it out across that T... we don't even know if the girlies are gonna get water.” (04:13, Laci Mosley)
• “Perhaps the most common scam I've seen across nonprofits is the matching donor scams.” (12:47, Laci quoting Balthazar)

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2. The Gifting Suite & Absurd "Charity" Products

Segment Start: 07:25

• Celebrity Experiences:
  • Laci recounts attending celebrity gifting suites and the weird custom of brands swapping free products for photos.
  • Awkward encounter: a jewelry maker used spent police/military shell casings as ornaments, claiming to support veterans’ charities—prompting discomfort about glorifying violence.
• Insight:
  • The rich get more for free and are courted with bizarre “charity” products.

Memorable Quotes:

• “Hold the lip balm up. Hold it up to your face. Lacey loves this lip balm. It's so weird.” (07:27, Laci Mosley)
• “She was like, ‘Each piece of jewelry has a bullet fragment from...’ and I was like, can she see that I'm Black?” (08:33, Laci Mosley)
• “Is it crack?” (09:35, Priscilla Davies)

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3. Med Spa Employment & Insurance Scam

Listener Letter: Dottie
Segment Start: 18:41

• Red Flags in LA Med Spas:
  • Dottie gets a job at a medical spa through Craigslist (“First red flag. I know sometimes you can get an… I was about to say.” 18:47, Priscilla)
  • The spa tempts customers with "free" personal training, which is secretly billed to insurance as medical appointments.
• The Scam Mechanics:
  • Clinic burns through insurance-covered appointments, then dumps clients once their “benefits” run out.
  • Employees sometimes race to the bank on payday so their checks don't bounce.
• Fraud Aftermath:
  • Trainers stopped getting paid; Dottie herself is targeted by the IRS for unpaid payroll taxes.
  • Turns out, the boss issued fake W2s and never paid taxes for employees.
  • Dottie saved herself by faxing every single (fake) paystub to the IRS as evidence.
• Broader Insight:
  • Individual-level medical billing fraud preys on both employees and insurance holders.
  • Employees must be vigilant: “If you work for a shady company, keep the receipts if you know they're shady because you don't want the IRS... we need ours.” (27:12, Laci Mosley)
• Practical Takeaway:
  • Always check your insurance billings—fake claims can use up your coverage or hike your deductible by listing expensive fake procedures.
  • Scams hurt regular people twice: stolen benefits, and IRS/civil liability.

Memorable Quotes:

• “Sometimes you get paid, sometimes you run from the shovel man. That’s Craigslist.” (19:17, Laci Mosley)
• “You had three back surgeries back to back to back.” (31:46, Laci Mosley)
• “Turns out, my old boss faked all of our tax documents... I even had a W2 that I found out later was fake.” (27:33, Dottie’s letter)
• “How do you fax, like, random napkins and shit? Like, how do you get that through the machine?” (30:22, Laci Mosley)
• “You don't want these state sanctioned hands, okay?” (32:40, Laci Mosley)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• “We judge the hell out of you. Just for fun!” (00:16, Laci Mosley)
• “It's like getting a church when you're rich, and just being like, oh I opened a church, or whatever, which I do plan to do.” (02:33, Laci Mosley)
• “Find a local food bank, go on their website, get what they need, bring it, drop it off. Donate water or, you know, donate money to causes that are local. A cause you can pull up on.” (04:57, Laci Mosley)
• “That's what you get.” (11:17, Priscilla Davies, regarding bosses caught by their own fake bids)
• “They were all trying to deposit, and they all had separate checks that I didn’t understand... they were literally fighting, like, get out of the way, bitch. I’m getting paid this week.” (22:55, Laci Mosley)
• “If you watch Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible and you’re like, yes, that’s me every other Friday, this is an issue.” (29:39, Laci Mosley)
• “Uncle Sam lets the chopper sing, you know?” (32:28, Laci Mosley)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [01:49] – Listener email about nonprofit scams (“Balthazar”)
• [06:39] – How raffles are rigged against “regular” donors
• [07:25] – Laci’s gifting suite story and police shell jewelry
• [12:47] – Matching donor “scam” explained
• [18:41] – Listener email about med spa insurance fraud (“Dottie”)
• [22:31] – Employees racing to cash bouncing checks
• [25:53] – IRS contacts Dottie; fake W2s exposed
• [31:16] – Priscilla’s warning about checking your insurance charges

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Flow & Tone

Laci and Priscilla keep the conversation fast, loose, and joyfully critical. Their banter is full of sharp jokes, pop culture references, and raw honesty. They dismantle the myth of “good” institutions, always rooting for regular, everyday people outsmarting the system—or at least not getting run over by it.

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Conclusion & Takeaways

• Be Vigilant: Whether donating or working, always question the practices of big organizations.
• Protect Yourself: Save all documentation if you suspect shady business—especially pay stubs, W2s, and bills.
• Give Local: Help causes you can physically “pull up on” for real community impact.
• Check Your Benefits: Carefully monitor your health insurance statements for fraudulent claims.

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As Laci says:
“If you work for a shady company, keep the receipts... You don’t want the IRS... we need ours.” (27:12)

And finally—congregation, as always: “Stay schemin’!”

