Everyone needs to keep a very close eye on their credit score since it factors into many of lifes biggest decisions.
A couple steps you can take right now include:
- **[Taking a look at your credit score](https://everydayeconomics.net/how-to-get-your-credit-score-credit-review)** - Looking at your own credit score does not hurt your credit, it also includes a credit monitor
- **[Freezing](https://usa.gov/credit-freeze)** your credit reports - This can be done with Experian, Equifax and Transunion to help prevent unauthorized accounts from being opened
Feel free to ask any credit score related question
Of the probably 14 people out of a job on Friday, I was literally the only one terminated, all the others were "laid off". I can't wait to testify against the prick.
It seems that if the company was in a position to need to do this then the assets that might actually exist may be hidden or protected. Plus who knows how many other creditors.
Considering the guy was brilliant enough to use *his own offices suite #* as the recipient address for 5 digits of credit card fraud and identity theft something tells me those assets aren't well hidden. Bonus points if they're hidden with his personal stuff because that means boss's *personal assets* can get liquidated too.
As a lawyer who has handled employment disputes and wrongful termination cases, it never ceases to amaze me how some people assume that because a case looks appealing on its face, that lawyers are just salivating over some “easy case with a lot of money.” It sounds like there may not be any money to obtain. Further, the boss has already built a file to justify termination of OP. OP will need to challenge that as a pretext that was created only in the wake of his reporting of a crime and indication that he was not willing to aid in the cover up of said crime.
Disclaimer: I am not your lawyer or OP’s lawyer. This is not legal advice.
The company may be in debt on paper, but they probably still have assets…, The building, the contents, vehicles, equipment, contracts… The first person that lawyers up and files a lien for damages will be the first to get paid out. Pretty sure harassment, unlawful, termination, hostile, work environment, fraud… Will get quite a good judgment for OP. If they have any chance of collecting they need to file their complaints with an attorney ASAP and then get that lien going.
Oddly, the defense also has a good case. "Our financials prove we couldn't afford to pay her, and that's why she and others were let go." I think her case is stronger, but it's not as if the defense doesn't have a leg to stand on. The entire reason for this activity was because they didn't have any money. Sadly for the boss, he didn't take legal evasive actions to save the company prior to allegedly committing identify theft.
Just because you win a judgment doesn’t mean you’ll necessarily collect. Look at the Sandy Hook families and Alex Jones. They’ll be lucky to collect pennies on the dollar of what they’re owed.
They're going to get a lot of it, and I think they mostly want to break him, and keep everyone scared to pull stuff like that in the future. But, this guy? It's going to be a "get in line" situation. He already has his assets mortgaged I'll bet.
I hope they collect as much as they possibly can.
As far as OP goes, good luck to them. I strongly suspect that the business is less profitable than anyone (except the former boss) knows, and I’m not sure whether they can pursue the personal assets of the firm’s owner.
Yeah but if this company is in the 💩 financially, the employees could get a $100M judgement or a $10 judgement and if the employer has $0 in bank and $0 assets a payment won't be forthcoming! Any insurance carried will be null for criminal acts/fraud. I'd hold off on paying tons of money for an attorney, however, do pursue it thru the police as this has "boss in jail" written all over it.
That been said, this is stated purely from logic and I don't know the law. I do know I tried to sue someone for breach of fiduciary duty and they were broke anyways, yet the lawyer kept saying they were "working on it" and filing all these BS motions. $20K into it, I dropped it knowing the person I was suing was broke and this BS would go on forever. Just trying to prevent anyone from feeding the hungry lawyer, so to speak. 🤷🏼♀️ I could be wrong and I admit that.
Yep, but even if OP wins do they have a chance at collecting? Sounds like boss is going to jail and the company may be even more unprofitable than OP imagined.
Should be against both, company likely has more assets to go after than the boss and the boss was working on behalf of the company when this happened and his actions benefited the company.
If US, notify your state's department of labor and department of revenue for any unpaid wages, vacation, etc if applicable. Do the same at federal level. Funny thing, not paying taxes on unpaid wages is tax fraud. And oddly the government is very incentivized to pursue that.
Put in for unemployment like you said. Your boss will have a hard time disputing it. The police report should cover that. Keep copies of everything and write down a timeline for everything. Who, what, where, when, witnesses, etc.
You can try suing for getting let go due to reporting criminal behavior, but honestly, dude has no money. No point. You can and should talk to a lawyer, but unless the guy has a lot of personal assets, you're not going to get much.
Um. How would that work? The company was so underwater that the dude committed identity theft to try and keep it alive. I'm not thinking there is any cha ching there.
The fact that the company hasn’t been profitable for a few months doesn’t mean they don’t have assets that could be seized. It’s definitely possible this will be like getting blood from a stone, but maybe not.
Most likely scenario is boss goes to jail, spends all the remaining money on attorneys, creditors get the money from the sell off of company assets. At least OP won't have to pay for the credit cards taken out in her name.
