I had responded to an ad on Craigslist about a money making opportunity that could only be done once, a way to "earn $450" quickly. I responded to the ad and was later contacted by an "Eric Fontaine". He told me about this money aggregation scheme, where I would basically have to design an algorithm using several numbers I picked by hand and organized into 64 sets. He texted me telling me to follow him on his instagram for further instructions. He then asked for my kik name and started to correspond with me where he gave me the aforementioned information(he uses multiple kiks, two I know of are "workandgetpaid" and "onetimejobs").
Before I could begin he required me to purchase both an American Express Gift Card and a Netspend Visa card(on separate transactions), and load them. The AMEX giftcard was loaded with $130 and the Netspend with $10. He then asked for the AMEX card information as that was how I would be paid upon the completion of the program. He then repeatedly told me to get rid of the card, which initially raised my suspicions even further so I held onto it. After taking several days to get the sets done, he asked me to re-do them and that would complete the process.
Upon doing so, he told me to then activate my Netspend card and wait for a specific e-mail so he could complete the process. A day or so passed and he then told me that "FISERV" was experiencing maintenance and that it would be a little while longer. He then ceased all contact with me. I immediately grabbed the AMEX card and checked the balance, predictably it was $0. I saw he had made purchases with Netflix($12) and some company called First Data Merchant Corp(which displayed as WOW ESCR 0000 407 CLEMENT S SAN FRANCISCO 840 on the AMEX transaction list oddly enough) for $118. I contacted Netflix who then immediately cancelled the account and returned the money to the card. First Data Merchant Corp has refused to be cooperative on any level and even hung up on me in mid conversation!! After having done some digging it would seem Eric has done this scam before under the name "Dennis St. John" and who knows how many other variations. Stay away at all costs!