Transcript

[A]

Welcome. Welcome back to Con Fessions. Yes. This is the podcast where we read your listener letters about scams that you've done or just maybe witnessed.

[B]

Or we're done to you.

[A]

Or we're done to you. You know, and we judge the hell out of you. And, you know, just for fun. It's just fun and games here in

[B]

the most positive way. As always, snitch on your friends and [e-mail] Exactly.

[A]

And I'm one of your. Priscilla Davies.

[B]

And I'm your other host, Lacey Moseley. And we're here. What? This is, like, the most chill my voice, I think has ever sounded on a podcast.

[A]

Maybe you're just growing into a new person.

[B]

My NPR era.

[A]

Hey, that could be a thing.

[B]

Oh, my goodness. How are you doing today?

[A]

I'm doing fantastic. You know, we had a time last night, you and me. Well, it was actually two nights ago.

[B]

Yeah, but doesn't it still feel like last night?

[A]

Yes. My body says that.

[B]

Oh, my gosh. We went to a day party, y'.

[A]

All.

[B]

Not a. It was very lit and very cute.

[A]

It was so lit.

[B]

And nobody, like, got in a fight?

[A]

No.

[B]

Place didn't get shot up.

[A]

No.

[B]

No knifings at all. You know, a great night.

[A]

It was packed.

[B]

It was. But it was outside, so, you know, we was dead outside. You know, we were all still breathing that fresh LA smog.

[A]

It's the only kind of smog I like, right?

[B]

Better than Covid. Baby, listen, we used to complain about the air quality. Then Ms. Rona got in the air, and I was like, well, this air, I guess, is killing us slower. All of a sudden, them city buses start smelling right. I was like, oh, yeah. Put that exhaust pipe in my mouth. Okay, I'm taking this too far. All right, let's get it popping. Let's get started here. We have a letter here. I need a fake name for you,

[A]

P. Let's call this person Balthazar.

[B]

Balthazar. Wow. Just fits so easy in the mouth. Gonna love saying that so much.

[A]

Balthazar. Sorry.

[B]

So Balthasar says, so I used to work in a nonprofit, fundraising for many years in parentheses. Nonprofits, as you know, are a scam to launder money and reputations of the rich and feed multi billion dollar industries with a fraction of the money the rich should actually be paying in taxes. But I digress. I know that's right.

[A]

Well, I'm just gonna jump in here, Baltazar, and say, I actually didn't know that. I didn't know that. I thought there's some nonprofits were legit.

[B]

I mean, all of them. They gotta give something to the people.

[A]

But throw some crumbs.

[B]

When you hear nonprofit, you think like, oh, nobody's making money over here. It's all about altruism and charity. When in truth, nonprofits have boards. Everyone on that board usually takes a salary. Some of those salaries can be really exorbitant. Obviously, a nonprofit shells you from having tax responsibilities. So it's like getting a church when you're rich and just being like, oh, I opened a church, or whatever, which I do plan to do. And we will have service, y'.

[A]

All.

[B]

Okay? It's gonna be via. It's gonna be via Skype.

[A]

I will be on the deacons board.

[B]

Listen, I'm gonna get you your white gloves, sis. Cause it's gonna be a moment, okay? And I'm gonna call in from Skype, wherever I'm at, and that's how we gonna have service. Okay?

[A]

Oh, that's a win. I mean, tell a. What do we call it? Telechurch. Telehealth.

[B]

Telechurch.

[A]

I don't know.

[B]

Yes, right. Y' all have heard of BetterHelp, your online therapy. We doing Telechurch. Okay. Okay. Now, I know that there's already, like, they broadcasted the service, you know, with the preachers, and then it be an audience. No, no, no, no. I'm talking bare bones.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Okay. We're literally just gonna be on Zoom.

[A]

I'm gonna be on TikTok. These I'm sending out here. Okay.

[B]

And now I'm registered as a church. Okay. But I'm gonna send y'.

[A]

All.

[B]

Y' all TikTok. Cause I'm like, you don't love God. What's wrong with you? Hey. And then we do a dance, and that's. That's your worship for the day. I think that's enough.

[A]

I'm. I'm with it.

[B]

We writing it off period, so, you know, you can write off these. So a lot of nonprofits do a lot of good, but a lot of them don't. You know what I mean? And, like, the larger they get, the more problematic they get, because it's too many hands. It's too much money. That's why if anything happens, like, in your neighborhood or there's a local tragedy or whatever, even if it's not local to you, but you wanna donate. Like, usually national disasters and stuff like that, people go straight to the Red Cross. But, like, the Red Cross ain't really that girl to be given the coins. To go find the local mutual aid that's in that area and give the coins to them because it's gonna get to the people faster. Ms. Red Cross, she gotta run it up that red pole and it spread it out across that T. Okay. And you know, we don't even know if the girlies are gonna get water. We don't know if you know.

[A]

Yeah. Red Cross is just a straight up disaster.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Them and like the Salvation army, all of them, Right.

[B]

It's like once they got so big. Oh, don't let that little Jangalang lang man. Cause you know it's about to be jangalang lang season for Salvation Army.