I’d start with looking around for a lawyer to sue for compensation and lost wages. Your boss stole your identity and committed fraud, you better get a lawyer and make sure he pays up before he effectively makes sure that you are unable to do so.
Still file for unemployment even through you were fired. They will likely initially deny it because you were fired. However you can appeal and show that you were fired in retaliation for fraud the company committed against you. I would expect that you would win the appeal.
Keep checking in and pushing for prosecution. Keep the group together. You don’t want to find he got some plea deal that you weren’t allowed to weigh in on.
Be sure to put freeze on your credit report through all 3 major credit reporting agencies as soon as you can if you have haven't yet.
[Instructions Here](https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/finance/how-to-freeze-credit). I also strongly recommend you turn on 2 factor authentication for **every single account** you have online, including sociall media accounts, bank accounts, email accounts, your Google and/or Apple ID, and anything else you can think of so there's always a 2nd layer of security when you login, or reset your password, and it makes it a lot harder for someone to maliciously gain access to your accounts.
It might also be good to close your existing credit and debit cards and ask for new ones to be issued right away just to be extra safe he didn't gain access to your stored credit or debit information.
Good luck, I hope you, and everyone else, is able to get all of the fraudulent charges reversed, and that your boss faces justice for what he did to all of you.
Yeah no shit he had the right, but that's little kid logic. Don't let your enemy know you've discovered his secrets until you hit him and the company *once* and *hard* with a lawyer, dont dance around in front of them with your evidence just to give him and HR time to think about how to lie!
I agree with this. I’ve been in business long enough to know not to show my hand. Listen, smile, gather information.
Then launch the nuke when the time is right.
Yeah, I’m certainly no expert here but I am in the anti money laundering field. And not that I think this is money laundering necessarily, it raises major red flags in that department and is also a very serious crime in and of itself.
Do not wait on this. Act immediately. This is a fucking crime.
Your vendors might want to know that they have been paid with stolen assets
This, and make sure that you know that sometimes reporting these sorts of crimes entitles you to a percentage of the losses/thefts. So report everywhere you can.
The boss was probably paying the company on the stolen cards through the merchant accounts which is why the merchant accounts were closed when the cards were cancelled.
Let's say you run some sort of illegal enterprise and you're making $700,000 a year. The IRS is going to see you buying a nice house and car but you have no income. You open up a business like a restaurant (or other business that takes cash payment), and every day when you make the bank deposit for your business you slip an extra $2000 in the deposit bag and account for it in your business receipts. You now have an extra $700,000 dollars in taxable income from your legitimate business that has been properly taxed so the IRS stays off your back about it.
I’m also an AML person.
I think money laundering has happened here, with the payment to OP’s company being the exact moment that money laundering took place, and identity fraud being the predicate offence.
You have a wrongful termination suit being served to you on a silver platter. This is the kind of case that lawyers *salivate* over. Freeze your credit yesterday and contact an employment lawyer!
If he’s racking up tens of thousands of dollars in fraudulent debt for multiple employees then clearly the business is basically bankrupt. Any lawsuit they file is going to make them one of many parties trying to divvy up whatever assets the company has. It’s very possible a lawyer will tell them that it might not be worth pursuing as they’ll only be able to recover a fraction of the judgement. Still worth a consult but if I were OP I wouldn’t get my hopes up on a payout.
He’s also probably already been mingling his personal finances with that of the business. So creditors to the business would also be able to go after his personal property and OP is back to square one of being one of a long line of people trying to squeeze blood from a stone.
Do you have an employment attorney? This is textbook retaliation, and you can actually prove it. You should sue this guy. Not that you'll ever see anything, but it would still be worth it.
I would get with as many of your old coworkers to make sure that they were not victims of his as well that way the more at trial to testify against him the better. If he stole the identities of more than just a couple co-workers they might be less likely to make a deal with him for less time if he pleads guilty.
While you likely have a winning case of wrongful termination, I wouldn't be all that upset, since I doubt that company will still be open much longer. Your former boss is very likely to end up in prison if he did that to do many employees.
Make an acct on government ID fraud and report everything. It's sort more for your paper trail, but it is ID theft, so file it wherever you can. Get the attorneys like everyone has advised as well. What a huge pain in the ass- take a deep breath, this MoFo's gonna get his just desserts.
This is at least identity theft and wrongful termination. File for unemployment benefits. If he's doing this to you (and other employees), I'd bet money he's done other things as well. Since it's not a large company, tax fraud would be the one that comes to mind.
Get together with the others and file a retaliation lawsuit. He fired you all because you found out he is a criminal. Make him have to suffer more for his behavior.
He won’t fight unemployment. First of all, he has bigger fish to fry. Second, he does NOT want to go before a judge of *any* sort and discuss alleged identity theft. What he says will be on record for his own trial.
He (should have) paid unemployment insurance. He’ll just let them do what they do since he probably won’t have a business anymore soon anyway.
This is the only way to protect your credit. Lock it through all reporting agencies, open them up if you are going to apply for credit. Impossible to get credit fraud if you have that set up, and you will get alerts if someone tries to apply for credit. Easy and way better than the stress of fraud and credit score damage.
