Tom Smith (57:34)
After July 31, 2022 when she sent that text that seemed as though it came from Artificial intelligence relating to her Amazon wishlist for teaching. I did not follow up with her. We drifted apart. We just didn't really communicate after that. As far as I remember, up until May 6th of 2023, we hadn't talked. I hadn't looked her up on Twitter, I hadn't followed her on Facebook. Obviously we were friends on Facebook at that time. But I really didn't pay her any attention. I was busy with my own stuff at the time and my grandpa had just passed away. There wasn't time to even think about what Megan was doing at the time. May 6, I got a number of random texts throughout the day saying, I'm in a crisis, I need help. It's not mental health. I said, oh, what's up? She says, oh, I'm at a. I'm at a low point in my life. I need money for Bailey. Yeah, I wish I was lying. So me being very surprised, considering this is a former government employee and now whom I presume to be a teacher, I say, okay, explain what is going on. She says, their charges from three years ago, 2021, I have a friend that can pay you back. They're an elected official and just don't want their name traced back to the bond. So if I have the money, I'll pay the bondsman. And my mom is co signing the bond. I don't answer her throughout the rest of the day. And around 1 o'clock the next day, this is May 7, she says, can you please help me? I can't sit in jail. So she's ramping it up. She's very panicked. And then on May 8, she says, I can pay you on Friday. I said, hmm, just not normally one to loan out cash. How much are we talking about? She says, 500. And then she said she was happy to meet in person, as it turns out. She then explains that the charges were from a moving company, that she couldn't pay them. And I said, well, I can't really help you right now. I'm working out. And then she said her all too famous phrase, which would become rather infamous in the months to follow. I hear you. Oh, that phrase irritated me so many times because I knew she didn't hear me several times and she didn't hear the people she impacted. She said, I need to turn myself in. I really need help. I don't want to sit in jail. I won't have access to my phone. I can pay back Friday. So she's pleading at this point and I said, hmm, I might let me know who it is. Of course I'd be willing to help, but I have to be sure. And she says, oh, well, when will you be for sure? I'm really in a tight crunch. I need to turn myself in. I would never pressure anybody, but I have to get the money together. And I said, okay, how about Tuesday afternoon? And the deadline for payback is Friday at noon sharp. And she said she couldn't wait till the next day. I said, I hate to do this, but I have to charge interest because of my past experiences with loaning money out to people. And so she agreed to that. So three days past payback day, I would have just charged her 50 bucks per day the first three days that she didn't pay back. And then I would up the ante to 100. So I thought it was perfectly fair and I said, okay, I'll help you out. And then she asks for the first hundred bucks. At one point she said that she was having trouble with a moving company in the past. And I said, oh, you had trouble with a moving company in the past, right? And she said, no, it's a different company. So that should have raised red flags for me. But at the time I was thinking about, wow, I really got to help this friend here. She would have been one of the last people I would have expected to text me that she was in a legal bind because I thought she was a government leader. I thought she had done all this incredible stuff. I mean, she co sponsored legislation to allow 18 year olds to run for the Indiana State House. It didn't pass. But the fact of the matter is that she tried and I was very impressed with that. This isn't somebody who you think is a criminal or somebody who is going to trick you. This is somebody who has temporarily fallen flat and needs help getting back on their feet. I thought at the time, yeah, this is alarming, but this is somebody who helped me get through one of the hardest years of my life and frankly, one of the hardest years I believe the world has ever faced in the 21st century. I felt that I owed her quite a bit. Looking back at it now, I thought it was pretty stupid that the alarm bells weren't going off, but you can't really change the past. She is texting me all throughout the day Tuesday saying, I need to get this squared away now. For two days I hadn't really said much to her. She immediately, within two days, has started bombarding me with texts. She asks me to download this money app wise. And all this time she keeps telling me I'm really panicked. Oh, I'm so nervous. I open up Wise. She requests the first amount and it didn't work. So then she said, oh, I'm going to run to my mom's. Can you be awake for 20 minutes? And I said, okay, this is weird. It seems like the system is really rigged against