[A]

You mean Santa?

[B]

That fucking home invader in the red suit. That bitch. Jangalangalanging.

[A]

Yes. Yes.

[B]

Yeah, don't give your money to the Salvation Army. Also, I'm pretty sure they have some problematic support that they be doing. So we really don't give our money to the Salvation Army.

[A]

Yes, that's true.

[B]

Find a local food bank, go on their website, get what they need, bring it, drop it off. Donate water or, you know, donate money to causes that are local. A cause that you can pull up on. Like, if it's a cause where you could do a drive by, you could spin the block and you see the cause.

[A]

If you see what you don't like and you can just spray with that many questions, then yeah, that's where you need to put your money. Right.

[B]

If you can't pull up on them, then don't give them your money. Okay.

[A]

If they're too big, I wanna pull up on em.

[B]

Right. If they got headquarters, if you gotta do some biometrics and bring an ID

[A]

and corporate number, it's a problem.

[B]

Nah, you need to be able to just like, hello, charity. Yes.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

That's how you know your money. Going somewhere?

[A]

Charity for charity. Yes.

[B]

Okay. And I love that. So love, love this. Bal bizard. What a great intro here. So it says one of the places I worked often held fancy events that typically included a raffle and auction. Whenever we sold raffle tickets, we wouldn't pick a winner until after the event. Tickets were sold virtually, so we knew who bought what. After the event, we would look at the list of raffle ticket buyers and just pick someone that we wanted to win without randomly drawing a. Sometimes it was just whoever bought the most tickets, but other times it was more strategic decision based on if we thought that they'd be more likely to give us a larger donation in the future if they won. Ooh, people didn't have to be invited or attend the event in order to purchase raffle tickets, so the organization would promote it on their social media, too. However, if you were a. Excuse me, if you were a normal in quotes, slash, not rich person. If you were an ugly poor, a dirty poor, a normie with a regular

[A]

bank account, Are you a nine to fiver?

[B]

Yuck. Are all of your bank accounts on US soil? Disgusting. So if you were a normie poor who happened to buy a raffle ticket, you were never going to win. See, that shit is rigged, bro.

[A]

Yeah, and this is a non profit. Like, damn.

[B]

And then in parentheses, bout to start. Says, I often felt gross about this and refused to promote the raffle to my friends and family. Okay, at least you weren't letting your friends and family get scammed. But I do get why you would feel gr. This is company policy. But it's like, this is how it goes when you're a regular person versus if you've hoarded a bunch of wealth. Once you start hoarding wealth, shit be free. Ain't that wild? Like, they give you more free shit when you've got money than when you don't have money.

[A]

100%.

[B]

I went to a gifting suite recently, which is a very interesting experience, and part of it is, like, you go in, they have a tour guide for you, and they take you around to all these different tables, and then you. They give you free stuff, but in exchange, you have to take a picture with it, right? And so it's like this lip balm you've never tried. And they're like, hold the lip balm up. Hold it up to your face. Lacey loves this lip balm. It's so weird. There was one place I didn't take pictures everywhere, and now I know that I can just say, no pictures. So if I drop a toe next time, I'm not, because, like, how can I endorse something that I just got? I don't know what. You know what I mean? Y' all could be doing racism. Y' all could be having GMOs where they don't go, what? I don't know.

[A]

Right, right.

[B]

So this one lady we walk up to. Oh, my gosh, it was the most unhinged thing. We walk up to her, and she's like, oh, I make this jewelry. So she has all these, like, beads and bracelets, and, you know, it's given qvc. And she's like, yeah. So each piece of jewelry has a bullet fragment from or a shell casing from a bullet that was Discharged by a police officer or someone in the military. And when I tell you exactly what your face just did, I, like, I jumped.

[A]

What the fuck?

[B]

I was like, can she see that I'm black? Do I need to come out as a black?

[A]

Why?

[B]

Let me tell her real quick.

[A]

Hey, baby, you better come out of the black closet.

[B]

I was a closeted black at the moment. She didn't know.

[A]

She couldn't tell at all. Damn.

[B]

Was so funny. Cause the tour guide we were with was like, all right, thank you so much. And we just, like, ran away. But I was like, I ain't taking no pictures with none of this. Are you crazy? What? And she was so excited about it.

[A]

What was the logic behind it?

[B]

Cause she was saying, like, it goes. Some of the proceeds go to, like, veterans with ptsd, Which I understood that, but, you know, it's still the military, the police of the world, you know, it's a lot.

[A]

What that got to do with the po. Po.

[B]

Veterans of ptsd, but also the police, too, I guess. Like, whatever police organizations they got. Child, I am not.

[A]

They are funded. I will not be supporting no police organizations.

[B]

I don't have enough money to harass me. I believe I'm good, you know? But there was one point, she was so excited. There was a bullet. She was like, oh, this one was a hollow point bullet. So they spread out and it looks like a beautiful star. And we put a Swarovski crystal in the middle. I said, ah, girl. Motherfucking lying girl.

[A]

You need help.

[B]

Is it crack?

[A]

It's crack.

[B]

It was crack.