File a lawsuit and bury this dude financially. Letting this guy skate by would be un-American. It is your patriotic duty to make sure he learns a valuable lesson so this doesn’t happen to future employees.
Not the first that this has happened. I've seen other people on this subreddit that had almost the identical thing happened. Small business. Employer got credit cards in their employee's names.
OP, please at least freeze your credit at the 3 credit reporting bureaus to avoid future incidents like this.
Experian, transunion and equifax.
You would need to setup an account on each one.
Also, I would suggest that you setup a new email that no one knows.
If you are in the US, I would also check with filing a complaint with the labor board. I'm sure you could argue unlawful termination and retribution on top of everything else.
You need to consider a consultation with an employment lawyer.
Let the police go after the criminal aspect. You take the civil route with your lawyer. You have damages both to your credit and career which could be worth $. Do it soon before this company folds up shop and files for bankruptcy. It's not a good sign that they're doing things like this.
Please do yourself a favor and have a consultation with an employment lawyer ASAP. Don’t allow the stress of the last 6 weeks to leave money on the table. You deserve even more for the stress so a civil suit could very well be in your interest as well. The lawyer will know better than I.
I’m sorry you’re going through this. Now is the time to get your money, though. The sooner you speak with a lawyer, the better. Unemployment may be next to nothing compared to a settlement you rightfully deserve. Best of luck. Update us again when the time comes!
OP, I haven’t read through all the comments, so you may already have been told this. This case may fall under the purview of the US Postal Inspection Service, as it involves credit card statements and potentially credit card applications that would be transported by mail. Besides local law enforcement, you should also contact the USPIS as they may wish to investigate.
I would advise making a visit to your district attorney's office and making sure all of your payroll deductions and FICA and benefits and 401(k) etc are all paid up and be prepared to go to the dept of labor if they aren't. This is a hydrogen bomb crater sized shitshow.
I always wonder how people like this feel justified in their actions and what they are able to tell themselves to believe you are somehow in the wrong.
OP - please file a claim with the EEOC immediately! Your firings are retaliation, and completely illegal (on top of your boss stealing your identities). Hit back where it hurts on all angles!
https://www.eeoc.gov/
Why would you even confront him? If you have proof then go straight to the police and then sue the company because he is a representative of that company and your identity was stolen because of their lax personal information security.
Depending upon how the company is registered, boss may have been able to separate company assets from personal assets, so even if the company is losing money and going broke, the boss may have ample assets squirreled away, and those will be what you will be going after.
Good on you for filing charges. Now go file unemployment and if the company disputes it remind the company that you’ll sue for wrongful termination after they had an employee commit identity theft.
Did you file a police report and contact the credit bureaus to tell them the cars were opened fraudulently? That’s how you get them or your report, not directly with the credit card company.
Also, lock your credit reports (all 3 of them). And start collecting unemployment. You could have a legal case to sue your boss for as well but it sounds like the business isn’t going to have much money if any so not sure if that would be helpful.
I would hire a lawyer, but would not get my hopes up. I saw an employer do this once before, they were attempting to stave off bankruptcy by using employees to generate sales numbers
Now that you've called the cops and the credit agencies, you and the other employees should get a lawyer together and see if you can sue the ex-boss, too. Might be blood from a stone, though.
Keep your credit file locked and frozen. If your boss had enough information on you to open a credit card in your name he could do it again. Just because you no longer work there doesn't mean you're in the clear.
I've twice had bosses dispute unemployment - I'm an old, so it's not like I was fired a bunch.
In the first case, Boss was personally insulted I filed. it was a weird hearing, and because she acted so affronted the entire time (it was very unprofessional and inappropriate - the hearing officer even told her so), they found for me.
In the second case, Boss was just a total jackass and disappeared. He didn't even show for the hearing, and the hearing officer said this showed I was really just a contractor. It was... AMAZING - I think I may have even said, "Are you f\*cking KIDDING me?!"
So, fighting for unemployment can be a crapshoot. But you still should, and your boss should be in jail.
Your boss made a mistake giving you the rest of the week off, you’re going to have a lawyer by Monday.
This is the time to spend your rage as energy to right this wrong, and protect yourself from any other ridiculous antics.
Remember to ask your lawyer whether to file an unemployment claim right away, because delaying on that can cost you seriously.
Congratulations on your work so far, it sounds like you scared this fool out of destroying other people’s credit.
File for unemployment but provide the police report and a good description of what happened. Stay on top of the police investigation. He could continue to use your identity if you don’t stay proactive.
Get a lawyer and file a wrongful termination suit. You probably won't collect anything but at least you will have that to prove to unemployment. Do not sit on this. File unemployment now and also call the labor board in your area.
"I'm going to take about a month to just chill before trying to find something else. I feel like I owe it to myself after the last 6 weeks at work."
You do not need to be chilling right now. You need to be lawyering up. This is wrongful termination and identity theft.