you. And then she says, I'm so dirty. Sorry. So me being a big fan of Dateline NBC and Chris Hansen, I replied with, and I'll do my best, Chris Hansen. I'll tell you what's dirty is this situation. She says, well, yes. Hey, I'm almost there. Please don't quit on me. I mean, what is this? Some sort of athletic motivational movie? Like Remember the Titans or Rudy, where it's, oh, please don't quit on me. Bring on the string quartet. I'm at this time saying, oh no, I'm just falling asleep. So a few minutes later she says, I just got here. I'm here if you need me. I'm never ever going to jail again. Lol. So she's convinced that I'm her savior. Then I say, well, just make sure to pay me on time and that promise will be fulfilled, I'm sure. The money I sent to, I presume, the bondsman at that time on Wise, the money was declined. And I said, I'm trying to do everything I can just short of having to drive all the way to jail. Then she says, I could drive to Bloomington and get the cash. I guess I'll have to spend my day doing it tomorrow. I can use Wise. I said, I really need to go to sleep. She begs me to call my bank in the morning and she offers to pay me back extra for the trouble. I'm saying, okay, okay, I'm just cranky from the workout tonight. Give me some time to relax so I can help you out. I said I would do everything I could. And she says, do you have the cash tonight? So again, I already told her, we'll deal with it tomorrow. So she's getting very desperate. At this point she's saying, oh, are you still awake? Are you still awake? It was three in the morning at this point. This is Tuesday, May 9th. The very next night, I'm settling down to go to sleep and I text her, hey, listen, I'm not really one to give cash out. Sorry. So she says, abe, I'm scared. And I said, listen, I'm not comfortable with it. And she said, are you calling the bank when they open? Sorry, I was unclear what the plan was. I said, Listen, my bank says it doesn't loan out to bondsman. It doesn't have listed. I'm going to have to bow out. Now, I know that wasn't exactly true, but at that point, I'm just trying to think of any reason to get out of this situation because we're just going around in circles. She requested the initial deposit for herself, so I'm thinking, oh, she's just going to pay the bondsman. A little bit unorthodox, I suppose. She then says, all right, can you please do Venmo? And you don't even know the name of my bondsman. She says, oh, I have a friend's Venmo. I can help you, please. I'm losing it all. So I'm like, okay, well, what's the Venmo? Now we bring in Curtis. So she then says, al. So that's the first appearance of Curtis, and that occurred on May 9th. She said, oh, let me know when I send it. I send her a screen cap with the subject line, Megan Bond with Curtis's name right there. And I say, all right, money up front, Friday. And she said, yes. So I pressed the button and we were off and running. She initially said it was for the movers, then she said it was for the bondsman. And then she gave me Curtis's Venmo. And I text her after it went through saying, did it work? And went dead silent. So not a word from her. May 9th, 2:33 in the afternoon. I say, so apparently you're free. Hey, can Curtis refund me, please? Is it possible that he can pay me back? And Megan's air quote, mom texts me saying, hey, this is Megan's mom. She's still in lockup. I told her, hey. So I sent the money to her friend Venmo Curtis. I just heard from the bondsman that apparently the charges could be dropped. Her mom, again, air quotes, says, hi, the charges have not been dropped. Enterprise has to be paid first. So that's the moving company, Enterprise, and that the bondsman has been paid. Enterprise hasn't. I'm thinking to myself, so how much does Enterprise want? And she gives me another amount, and then she'll be cleared and the bondsman can just have Enterprise run the card directly so you won't have to mess with anything. So I'm saying, all right, now I'm confused. You've just upped it even more than we had before. And I say, all right, can they run the card again? It's May 10th and it's the next day. I Didn't say anything at this point, I'm still processing the previous night. So I'm thinking, should I do it again? I mean, this is a close friend. She then gives me Harry Friedman. I'm just thinking, oh, there's another friend. But why is she not giving me Curtis's info again since Curtis did it before? So her mom says, just put for Megan S. And once again, I send yet another amount, same amount as before. And her mom says, thank you. I'll let you know when Megan is out of jail today. I said, perfect. So the next night, we're on May 11th. Now her mom says, hey, Megan's dealing with a health crisis. She'll be in touch as soon as she can. And I'm like, oh, wow, okay. Has she been freed? Not yet. She had a medical crisis in lockup. Nothing further is said. I decide to leave the situation alone for a little bit, allow her mom to get over this. Allow Megan to get over