[A]

Yeah, That's. Yeah.

[B]

Okay, so, you know, regular people, like, they're not getting all the free stuff, which is a scam in itself, but they still want to crowdfund regular money. That money's still green.

[A]

That's it. And there it is.

[B]

So the funny part is that according to the irs, charity raffle tickets are not considered tax deductible donations. And some of the wealthier folks would buy thousands of dollars worth of raffle tickets thinking that they had made a charitable donation. The nonprofit, of course, never presented as charitable donations and didn't provide a tax receipt for them. But I'm sure plenty of people counted it when they did their taxes anyway, as I would, right? Look, if I give thousands of dollars, $20, to an unhoused neighbor, I'm gonna write that shit down in my phone. You know what I mean? I'm not gonna ask my unhoused neighbor for a receipt, but I am gonna write a little note like, okay, you Know if I don't.

[A]

Honestly, I think you should get a receipt. I just think you should get a receipt.

[B]

Listen, I think that's better than the people who be trying to decide what they're gonna give their unhoused neighbors. It's like, bitch, if they ask you for cash, give them fucking cash and don't worry about it. You, like, you don't know. Who cares what they do? It's not your money anymore going on now, but I feel like a receipt ain't that bad. What if I just had him sign?

[A]

You could just. If I could just get your thumbprint right here.

[B]

Just sign right here. Okay. Thank you so much. I gotta get this to the government. No, I'm joking, but okay. So they're writing these things off even though they're not supposed to. Similarly, we would artificially increase silent auctions with fake bids to drive the price up. Since we used a virtual platform, bidders couldn't tell who outbid them. They only saw that they needed to bid more if they wanted to win. I was never a fan of this, and ultimately it backfired on my boss not once, but three separate times when she accidentally won an item she had placed a fake bid on.

[A]

That's what she gets.

[B]

That's what you get. Sometimes she paid. Sometimes she had to scramble and find a board member who was willing in parentheses, Awkward. Yeah, that's awkward as fuck. Like, they get on there and you're like, hey, so the charity ebay went a little left today. It turns out I won the boat.

[A]

Okay. I was feeling myself this morning.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

I got a little ahead of myself, you know?

[B]

Yeah. Now they want my card information. And, you know, Discover don't even got a limit that can purchase a boat.

[A]

Like, so I'm gonna just take the company black card.

[B]

And now we got a boat for this nonprofit children. Okay, we can tell em what starboard is. Is that good? We do that? Yeah, that's wild. Like, also, I love that all this online platforming has completely taken away earnest parts of the, you know. Transparency. Yeah, transparency. Yeah, it's removed transparency because, okay, if you're at a silent auction, usually there's a little cheese, a little crudite, you know, a little quiche and whatnot, and, you know, some sparkling wine and a gown moment. And you walk around and you see all the names and it's a flex. Cause then you're seeing all these names and you're seeing what they bid and like, oh, they rich or da da da da da. And now you don't have that now it's just a lady over here faking shit behind her keyboard.

[A]

Yeah. I mean, yeah.

[B]

Like, who is this Bitterman guy and why is he always upping the price?

[A]

This Bitterman guy? Yeah.

[B]

Bitterman McRichie has outbid me again.

[A]

Wealthy McDaddy always wins. I don't get it.

[B]

Wealthy McDaddy. So perhaps the most common scam I've seen across nonprofits is the matching donor scams.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

Organizations will typically use these scams during day of giving campaigns focused on getting donations during a set timeframe. They'll say that a generous donor has agreed to match all the donations in the next hour up to X dollar amount. What they don't tell you is that 9.9 out of 10 times, they've already received the donation from the generous donor and are just trying to double it on the back end to make that donor happy. No, your donation is not being doubled. The money was already given. But, hey, organizations did get another donation. Yours.

[A]

Mm. I mean, this is like, really some scammer ass shit. Yes. It's just like, damn, they just pulling scam.

[B]

I know. It always sounded a little fishy when they'd be like, if y' all give up to, like, $100,000, CVS will match it. And it's like, wait, why did we. Why were we ever like, yeah, why weren't we ever just like, CVS? Maybe you should just give $200,000. Like, why are you bothering us? Why have we never turned on them when they talking about, we'll match it, we'll match it? Feels like the shittiest way to donate to someone.

[A]

Cause you could have matched it all along.

[B]

Yeah. Or you could just donate a large amount of money and we don't have to play these games. That's like me going to somebody who needs money and being like, all right, I got a dollar for you. And now if you.

[A]

If you can run. If you can run around this park eight times within the next 30 seconds, I'm gonna make it two. Yep.

[B]

I'll match it. I'll match whatever you get on the street, you know, out here today.

[A]

What?

[B]

Just give the money.

[A]

Yeah. And that's. I think people just started calling that shit out recently. They just have us fucking brainwashed in this country. I mean, it's just really what it is. It's like. It's just, like, propaganda. The brand. It's tv. It's American tv.

[B]

American TV really is ruining us. It sold us all a lie.

[A]

It's not just ruining us. It's ruining the world. That's why these foreigners are coming at us now. They're like, you fucking lied to us. You said you were the best country. Oh, sorry, wrong accent. You fucking lied to us.