Sounds like old boss gave you a blank check. I’d get all your record together, go talk to a lawyer, and start seeing about a civil suite to accompany his criminal suite for identity theft.
NAL so maybe you don’t have enough for a civil case, but I’d go get a lawyer or two to review the facts and confirm I have no case.
So glad you went to the police and you your coworkers did too. I hope you boss gets years in jail for all of this. You should also sue for wrongful termination.
I echo what many are saying on here in that you have an airtight wrongful termination case. You can go after them for wrongful termination and retaliation for reporting him. You also, which I see you have already done, need to go to the police and tell them not only has he stolen your identity, but he got you fired from your job as retaliation. I'm not sure what state or country you live in, but your boss is in big trouble!
Get yourself a really good employment law attorney, go to the EEOC if you live in the States, or whatever serves as the labor board, and go after your former place of employment and your employer.
Please update
Dang...wrongful termination, identity theft, mail fraud. ..that guy uses gonna be under the jail. I hope 100% that you're in a place where they will prosecute.
Find an Employment Attorney and sue your old boss, as your firing could be easily interpreted as retaliation. You may also deserve compensation for the whole credit card theft issue. This would be a civil lawsuit, in addition to any charges brought by the police. Seriously, check it out.
Contrary to some advice:
OP may not need to wait to consult a lawyer. Most lawyers represent wrongful termination cases on a contingency. If OP has to pay up front, that may mean the lawyer isn't confident on the payout. At least the initial consultation should always be free.
ID theft is a criminal offence so the boss will likely go to jail, and it seems like the damages the victims suffered were mitigated (made whole) by the credit card companies, so it wouldn't be easy to get a payout in a civil case.
This is a very strong wrongful term case, so it's still good to check with a lawyer and see if they can represent on a contingency.
Get on it with an attorney before his insurance lapses, or at least get in with the crown that'll receive some form of payment if/when he files bankruptcy.
Your ex-boss is going to prison, you'll all be collecting unemployment, and I hope you have time to heal your mental state after being so bloody taxed.
If it has t already been said in another comment, you should go to an HR atty for wrongful termination and theft of your private information.
You should get your fellow employees to join the suit. Your former company likely has insurance to cover employee lawsuits - so there are likely resources backing up a judgment or settlement.
Absolutely file for unemployment. Document everything. Freeze your credit report. Follow up with everything. Just be happy that you discovered this because this ex-boss of yours will hopefully go to prison for this.
File an unlawful termination lawsuit against him.
File and press charges. Leave reviews warning other future employees. And then smile and wave you will bounce back everyone loses a job either intentionally or unintentionally. Your better off. Congrats on the freedom take your time find a right fit.
What I do not understand is if OP even thought his boss (or anybody)stole his identity why did he not freeze his credit.
Then report it to the police six weeks ago. Especially when his boss told him to wait to report it.
Your boss is lucky you’re an intelligent and well adjusted person because there are a lot of people that wouldn’t have reacted as kindly as you did in this situation. Hope he enjoys courts.
Go after him in any way you can(legally of course). Unemployment and maybe sue him directly if you can. You also have an interesting story for when you get asked why you are no longer with this company.
I read a post again recently (because it was recently updated) where a teen kid was blackmailed into working off a "debt" for trashing a hotel room at a hotel for three years without pay. When the teen tried to leave, the boss threatened to take everything they had and have them arrested. Everyone told the OP to get a lawyer, stat. OP called, and the lawyers were salivating for OP's case, to the point that they actually got an appointment the next morning! What that OP's boss did was very, very illegal. The lawyers took the case pro bono and OP won big.
What your boss did to you was illegal, and lucky for you, you have a paper trail! Print out the email of your credit report that you asked for when you got the first bill in your hand. Bring the bill (it will be dated). Bring copies of your write-ups to show they coincide with you bringing it up to your boss (if you requested a meeting to talk about it, bring proof of that email or whatever), and the other write-up came after you put a hold on your credit. Bring the police report and mention what date the detective showed up to the office. Then gather all the co-workers who also had their credit stolen and were terminated when they brought it up. You have a wrongful termination lawsuit on a golden platter, as well as identity theft and fraud.
If you and your coworkers are in the USA, you and all of your coworkers are protected against termination, layoffs, and any other adverse actions by your employer. You have a huge lawsuit on your hands and can likely take the business and owner for a whole lot of money.
CALL a lawyer - you have a potential case not just criminally but civilly to recover damages / impact to you. If you AND the other employees call a lawyer together the lawyer may be able to rep y'all as a group
Get a lawyer and sue. That’s retaliation, plain and simple. Also, start looking for a job today. It will take you at least a month to find one, and likely much longer. You will still have plenty of time to relax.
It'll be tough for him to fight the unemployment from prison, which is where he will likely end up. Sadly that will take some time. Just keep your proof, and send in the copy of the police report. No state is going to deny you even if you had voluntarily quit.
Sue your boss for wrongful termination. Firing you because he committed fraud using your name and you reported it falls under retaliation protection laws.
