Please Help Our Family Recover After a $12.8k Theft

On January 3rd, $12,858.78 was stolen in a wire fraud scam.

I would not be writing this plea for help if it wasn't my last resort. My name is Lou, and I am the owner of the artist brand "Loppy Rae." I am a 31-year-old nonbinary person living in Eastern Tennessee with my husband and our 6-year-old son. My art brand has allowed me to work from home while still contributing to my household despite my disabilities. For the past six months, I have exhausted every other option available to me, and it's with a heavy heart that I now have to ask for help.

As an artist who works in product design, I work directly with manufacturers to bring my designs to fruition. Due to one of my manufacturer's e-mails being hacked, I fell victim to a wire fraud scam where the scammer used private information to fraudulently obtain payment from me.

I have never had more than $10k in my bank at any given time. These funds had been gathered during a crowdfunding campaign meant to produce a line of plushies. Every penny was budgeted to be spent on the project. I have never been a wealthy person, and it has only ever been my dream to make a modest living while doing what I love: being an artist.

I have contacted so many people for help, only to be brushed aside and told that it's impossible. Over the past six months, I have made countless attempts to retrieve my money. However, with the current state of the economy, it has been hard enough to make enough to cover my bills, let alone make nearly $13k out of nowhere. As if that weren't overwhelming enough, my manufacturer still fully expects me to pay them the original $12.8k without any discount provided.

After the loss, we made ourselves a strict budget, trying to save every penny. But the financial loss was too great, and bills kept getting tighter as I was forced to keep moving money around from my personal account just to keep the bills paid. My son's medical bills continue to pile up. My husband's transmission blew out. Our tires needed replaced. Things kept adding up, even when we had nothing left to spare, and before I knew it, I had to start relying on my credit card for basic needs like groceries and gas.

I know should have asked for help before it got this bad, but I couldn't live with myself if I hadn't exhausted every other possibility. Today, my bank account has been overdrafted over $400 and I cannot even afford to fill my fridge. I sent my last $10 bill to my husband to fill his gas tank on the way to work. At this point, we have been praying for a miracle. If you are able to help at all, our family will forever be grateful.

What Happened (with receipts:)

As an artist, my job is turning my art into products to sell in my store. In October, I led a successful Backerkit campaign for my brand of zombie plushies: The Hurtsies. I began working with my manufacturer to complete samples and begin arranging bulk production. Because of the holidays, my representative instructed me to split my payments up and make a 50% deposit for the bulk production in January to avoid the holiday rush fees. I was sent a commercial invoice, and instructed to pay after New Years. Unbeknownst to us, my manufacturer’s e-mail was hacked. A scammer had been skimming their e-mails, and upon seeing our agreed upon invoice, used it to their advantage. Below is an admission that their e-mail system had been hacked, as well as a screenshot of the hacker impersonating me to keep her from contacting me.

The hacker downloaded our entire conversation history, spanning 100+ e-mails, and spoofed an e-mail chain. They began impersonating me on a separate e-mail, communicating with my manufacturer in order to keep them from realizing that they had commandeered the original e-mail exchange. During this time, they sent me an e-mail, requesting payment with their wire transfer instructions attached to the invoice. The invoice was exactly the same, with hundreds of e-mails to establish the relationship between my manufacturer and I, and so, at the time, I had no reason to doubt it. Below is the original invoice (left) and the modified invoice (right.)

NOTE: I am temporarily hiding my manufacturer's information in order to protect my inventory.

I had no reason to doubt this invoice. It was established and agreed upon weeks in advance. The address, telephone, amount, everything, was identical. The invoice was attached to our conversation log containing information that only the two of us had access to. I have been working with this manufacturer for many years, and I had no reason to doubt her. I sent the deposit. The screenshot below shows the payment amount.

Later that night, my manufacturer reached out to me regarding the impersonated e-mails. Immediately after I realized that I had just become the victim of fraud, I immediately called my bank and tried to issue a wire transfer recall, but it was too late. US Bank does not have an after-hours line despite doing international business, so I was forced to wait until the next morning. In China, my manufacturer contacted the police and receiving bank directly to explain the situation. However, the bank and police refused to cooperate, as I was neither the bank's client nor a citizen.

The next morning, I drove over an hour to my nearest US Bank branch to provide all of the evidence and request a wire transfer recall. I handed over several documents to their investigation team, including e-mail history, bank statements, and more. The intermediary bank (Wells Fargo) attempted to contact the receiving bank (Agricultural Bank of China) to request the funds back. However, by this point, it had already been transferred. The funds were declared a complete loss.