[B]

You told us you were the best

[A]

country in the world. And now here you are, you have racism and you have no tax. Taxes and no health care. And it's.

[B]

You're shooting each other all the time, indiscriminately.

[A]

And it's. Listen, mate, it's been like that.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

You just watched the same shit we watched growing up. Cause we thought it was good here too.

[B]

Right? And that's actually a real thing in television. Part of the reason, the first show that I was on, Florida Girls, when Laura Chen took it out to pitch, she kept getting pushback from networks that would be like, can you make it more aspirational? Like, aspirational TV is what sells. So we was broke as fuck. And the first episode, we literally spent the entire episode trying to get $43 so that we can turn our power back on. Like, that is the goal. But it's like, we're still having fun. We're still leading lives. But if you have a show that's about people below the poverty line, the expectation is. Is that they're always striving to get rich. And you see them get close and don't or whatever, it's always aspirational, like, they want more. And this show was really just like, these are our fucking lives. We want $43 today.

[A]

Right, right.

[B]

And that's. And in American TV, they don't like that because it breaks down the scam that is everybody. It doesn't matter how hard you fucking work, if you weren't born into the right circumstances, some people get lucky. But those are. And that's the story that everybody loves to sell people, is that you gonna be Jay Z. You gonna go from selling the crack rock to, you know, owning the weed shop.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And it's like, are you though.

[A]

You're gonna get discovered on your front porch and become a fucking movie star?

[B]

Yup. You're gonna be a rapper.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. If you just throw this ball 13, 11 more times, you're gonna go straight to the NFL.

[B]

Right? Like, so we slang those dreams so we can keep people poor, basically.

[A]

Yeah, basically. So, you know, and they're effective, all of them.

[B]

Good.

[A]

They got me, honey.

[B]

I mean, they started with that dream job shit. We all know. What's your dream job, nigga? Ain't nobody dreaming about that.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

All right. So this letter Is continuing. Really gave us a story here about the dart. So I think it's safe to say that I'm very cynical and jaded about nonprofits now, at least when it comes to fundraising tactics. I know there's good places out there and plenty of worthy causes, but I encourage the congregation to be careful when they're giving away their coins. Don't fall for these cheap scams.

[A]

Yes, amen.

[B]

Totally broken down. This was a dissertation.

[A]

Yeah. This was like. This was a class, like, right here.

[B]

I've learned.

[A]

I've learned a lot. Quite a bit. You know, I've. I did. I didn't know to this extent, but I did know, like, whenever you're, you know, you want to donate, you always want to do research before you donate into anything. Because for reasons like this, you know, there's a lot of shady actors and bad actors in this business.

[B]

But let's move on to our next scam here. We're getting into the med spa, which I do love a med spa. I like to go get my treatments and my lasers and things.

[A]

Now, med spa's like a chain, right?

[B]

It could be just. There are chains of med spas, but Med Spot, that name in particular, is not a chain that I know of. But I know there are lots of med spots that are franchised, but they're just like. They're kind of like cosmetic doctors, but, like, faster.

[A]

Like where you go to get Botox and stuff.

[B]

Yeah, we can go get botox. You can get fillers, you can get facials and, you know, hair removal.

[A]

Kind of like a dermatologist. A beauty dermatologist.

[B]

Yeah, you go in, get your cellulite removed. You can do a lot of stuff. At med spas, they don't typically do surgery, so if you wanted like a rhinoplasty or breast, they don't do that kind of invasive stuff. But like the non invasive.

[A]

Coolsculpting.

[B]

Yeah, coolsculpting. All that kind of shit. Wrapping your body up in towels and

[A]

cryo babies and rose.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

My kind of spot.

[B]

Yes. A Real Housewives moment period. So do you wanna read this one, babe?

[A]

Yeah. Do we have a name?

[B]

The name is Dottie.

[A]

Oh, classic Dottie. All right, so, Dottie, let's get into this. When I first moved to la, I got a job off of Craigslist. First red flag. I know sometimes you can get an. I was about to say. Cause, baby, I've made a lot of skrilla off of over the years. I haven't fucked with it in a long time. I will say that. But yeah. I've gotten jobs off of Craigslist. I've gotten acting jobs. I've gotten real work jobs off of Craigslist. I've gotten.

[B]

And then I've also gotten hitten over

[A]

the head with a shovel.

[B]

That's Craigslist.

[A]

Hey. Okay, we know it's.

[B]

Sometimes you get paid, sometimes you run from the shovel man, sometimes you show

[A]

up and it's Edward Scissorhands at the door. Okay.

[B]

And then you still ask what he needs.

[A]

You still, you don't leave just cause

[B]

he's got hands for scissors. Scissors for hands.

[A]

Cause that could just be his thing.

[B]

Right? That's hasty. You gotta still figure out what's the job period.

[A]

So it is a red flag. But I'm gonna say this is only a half a red flag.

[B]

Yeah, it's a half.

[A]

It's a baby red flag. It was a medical spa that promoted getting free personal training. How this worked was our manager, parentheses, super thin, lots of plastic surgery.