Everyone needs to keep a very close eye on their credit score since it factors into many of lifes biggest decisions. A couple steps you can take right now include: - **[Taking a look at your credit score](https://everydayeconomics.net/how-to-get-your-credit-score-credit-review)** - Looking at your own credit score does not hurt your credit, it also includes a credit monitor - **[Freezing](https://usa.gov/credit-freeze)** your credit reports - This can be done with Experian, Equifax and Transunion to help prevent unauthorized accounts from being opened Feel free to ask any credit score related question
Of the probably 14 people out of a job on Friday, I was literally the only one terminated, all the others were "laid off". I can't wait to testify against the prick.
You have a wrongful termination lawsuit being handed to you right now.
A strong wrongful termination lawsuit. Employment lawyer, now.
OP sure does.
Bet the lawyer's mouth are watering because of easy case with lot of money.
What money the boss has been floating the company on employees identies and probably will be doing time at club fed.
What money? The company is broke. Thats why the boss was stealing identities and opening credit cards…
The company and the boss undoubtedly have assets that can be liquidated.
It seems that if the company was in a position to need to do this then the assets that might actually exist may be hidden or protected. Plus who knows how many other creditors.
Considering the guy was brilliant enough to use *his own offices suite #* as the recipient address for 5 digits of credit card fraud and identity theft something tells me those assets aren't well hidden. Bonus points if they're hidden with his personal stuff because that means boss's *personal assets* can get liquidated too.
As a lawyer who has handled employment disputes and wrongful termination cases, it never ceases to amaze me how some people assume that because a case looks appealing on its face, that lawyers are just salivating over some “easy case with a lot of money.” It sounds like there may not be any money to obtain. Further, the boss has already built a file to justify termination of OP. OP will need to challenge that as a pretext that was created only in the wake of his reporting of a crime and indication that he was not willing to aid in the cover up of said crime. Disclaimer: I am not your lawyer or OP’s lawyer. This is not legal advice.
All of that file was built after he reported the fraud to the boss.
An easy case perhaps. But as he stole from the employees I assume that there isn't "easy" money.
The company may be in debt on paper, but they probably still have assets…, The building, the contents, vehicles, equipment, contracts… The first person that lawyers up and files a lien for damages will be the first to get paid out. Pretty sure harassment, unlawful, termination, hostile, work environment, fraud… Will get quite a good judgment for OP. If they have any chance of collecting they need to file their complaints with an attorney ASAP and then get that lien going.
Oddly, the defense also has a good case. "Our financials prove we couldn't afford to pay her, and that's why she and others were let go." I think her case is stronger, but it's not as if the defense doesn't have a leg to stand on. The entire reason for this activity was because they didn't have any money. Sadly for the boss, he didn't take legal evasive actions to save the company prior to allegedly committing identify theft.
Just because you win a judgment doesn’t mean you’ll necessarily collect. Look at the Sandy Hook families and Alex Jones. They’ll be lucky to collect pennies on the dollar of what they’re owed.
They're going to get a lot of it, and I think they mostly want to break him, and keep everyone scared to pull stuff like that in the future. But, this guy? It's going to be a "get in line" situation. He already has his assets mortgaged I'll bet.
I hope they collect as much as they possibly can. As far as OP goes, good luck to them. I strongly suspect that the business is less profitable than anyone (except the former boss) knows, and I’m not sure whether they can pursue the personal assets of the firm’s owner.
Yeah but if this company is in the 💩 financially, the employees could get a $100M judgement or a $10 judgement and if the employer has $0 in bank and $0 assets a payment won't be forthcoming! Any insurance carried will be null for criminal acts/fraud. I'd hold off on paying tons of money for an attorney, however, do pursue it thru the police as this has "boss in jail" written all over it. That been said, this is stated purely from logic and I don't know the law. I do know I tried to sue someone for breach of fiduciary duty and they were broke anyways, yet the lawyer kept saying they were "working on it" and filing all these BS motions. $20K into it, I dropped it knowing the person I was suing was broke and this BS would go on forever. Just trying to prevent anyone from feeding the hungry lawyer, so to speak. 🤷🏼♀️ I could be wrong and I admit that.
Yep, but even if OP wins do they have a chance at collecting? Sounds like boss is going to jail and the company may be even more unprofitable than OP imagined.
hell yeah op does , hope he does clean him out, although if he does win anything kinda hard to collect from aa broke person.
If the company has insurance, he may be able to collect from that
If the premiums were paid…
I mean, they WERE paid, right up until OP went and disputed the charges
hopefully
Maybe some office chairs from bankruptcy
How useful is that against a company going out of business?
It's against the boss himself so I don't think it matters if the company folds, he is still on the hook.
Should be against both, company likely has more assets to go after than the boss and the boss was working on behalf of the company when this happened and his actions benefited the company.
Needs to get it in before the company files bankruptcy.
He’s doing credit card fraud… can’t get blood from a stone..
License on homes and cars and bank accounts etc...... This isn't a crime by business but by individual.