I have contacted numerous agencies for help. I filed a police report with the Knoxville Police Department, whom informed me they would refer the case to the federal government. However, I was never followed up with. My bank's investigation tea looked into the case, but it was deemed a lost cause and dismissed. I filed a report with both the IC3 and FTC with documentation. It has been six months, and no one has ever tried to contact me. I directly spoke with the Chinese bank, but due to the language barrier and their refusal to provide information via e-mail, it was yet another dead end. I even attempted to contact a Chinese law firm to help mediate. However, when they learned the details of my case, they informed me that the likelihood of success was slim, and declined. My attempts to reach out for further assistance were met with answering machines or empty promises to return my call.

My factory rep and her boss located the business on the invoice and contacted him. The owner of this company claimed that one of his clients always sent payments via citizens in the United States. He told them that, provided I give the proper identification, he would send the funds back. This was the start of a months long back and forth, filling me with false hope. I initially wanted to believe that maybe this company really had just been the victim of one of their client's using shady payment methods. However, it became increasingly clear that he was just trying to solicit personal information from me, using the promise of returning my funds as bait.

I e-mailed the company several times, but all of my e-mails were ignored. He would only request documents via my manufacturer as a middle man, and seeing as I cannot speak Mandarin, I obliged out of desperation. However, each time I provided a document, he would come up with an excuse as to why it could have possibly been forged.

I provided him with several pieces of documentation, including the initial wire transfer receipt, the MT103 receipt (including the wire recall attempt,) as well as bank statements showing the withdrawal. All of this documentation included banking information that was only accessible to the sender and the sendee. As proof of my identity, and in the cooperation of the Chinese police, he requested a copy of my driver's license. It still wasn't enough. He then requested my passport as verification. I did not have a passport, and in order to get one, I had to spend an additional $200 that I did not have in order to obtain one. When I finally obtained my passport, I sent a photo of it with the vital information covered by strips of paper to protect my information. The company then insisted they needed an uncensored version. I drew a hard line in the sand at this.

During this time, I was already frustrated with my manufacturer. It seemed more than clear to me that this was nothing more than a wild goose chase. However, the manufacturer did not want to compensate me for the $12k+ loss, and continued to insist that I do everything possible to retrieve the funds. I was exceedingly patient with them, and due to the fact that they are in possession of my entire plush inventory, I had no choice but to comply. This is another reason I had chosen to hold out for as long as I did. While $13k is a devastating loss, it was the lesser of two evils when compared to refunding the $80k orders I had already received from BackerKit.

Over these past six months, I have made multiple attempts to contact the Ningbo company and speak with them directly. I even provided my contact to my factory rep to pass along to him. All of my e-mails were ignored. I was initially hesitant to contact them via Alibaba, due to the fact that I had no intention of doing business with them, but it was my last resort. After growing increasingly fed up with being strung along, I sent a message to their Alibaba profile. At this point, he claimed no knowledge of my existence and blocked me. That was my final straw. The screenshot shows the current holder of my stolen funds denying everything and blocking me.

I confronted my manufacturer with this information, and my rep still insists that there is hope that the funds would be returned. During all of this time, the most I was offered as a discount for my manufacturer's negligence was 5%. Worse still, this discount wasn't even related to their system hacking, it was a company promotion event, and they requested that I promote them in exchange. I refused. Still, production needed to proceed as I was already running behind schedule with my plush campaign, so I scraped together my money and sent a 50% deposit. They promised me I could send the remaining 50% plus shipping after the bulks were completed.

Now, the plushes are ready to be shipped and they've presented me with a bill for over $20k. Still, no mention of a discount. Thanks to the preorder store, I have some uncharged funds in my account that will go towards footing the bill. However, these funds were supposed to pay for shipping to the customers. At the end of this campaign, I will be several thousands of dollars in the negatives. It is incredibly frustrating to know exactly where my stolen funds are, but to have no way to retrieve them. This bank is not federally regulated, therefore they cannot be forced to return the funds, despite all the proof I have.

These past six months have been some of the most isolating and devastating moments of my life. I have been unable to speak to anyone about this situation, continuously being strung along with false hope, only to be crushed over and over again. The guilt and self-blame have been overwhelming. Even now, having to ask for help is incredibly shameful. I've always tried to work hard for everything I've earned. However, no matter how many shop orders I fulfill, it's like raindrops in the ocean. I have considered getting another job, but I am the primary caregiver of my autistic child and working full-time on my business. Even if I were to find the time, I wouldn't be able to find additional care for my son.

If you've read to this point, thank you so much for taking the time to listen to my story. I would never ask for help if it wasn't the only choice I had left. Anything you can contribute would be so greatly appreciated, and even sharing my story would help my family out more than you can imagine. Even if it's just enough for another week of groceries or a tank of gas, I am so grateful and thankful to anyone who chooses to support me.