[B]

Okay. Good advertisement for what we're selling would

[A]

run around Beverly Hills in these jump shoes, picture attached. We're gonna have to pull that up. Trying to create a scene so people would want to talk to her. Okay. Then she would hit them with this. You can get free personal training through your insurance. What a deal. Oh, except it's a scam. That was all in caps.

[B]

Damn.

[A]

The client would come in, see a physical therapist or a chiropractor at our facility for a short five minute appointment and then go immediately into the facility gym and work out with a personal trainer. What the clients didn't realize is we would bill and overcharge their insurance for the appointment.

[B]

Of course.

[A]

Wow. Most people's insurance only allows for a certain amount of appointments and then you have to pay out of pocket. So we would burn through their appointments and then dump them as clients because we couldn't bill their insurance anymore.

[B]

And this is a jump shoe. So I get why she's saying it's like something that causes like a stir.

[A]

Oh. Oh, wow.

[B]

So these are jump shoes. They're like a shoe with some kind of trampoline at the bottom of it.

[A]

I've never seen those in my life

[B]

that you can like. I haven't seen these either, but if I saw somebody on them, I'd be like, what is your deal? Yeah, what's happening?

[A]

And especially in la, you see, and

[B]

this is a thin person who's got a lot of plastic surgery.

[A]

So it's a lot of plastic surgery for me. Okay.

[B]

Running around in Jump shoes, you know, that would attract my attention. I would be like, what's going on here, ma'? Am?

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So basically, they're defrauding the insurance company.

[B]

Yeah. Cause you go in thinking like, oh, okay, I'm getting my workout on. And then it's been built in the insurance. Meanwhile, they're telling your insurance you got three CAT scans and blood work.

[A]

I I, I mean, can you imagine?

[B]

Like, yeah, she had leg surgery. It's gonna be 14k. Meanwhile, you over here doing squats. Wow. With some rando named Jason who got four roommates.

[A]

It's true. I know Jason. I was one of his roommates. And then what I love is that after the money's up is get the fuck out of this gym. Right?

[B]

Immediately. Get your shit and go. Do I get a eucalyptus towel? No, no, no, no, no. Your insurance didn't cover eucalyptus.

[A]

Get out this towel.

[B]

Get out.

[A]

Dirty bitch. Get. Well, we had to keep a steady stream of clients coming in to keep it afloat. There were only so many people who wanted to talk to the crazy jump shoe lady. Soon, they stopped paying their personal trainers, promising them it would come next week. As an employee, we got paid first, but we had to race down to the bank to cash them. Wow. In order to not have. Can you imagine?

[B]

Can you not the rat race with your paycheck. Everybody getting their paycheck on Friday. And then you just see Sandra, like, peeling out of the parking lot.

[A]

Like, don't let them all bank at the same bank. It's a wrap.

[B]

Oh, they're fighting in front of the atm.

[A]

You going to the boa? Oh, no, bitch.

[B]

Period. No, I just saw a fight break out of the atm. Oh, was somebody getting robbed? No, they were all fighting to put their check in the depositor first.

[A]

They were all trying to deposit, and

[B]

they all had separate checks that I didn't understand. They were, like, literally fighting, like, get out of the way, bitch. I'm getting paid this week. You got paid last week, right? Who got mobile banking, bitch? Oh, my God.

[A]

I'm doing it straight from my desk, right?

[B]

Ripping the check open. I'm like, don't even put mine in no envelope or shit. Like, have it just laid the fuck out because I got to clip, clip and get it on the app where Sandra pull out of here, you know? You know, she got that sports car.

[A]

She's fucking fast, that bitch. I personally, I'm just getting a stamp. No more endorsements because I don't have time to sign.

[B]

Just stamp it.

[A]

Stamp and go.

[B]

Because Hell, no. I can't believe. That's insane. Also, like, not paying the personal trainers, who are obviously a very integral part of the scam, because they're providing the service. And a lot of gyms don't pay personal trainers. Well, yeah, I've learned that from having so many personal trainer friends and stealing them from gyms. Because a lot of times, like, even at really nice gyms, they get in 30% of the fee of the workout fee.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And so they're making no money, even though they're doing all the work. So a lot of them will start at gyms to get a clientele, and then they'll be like, hey, you trying to slide. You trying to pull up at my crib?

[A]

Okay. Right. You have a. You got a gym in your building, right?

[B]

Because we got a park down the street, you know, and I got the resistance bands and a few dumbbells if you're trying to get some fresh air.

[A]

You know what I telling you?

[B]

Like, I love that. Seduce me out of the gym. Okay. Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. I mean, really.

[B]

It worked on me. I was working out in the park, man. I quit my gym.

[A]

Cuz, you got to. It's like, you gotta, you know, at least go 50, 50 with these hoes. You know what I'm saying? It's like, come on, having them making 30% and you.

[B]

And they're trying to say it's because the facilities and the clientele are being brought on by their institution. However, I'm already paying for the facility to go to the gym, so I have to pay the fee to go to the gym, which is expensive. Then on top of that, I have to pay for the personal training session. So you're already getting PA for the space being rented out by us being there. So, like, what is you doing?