When individuals do this they tend to have nothing to lose.
Well, behind bars they will get 3 meals and a bed. Technically better than the streets.
Prison ? Should not be taken lightly.1
Questionable, the bosses actions were done to benefit the company. Company very likely could also be liable.
He needs to get the ball rolling before the company is completely insolvent and there is not cut of the pie to go after. OP file a law suit ASAP.
This.
Not going to do much good since company has no money and boss is going to prison.
Boss might not have a lot of liquid wealth but he ran a 50 person company. I'm sure he's got something.
Coupled with the credit card fraud and identity theft, OPs never going to have to work again if hes smart.
You should see an employment attorney asap. Sounds like wrongful termination due to retaliation.
If US, notify your state's department of labor and department of revenue for any unpaid wages, vacation, etc if applicable. Do the same at federal level. Funny thing, not paying taxes on unpaid wages is tax fraud. And oddly the government is very incentivized to pursue that. Put in for unemployment like you said. Your boss will have a hard time disputing it. The police report should cover that. Keep copies of everything and write down a timeline for everything. Who, what, where, when, witnesses, etc. You can try suing for getting let go due to reporting criminal behavior, but honestly, dude has no money. No point. You can and should talk to a lawyer, but unless the guy has a lot of personal assets, you're not going to get much.
Cha ching. You just won the lottery.
Um. How would that work? The company was so underwater that the dude committed identity theft to try and keep it alive. I'm not thinking there is any cha ching there.
The fact that the company hasn’t been profitable for a few months doesn’t mean they don’t have assets that could be seized. It’s definitely possible this will be like getting blood from a stone, but maybe not.
Property liens, wage garnishment? There's options for the court.
Yep, gonna garnish the 14 cents an hour he's earning in lockup. Good luck finding a lawyer to take a case against a guy who has no assets.
Just because the business is broke doesn’t mean he doesn’t have squirreled away money and assets.
Or a house.
Insurance, assuming the company had business insurance
Only in a fantasy where the credit card fraudster still has money…
Most likely scenario is boss goes to jail, spends all the remaining money on attorneys, creditors get the money from the sell off of company assets. At least OP won't have to pay for the credit cards taken out in her name.
I’d start with looking around for a lawyer to sue for compensation and lost wages. Your boss stole your identity and committed fraud, you better get a lawyer and make sure he pays up before he effectively makes sure that you are unable to do so.
Still file for unemployment even through you were fired. They will likely initially deny it because you were fired. However you can appeal and show that you were fired in retaliation for fraud the company committed against you. I would expect that you would win the appeal.
File for unemployment….uou have proof this wasn’t for “cause”.
Take him to court.
Fuck your ex boss. He deserves whatever is coming to him. I hope every thing works out well for you!
File a complaint with your state department of labor and file for unemployment.
Keep checking in and pushing for prosecution. Keep the group together. You don’t want to find he got some plea deal that you weren’t allowed to weigh in on.
Be sure to put freeze on your credit report through all 3 major credit reporting agencies as soon as you can if you have haven't yet. [Instructions Here](https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/finance/how-to-freeze-credit). I also strongly recommend you turn on 2 factor authentication for **every single account** you have online, including sociall media accounts, bank accounts, email accounts, your Google and/or Apple ID, and anything else you can think of so there's always a 2nd layer of security when you login, or reset your password, and it makes it a lot harder for someone to maliciously gain access to your accounts. It might also be good to close your existing credit and debit cards and ask for new ones to be issued right away just to be extra safe he didn't gain access to your stored credit or debit information. Good luck, I hope you, and everyone else, is able to get all of the fraudulent charges reversed, and that your boss faces justice for what he did to all of you.
Why on earth did you confront your boss? There was never a conversation to be had, the confrontation should have come from prosecutors
He had EVERY intention/right to do this...and teach the douchebag boss a lesson...
Yeah no shit he had the right, but that's little kid logic. Don't let your enemy know you've discovered his secrets until you hit him and the company *once* and *hard* with a lawyer, dont dance around in front of them with your evidence just to give him and HR time to think about how to lie!
I agree with this. I’ve been in business long enough to know not to show my hand. Listen, smile, gather information. Then launch the nuke when the time is right.
Yeah, I’m certainly no expert here but I am in the anti money laundering field. And not that I think this is money laundering necessarily, it raises major red flags in that department and is also a very serious crime in and of itself. Do not wait on this. Act immediately. This is a fucking crime. Your vendors might want to know that they have been paid with stolen assets
This, and make sure that you know that sometimes reporting these sorts of crimes entitles you to a percentage of the losses/thefts. So report everywhere you can.
The boss was probably paying the company on the stolen cards through the merchant accounts which is why the merchant accounts were closed when the cards were cancelled.
This is going to come across like a cut scene from Office Space but what are the real methods commonly used for money laundering?