it. So on the 15th of May, I say, oh, hey, how's Megan? Still waiting. May 22nd, Megan out yet? I don't get a reply until May 29th. At 2:35 in the morning, I'm under the impression that this is Megan's mom and she has Megan's phone. And Megan's mom says, hey, she's been in the hospital. I'm not getting a lot of texts from Megan. I'm not getting a lot of texts from her mom. And I'm thinking at this time, oh, well, they're probably very busy. They're recuperating from what's a really shocking event. I don't text again until around June 8th. And I say, I really need her to pay me back. And her mom says, three days later, no less. No, sorry. She's still in a mental health facility. And I say, well, the problem is that the bond agent isn't processing my card. And I know her situation is really precarious right now, but it's still important that she pays me back. I do hope she feels better. Megan's mom. Hey there. Totally understand. I'll see what I can do to get this taken care of. Please know Megan values you as a friend. This has been a hard season for her for sure. And I know she does. I want the best for her. And she parts the message and she says, I'm sorry about the stupid bond office. So I said, yeah, they're not very reliable. She says, hey, let me get the funds from them and I'll circle back with you. I'm sorry again. On Megan's behalf, But this has been a nightmare. So after not hearing from Megan for some time, I'm already a bit annoyed that this is still going on. This is actually June 14th. Another late night marathon of texts. 1:34 in the morning. Thursday, June 15th. I know you were trying to be a nice friend to Megan. I'm sorry for the runaround. Can you double check you got the number right? And I said, oh, no, it was correct. And she says, oh, okay, I know you're annoyed, but is the number correct? If I was in the country, I would do something, But I'm out of the country and I just have icloud through my MacBook for Megan. So what do I do? I give up the card info. Took a pic front to back. They enter it, it doesn't work. And the person who I presume is her mom at this point says, oh, just so you know, I'm not pulling your leg. I said, oh, here, try again. Same error. This is June 16th. Now, it's one in the morning. When I took the picture initially on June 16th of the card and sent it later that afternoon, Megan's mom says, oh, sorry, it's not working right now. We tried again around 6 and it still didn't work. So it's 9 now on the same Friday, June 16th. So it's already happened three times in the span of two days. It hasn't worked. So on the 17th of June, I say, all right, I'll call the bank and figure it out. And as it turns out, because of strange charges starting to pour in around that time, I said I had to get a new card. Now up to this point, I'm just assuming, oh, it's just a classic case of identity theft. It must have happened at the gas station or something. So I canceled the card and I got the new card. At this point, it's June 22nd when I had to get the new card. Four days later on that Monday, June 26th, take a picture of the card again. Take a picture of the back. I tell the person who I presume is her mom. Some charge was weird. All is good now. June 27th. Still trying to figure things out. No reply from Megan throughout June 27th when I tell her, hey, what's going on? On the 28th, I got yet another card because again, the false charges kept pouring in and my bank kept forgiving them. I've already gone through three cards at this point in the span of a few weeks. June 28, I give out the card again. That card got canceled Again, this is four cards at this point. And now I've got some very strange charges on my checking account and I have no idea where they're coming from. On June 30, Megan's mom presumably says, well, when you get it, maybe don't add it to your Venmo. I can probably refund it, but I'll still need the new card. And that's the last message in the whole month of June. We're getting some strange charges. One of them was from the restaurant Twin Peaks. It's very similar to a Hooters bar in Indianapolis. I have no idea who's spending the money. I just know that it's Doordash from Twin Peaks. There's one from something called iRobot in Massachusetts. Then I get some strange Amazon bills and PayPal bills from some random number called Senebaggle. Never heard of them. Then I get a cash app from a Jasmine in California and then a T mobile charge. So I'm assuming now she was paying for her phone bill, paying for food, all the while masquerading as different people on cash app. Now I don't know how she got the money out of my account, and I don't know how she was able to use the card when all of these cards were frequently canceled. At this point in time, I am on a road trip to Kansas City for a radio broadcasters convention. So we don't talk for a little bit. All of this is going on while I'm at the convention and I'm not taking a lot of notice of it because at that point I'm thinking she's going to pay me back.