[A]

It's just. It's scams.

[B]

Y' all need to unionize.

[A]

I mean, they really do.

[B]

Y' all need to go to the nearest gnc, y', all get y' all a protein shake, and have a union meeting, okay? All the buff bitches out there, get together, rise up, okay? We want better for you, literally. So, yeah, wait, continue on this rat race that they doing.

[A]

So in order to not have it bounce, I would have to give them the check, have them give me the cash, and then give them the cash back to put into mike count.

[B]

At least she peeped game, though. She was like, I am not taking this little piece of paper promissory over to the bank because this. I got trust issues with this check this bitch.

[A]

I'M surprised they didn't throw you in jail, because I would have. I would have hit the alarm if I was working that bank. I'm like, something don't seem right here. Hit that under desk alarm. If you put it in without cashing it first. One of our checks, if. Yeah, one of our checks would bounce. Cut to the craziest part of all. Months later, after I had left the company, the IRS contacted me. Dun, dun, dun.

[B]

Not the I, the R and the S. That's the biggest shakedown in the business.

[A]

Earth. They don't play.

[B]

Ers don't play. Not earth when ers pull up with that ski mask and that rata ta ta.

[A]

Okay, just hand it over. They said I didn't pay any taxes out of my paycheck and owed them thousands. What my old boss didn't realize is that I kept every single.

[B]

I know that's right smart.

[A]

Since I knew they were shady. Smart. And I faxed all 50 of them to the IRS.

[B]

You better fax.

[A]

Let them know.

[B]

You better fax this. You better be down at the Kinko's, at the FedEx, like, scoot over, bitch. Let me type in this phone number.

[A]

Honestly, I'm hoping that you purchased the fax machine just for this at your crib.

[B]

I hope you did this at the house while you were sipping on some. Just faxing away to Err's.

[A]

I hope that you figured out how to send a fax from your computer, because I've been trying to figure that shit out for 25 years now.

[B]

Tell us, follow up, how do we send faxes?

[A]

Okay. Cause I'm tired of seeing that icon on my damn computer. It doesn't work.

[B]

I've never sent a fax. I'm convinced that that's not real.

[A]

I. Oh, I've sent. We used to have. You know, I'm a little older. We used to have a fax machine in the crib.

[B]

Yo, you was. You know, y' all had money.

[A]

Yo, my parents had a whole little, like, baby office and shit.

[B]

You were sending paper via phone? Yeah. Money.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Come on. Ones and zeros.

[A]

It was pretty cute.

[B]

Ones and zeros.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yes. So I love that you kept the receipts, Dottie, because you knew the company was shady. And also, y' all out there, if you work for a shady company, keep the receipts if you know they're shady because you don't want Urs. Like, hey, girl, we need ours. And you obviously think you already gave it to them.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

No, no, no, no.

[A]

And then you're fucked.

[B]

So she's faxing them all to the irs. She got the receipts.

[A]

Turns out my old boss faked all of our tax documents. We would have pay stubs showing all the monies that came out, but then they were fake. I even had a W2 that I found out later was fake. Thankfully, this cleared me from owing any extra money.

[B]

So I'm confusing now. You can get a blank W2 online anywhere right now?

[A]

Sure.

[B]

If you need one to fill out, it's a standard form. Everybody's probably just getting it from Etsy

[A]

at this point, 100%.

[B]

So my confusion is, how do you fake a W2? Do you just take the W2 and then you don't file it with the government, or are you typing up your own W2?

[A]

That's what I'm thinking. It has to be like, a printing scam.

[B]

I'm like, why is this W2 in comic sans? I ain't never seen no W2 in webdings. I can't even read this.

[A]

No webdings. That's exactly why they did it in webdings, so you couldn't read it.

[B]

They're like, just sign right here and put your social right next to the square.

[A]

I promise you this is legit, 1000% legit. Yeah.

[B]

You see that bat emoji? Yeah. Yeah. Put your date of birth next to that.

[A]

Yeah. So this is. So these people were really bugging. They were doing a lot. A lot. Cause, like, why would you just pay to people? I wonder what was really going on. Cause it's like, what.

[B]

What was going on is that this wasn't a real company.

[A]

That's. The missing link, is that this was

[B]

never a real corporation in any shape or form. And I don't like that. This company, which obviously, like, they run the scams, is a small business. It's just one very thin lady with a lot of plastic surgery running around on an insane shoe, you know, doing the legwork. So I don't. I get y' all scamming the government, but I don't like the scamming of the employees. Like, you set these people up to be in serious tax trouble. Because if you're getting paid and you need your check so bad that you have to sprint to the bank and fight off all your other employees that you have to send it to cash

[A]

like Mad Max style.

[B]

If you have to, like, break through the glass and do a tuck and roll into the bank and sprint up to the teller.

[A]

If you have to learn parkour in order to.

[B]

If you're Jumping off several buildings, like,

[A]

yeah, they do need their money.

[B]

If you watch Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible and you're like, yes, that's me every other Friday, this is an issue that means you really need your check and your money. So now you have people set up to where the government's coming after them for money that they definitely don't have.