Let's say you run some sort of illegal enterprise and you're making $700,000 a year. The IRS is going to see you buying a nice house and car but you have no income. You open up a business like a restaurant (or other business that takes cash payment), and every day when you make the bank deposit for your business you slip an extra $2000 in the deposit bag and account for it in your business receipts. You now have an extra $700,000 dollars in taxable income from your legitimate business that has been properly taxed so the IRS stays off your back about it.
I’m also an AML person. I think money laundering has happened here, with the payment to OP’s company being the exact moment that money laundering took place, and identity fraud being the predicate offence.
It's not money laundering, it's simple fraud.
You have a wrongful termination suit being served to you on a silver platter. This is the kind of case that lawyers *salivate* over. Freeze your credit yesterday and contact an employment lawyer!
If he’s racking up tens of thousands of dollars in fraudulent debt for multiple employees then clearly the business is basically bankrupt. Any lawsuit they file is going to make them one of many parties trying to divvy up whatever assets the company has. It’s very possible a lawyer will tell them that it might not be worth pursuing as they’ll only be able to recover a fraction of the judgement. Still worth a consult but if I were OP I wouldn’t get my hopes up on a payout.
If the boss did this, he’s open to personal liability.
He’s also probably already been mingling his personal finances with that of the business. So creditors to the business would also be able to go after his personal property and OP is back to square one of being one of a long line of people trying to squeeze blood from a stone.
Freeze your credit and file a police report Yesterday!!
I came here to say this.
Do you have an employment attorney? This is textbook retaliation, and you can actually prove it. You should sue this guy. Not that you'll ever see anything, but it would still be worth it.
Employment attorney. Police report about stolen identity. Do both **now**.
1. file police report on identity theft. 2. find wrongful termination attorney.
I would get with as many of your old coworkers to make sure that they were not victims of his as well that way the more at trial to testify against him the better. If he stole the identities of more than just a couple co-workers they might be less likely to make a deal with him for less time if he pleads guilty.
You can apply for unemployment if it is available in your area. Your reason for termination would not hold as a reason to deny!!! Update me
OP - you need to hire an attorney for several causes of actions, Wrongful Termination, Identity Theft, emotional distress just to name a few.
While you likely have a winning case of wrongful termination, I wouldn't be all that upset, since I doubt that company will still be open much longer. Your former boss is very likely to end up in prison if he did that to do many employees.
But if he has a home with equity…a lien would be a beautiful thing.
You are totally going to be able to collect unemployment on this. Go right now and file, just to cause your boss extra pain.
Sue the ever-living shit out of him. And press charges for fraud!
Make an acct on government ID fraud and report everything. It's sort more for your paper trail, but it is ID theft, so file it wherever you can. Get the attorneys like everyone has advised as well. What a huge pain in the ass- take a deep breath, this MoFo's gonna get his just desserts.
Yo this is bordering class action status. Find the biggest shark lawyer firm in your metro area and go scorched earth
As an unemployment and employment paralegal, CHA CHING!!!!!
This is at least identity theft and wrongful termination. File for unemployment benefits. If he's doing this to you (and other employees), I'd bet money he's done other things as well. Since it's not a large company, tax fraud would be the one that comes to mind.
Get together with the others and file a retaliation lawsuit. He fired you all because you found out he is a criminal. Make him have to suffer more for his behavior.
He won’t fight unemployment. First of all, he has bigger fish to fry. Second, he does NOT want to go before a judge of *any* sort and discuss alleged identity theft. What he says will be on record for his own trial. He (should have) paid unemployment insurance. He’ll just let them do what they do since he probably won’t have a business anymore soon anyway.
Op I know this isn't helpful but for future prevention, lock your credit down and only unlock if you need to open a new line of credit.
This is the only way to protect your credit. Lock it through all reporting agencies, open them up if you are going to apply for credit. Impossible to get credit fraud if you have that set up, and you will get alerts if someone tries to apply for credit. Easy and way better than the stress of fraud and credit score damage.
Call the local news. Name and shame this guy!
File a lawsuit and bury this dude financially. Letting this guy skate by would be un-American. It is your patriotic duty to make sure he learns a valuable lesson so this doesn’t happen to future employees.
Not the first that this has happened. I've seen other people on this subreddit that had almost the identical thing happened. Small business. Employer got credit cards in their employee's names.
How is this not on the news? He should be arrested already.
You should file a lawsuit against your employer and seek judgement and take his company assets if anything is left and take his house if he has one.
Police. You need to go to the police and file a police report.
OP, please please contact an employment lawyer. Also freeze your credit. And apply for unemployment - you will get it
!remindme 1 week
Uh... police? Where they at
All these comments giving advice that op was given a month ago and alrdy did alot of because this is an update...
Have you contacted an attorney? I hope you ran to one.
Does the company provide a service that you can do with a crew of coworkers and start working with some of the vendors and customers?
OP, please at least freeze your credit at the 3 credit reporting bureaus to avoid future incidents like this. Experian, transunion and equifax. You would need to setup an account on each one. Also, I would suggest that you setup a new email that no one knows.
Um... next step is a lawsuit against your employer for wrongful termination as well as the identity theft. Then enjoy an extended vacation.
