The Candle Lady & The Scam Artist

I hate Bad People. They really suck.

Since being unemployed….oh, yes, Hubby is now also unemployed so we’re really trying to make that huge $250.00/week unemployment check stretch! I’m still not getting any unemployment because, ya know, I worked in a church for 5 years not realizing I was giving that benefit to put up with their BS.

(Breathe. In. Out. In. Out.)

Sorry.

I’ve been working my ass off over here! Shit, I even signed up for TikTok. Yeah. I did. Check out my very first TikTok video.

Yeah, Old Aunty Moon is on TikTok. I know, it’s really chilly way Down Below right now. LOL

I made a video for my Strawberry Moon Candles and put it up on YouTube.

I have…Gods help me…redownloaded Instagram. I have all the freakin’ social media apps on my phone now. All with their alerts set. I hate this shit. Sorry. Truly, I’m sorry. But…yeah, I do.

I love learning new things. I have learned a very large boatload of New Things over the past two weeks or so. I mean, come on, look at those graphics!

Here….check it out quick

Even though I’ve always tried my hardest, I’ve always been at least slightly ashamed of the photographs I’ve been able to produce of my candles and such. I mean, well, look. This IS my workspace. Ok?

So, being able to master the AI Technology that turned my originals from drab to fab is pretty damn awesome. Although, I’ve noticed my final graphics aren’t like other people’s. Theirs are more formal than mine. Yes, there’s a lot of Cherry Blossoms because His Majesty is still watching over my site (and me) so, I like to give him that nod. I imagine we’ll discuss my new Love/Hate Relationship with AI in another post.

Here I am, chugging along, doing my thing, getting denied for any government assistance. (Yes, another blog post, I know.) Upside is, I’m learning those New Things (that I never would have had time or just the inspiration to try for if I were still in that church basement) and feeling pretty damn good about all of that. Hey, man, at my age this is pretty cool. Most people at my age just start stopping if they haven’t stopped already. I wanted to produce nice graphics to showcase my goods. I’m very proud of them, in case you can’t tell. Almost as proud of them as I am the candles.

The Onya’s Apothecary portion of this site is sch-weeeeeet! Man, I am impressed with myself. Again, check it out, I’d love to have your opinion on it.

My Oldest Daughter helped me get the TikTok thing going. I was interested to see one thing when I got on there.

How fast would someone hit me up for money?

This happens ALL the time on Instagram, which is why I do not like Instagram. They come out of the woodwork and offer to help promote you for a nominal fee, it is usually small, but all it consists of is them posting on their own page in different manners. It never once happened on Facebook, Twitter/X, BlueSky, or…gasp…MySpace. I loved MySpace.

It did not happen on TikTok…yet. So, score one for TikTok.

However, what does happen from time to time, on FB especially, is a Scammer. Over the years, I’ve gotten pretty good at spotting them quickly. BUT, I’ve done all this work and really shot myself out there so, when a person contacted me, I thought; oh, thank you!

It would be great to make ONE sale and put back a little money that I’ve put out. Right?

So, I’m IMing…DMing for you younger folks…with this this person who is complimenting my candles. Then they ask if I’d take payment through FB. I declined. I sent them my website link telling they them can buy right on the site and then I waited.

I always send the link and wait.

If they’re really interested, they’ll hit the site. I’ll see that hit. Know where they are. Make a better call on whether or not they’re legitimate because, for you Nice People out there, most of them are not. They never click in to the site.

This one was no different.

Then it was; do I take Venmo.

Again, I declined. I will take Venmo from someone I KNOW. But not as a general rule. I reminded them they could use their own Venmo account to purchase through PayPal right on the site.

I asked them how many, and BTW, which candles they wanted. (They’re great for not being specific, on Instagram they like to start with something like “I’d like to review your book.” No title. I ask which one and it can take days for them to answer.)

They typed back; 7

All the Yellow Lights in my head are flashing. I go to their FB profile and they seem legit. BUT…who knows?

I tell them I only have 6 of the pink jars. Do they want the leaf patterned one too?

YES! They replied.

Awww…fuck. I started to think.

But, it could be legit. So, I again tell them to go to the site and buy the candles.

They want to know when the candles will be shipped. (A very valid question)

I tell them; tomorrow. (WTF, I got nothing to do and for $305.00 this broke ass old witch will gladly go to the US Post Office…after the money clears.) I ask if she has a shop. I mean, this is a lot of candles. And, sadly, I must admit I was hoping against hope that this was on the up and up, that my hard work was paying off.

No, they said, these were for personal use.

Yeah. Right.

Now, some people are hesitant to just buy off a site like mine. I get that. But if they click the link they can clearly see everything is legit. But they never click the link. My site is NOT Amazon there’s no One Click Buy! Geez.

I offer to send her a PayPal invoice for $305.00 if she sends me an email address and a physical address.

The email address she sent was absolutely nothing like the FB name she was using.

Those Yellow Lights in my head slowly, and a bit mournfully, began flashing Red.

But…ok. I go to PayPal. I open my stuff, I make up a whole invoice detailing everything, and I send it off to her.

I get an email back; Can we talk here?

Oh, fuck me!

But you know what, now I’m hopeful AND getting pissed off so….let’s spin that Wheel of Fortune and see where it lands!

It seems her FB messenger froze up and she wants to chat through email. She’s having a problem paying the invoice. It’s stuck. Or something (This just the short version now). She wants me to send her a screenshot of my PayPal account showing the invoice has been paid.

Fuck you.

I didn’t even open my PayPal account which would automatically notify me if such a transaction was taking place. I just wrote back; Nothing here.

Then it was, she was trying to cancel the transaction, would I send her a screenshot showing that.

Nope.

Again, I just wrote back; Sorry, can’t help you. There’s nothing here.

Eventually she realized she wasn’t getting the screenshot and yes I went through everything to make sure she hadn’t found a back door. I mean, it wasn’t that long ago that someone somehow was able to add themselves as a Secondary Email on my freakin’ PayPal.

I even went from my computer, where PayPal had recently been open, to my phone where it had not in order to continue the emails. Then I wiped everything.

I canceled the invoice. She got the notice. I didn’t hear from her again.

Can I just say; People Suck.

It would be so nice to make that sale. No, it doesn’t have to be 7 for cryin’ out loud. One will do nicely. It really will. At this point, we could really have used that money she was promising but I think it was just more the idea of the recognition of my efforts that pleased me most. That my creations might find their Forever Homes and be of use to the people out there somewhere they were intended for. Anyway, it was very disheartening.

Yet, I did not get pissed off over it. I wanted to send her a nasty email, of course I did, but…fuck it. What good would it do? This is not the first time someone on the internet has presented themselves as someone they’re not. Those assholes are everywhere.

Today, after consultation with His Majesty and…Everyone Else…we crafted and sent off an email to about four or five local(ish) Pagan/New Age/Metaphysical stores I found on Google. Two of which I know of first hand and like very much. I asked them if they’d be interested in a few free candles and if they sell and things look ok then maybe we’ll go from there. I directed them to my site. Now we wait and see if they check us out. It would be nice to be in a brick and mortar store. Still got my eye on that store front down the street. It’s still empty.

In any event, wish an Old Lady luck, hey?