[A]

Right. I mean, it's. It's already fucked up that you were playing them on their money, period. But then to, like, sic the government on them later, like, that's crazy fucked up. I'm so glad, Dottie, that you kept all of your documentation and were able to just make sure that you didn't get screwed by these assholes.

[B]

Right? I feel like some of this documentation might have been like, yeah, I know that this W2 is printed on the back of a CVS receipt, but they told me that it was legitimate. Okay, look, is this.

[A]

Is this a bar napkin? Yeah. Okay, okay.

[B]

But it has.

[A]

The numbers on this are accurate. I know that for a fact.

[B]

What's the check stub written on? The back of a paper bag from Walgreens? Yes, in Sharpie, Period. But it's still legitimate. Okay. It's got a signature from the boss. It's got everything you need. Yeah. How do you fax? How do you fax, like, random napkins and shit? Like, how do you get that through the machine? Is it jamming?

[A]

They figured out a way. They used some stiff papers. So the company eventually folded, but the owner got away scot free because he left the state. He did get the manager, and I think they are still together. And I think they are still together. Ugh. I will say that it did teach me to look at my insurance very carefully. Sometimes billing can come from human. Billing can come from human error. But sometimes it is a system that is very easy to scam. Stay vigilant. Ooh, I like that. They added this little extra tidbit of info about insurance.

[B]

You should check when you get. When you use your insurance to go to the dentist, the doctor, the optometrist, whatever. You should check what they're billing your insurance because you have a deductible every year. So even though they're technically stealing from the insurance, if they steal too much and you actually need to get a procedure and your deductible goes up because it's happening within a certain timeframe now they're stealing from you.

[A]

Yeah, that was the other thing I was gonna say, like, so when these people went in for actual procedures that they needed, they were like, baby boo boo, your money is done.

[B]

Yeah, they're like, girl, you already had

[A]

three back surgeries last week.

[B]

You had three back surgeries back to back to back. You're like, no, I went to the gym on Monday, Wednesday, Friday.

[A]

Yeah. No, they say bachiotomy. Right, right, right here.

[B]

They said they put in a new L4, L6 vertebrae, okay? I don't know where they got all these vertebrae from, but, yeah, they said they gave you a whole new back, bitch.

[A]

They gave you three L6s, OK?

[B]

So you gonna have to limp around a little longer for this knee surgery. Cause of that fresh back you got.

[A]

Yeah, I mean, that's. Yeah, that's. It's just like. That's where they screw. It's like they put people in predicaments where eventually they're gonna find out. Like, when I go to get that third backionomy of the year, I'm gonna find out when the IRS kicks my door in, wave in the 4. 4 I'm gonna fucking find, Right?

[B]

Well, Uncle Sam lets the chopper sing. You know?

[A]

Listen, Uncle Sam said if freedom don't ring, the choppa gonna sing, okay?

[B]

And by ring, I'm talking about change.

[A]

I mean money.

[B]

Cha ching, cha ching cha ching. If r ain't cha chingin', that choppa is singing, okay? You don't want these state sanctioned hands, okay?

[A]

Period. And listen, Uncle Sam, that look like a scrappy ass motherfucker, okay? He.

[B]

I mean, the way that he points at you. I'm like, me? No, not me. He's like, yes, you, bitch. I want you. Yes. I'm like, sir, please, not me. I don't know why. And the manager done got somebody pregnant and then move states. I didn't know you could do crime in one state and then just get a U haul and drive over the state lines and be like, I don't know them.

[A]

Sometimes you can. I mean, that's how the witness protection program works. They're like, just move to a new

[B]

state and no one will find you. We change your name, you move to a new state, and it's like the mob never knew who you were. All right, guys, that brings us to the end of an amazing episode. I learned so much. Hopefully you did, too. As always, snitch on your friends and family @scamgoddesspod Gmail.com if you want to find me, I'm at D I V A L A C I D valacy on all platforms. If you want to find the show scam goddess pod on all platforms and Priscilla.

[A]

Where.

[B]

Where can people find you?

[A]

This is. People can find me now at Priscilla. Oh, no, that's not it.

[B]

It's.

[A]

No, no, it's Risthegoddess.

[B]

I love this bit. It's my favorite bit. Don't edit that out, Jud. Okay, wait.

[A]

Where the Goddess? Across all platforms.

[B]

P R, I s the goddess on all platforms. And guys, get on Priscilla's TikTok. Her tik. Like, you got. You got to catch them fast. Just like you got to check these cash these checks real quick. You got to catch her tiktoks fast because sometimes the community guidelines be fucking with her, but they be funny as shit.

[A]

They be coming for me.

[B]

You'll be killing me on TikTok.

[A]

It's one of my favorite platforms. Yes, definitely.

[B]

Come check me out, guys. Yes.

[A]

All right.

[B]

Congregation, stay gone back. Scam Goddess. This has been an Earwolf production in association with Team Coco. Scam Goddess stars and is hosted by me, Lacey Mosley, AKA Scam Goddess. It's produced by Judith Garcbo, engineered by Ryan Connor and Abby Aguilar. Our researcher is Kaelyn Brandt. Stay scheming.