If you are in the US, I would also check with filing a complaint with the labor board. I'm sure you could argue unlawful termination and retribution on top of everything else.
So you're just gonna let him get away with retaliation, huh?🤦♂️
You need to consider a consultation with an employment lawyer. Let the police go after the criminal aspect. You take the civil route with your lawyer. You have damages both to your credit and career which could be worth $. Do it soon before this company folds up shop and files for bankruptcy. It's not a good sign that they're doing things like this.
Please do yourself a favor and have a consultation with an employment lawyer ASAP. Don’t allow the stress of the last 6 weeks to leave money on the table. You deserve even more for the stress so a civil suit could very well be in your interest as well. The lawyer will know better than I. I’m sorry you’re going through this. Now is the time to get your money, though. The sooner you speak with a lawyer, the better. Unemployment may be next to nothing compared to a settlement you rightfully deserve. Best of luck. Update us again when the time comes!
You should also file a complaint with the EEOC as well.
OP, I haven’t read through all the comments, so you may already have been told this. This case may fall under the purview of the US Postal Inspection Service, as it involves credit card statements and potentially credit card applications that would be transported by mail. Besides local law enforcement, you should also contact the USPIS as they may wish to investigate.
I would advise making a visit to your district attorney's office and making sure all of your payroll deductions and FICA and benefits and 401(k) etc are all paid up and be prepared to go to the dept of labor if they aren't. This is a hydrogen bomb crater sized shitshow.
Boss will face jail+fines for fraud and identity theft. Make sure all of you keep records
I always wonder how people like this feel justified in their actions and what they are able to tell themselves to believe you are somehow in the wrong.
Your boss is really counting on the idea that someone isn't going to beat him to death with a chair someday
Class. Action. Lawsuit. Wrongful termination. Sue for identity theft. Bury him.
OP - please file a claim with the EEOC immediately! Your firings are retaliation, and completely illegal (on top of your boss stealing your identities). Hit back where it hurts on all angles! https://www.eeoc.gov/
Why would you even confront him? If you have proof then go straight to the police and then sue the company because he is a representative of that company and your identity was stolen because of their lax personal information security.
Hire an employment attorney NOW!
Do you know how horny this would make a lawyer?
Depending upon how the company is registered, boss may have been able to separate company assets from personal assets, so even if the company is losing money and going broke, the boss may have ample assets squirreled away, and those will be what you will be going after.
Why haven't you gone to HR to file a complaint against your boss for wrongful termination? Consulted with an attorney for a lawsuit?
Good on you for filing charges. Now go file unemployment and if the company disputes it remind the company that you’ll sue for wrongful termination after they had an employee commit identity theft.
I’m confused why the police did nothing when you went to them.
I just can’t get over the nerve of this jerk. Karma is a bitch & I truly hope in his case it’s a big bitch!
Go to the police immediately! Don’t feel sorry for this person. It might save your credit. They need some jail time
Did you file a police report and contact the credit bureaus to tell them the cars were opened fraudulently? That’s how you get them or your report, not directly with the credit card company. Also, lock your credit reports (all 3 of them). And start collecting unemployment. You could have a legal case to sue your boss for as well but it sounds like the business isn’t going to have much money if any so not sure if that would be helpful.
Sounds like this dudes a clown show
He will go to jail for identity theft. He’s in big trouble
I would hire a lawyer, but would not get my hopes up. I saw an employer do this once before, they were attempting to stave off bankruptcy by using employees to generate sales numbers
The 5 of you should band together and sue him
Do not take time off. Speak to a lawyer who specializes in employment law. Gather your proof and do it right away.
Have you contacted the police. If he did what you allege, its a felony.
You could potentially have a criminal case against your ex-boss also. The amount on the accounts he fraudulently is high for felony action!
File a police report and let them deal with it
Is there something missing here? I keep seeing replies that the OP has been fired. Post only says written up.
I would be shocked if he is current with his payments to unemployment.
He wanted OP to wait 120 days so the charges could not be disputed.
I'll say it again: FREEZE your three credit reports. Google it if you don't know how.
Yea this is fraud and he's guilty. File a police report and notify the credit card companies. Send them the reports. Off your credit
Now that you've called the cops and the credit agencies, you and the other employees should get a lawyer together and see if you can sue the ex-boss, too. Might be blood from a stone, though.
Keep your credit file locked and frozen. If your boss had enough information on you to open a credit card in your name he could do it again. Just because you no longer work there doesn't mean you're in the clear.
Updateme!
I'm confused, in America do you only need your SS number to open a credit card? Can you not see the linked credit cards on your banking app?
Did op delete their account??
Have you been to the police yet?
You need a lawyer like yesterday.
Well, when interviewers ask "Why did you leave your last position?" you will probably have the most unique answer!
I've twice had bosses dispute unemployment - I'm an old, so it's not like I was fired a bunch. In the first case, Boss was personally insulted I filed. it was a weird hearing, and because she acted so affronted the entire time (it was very unprofessional and inappropriate - the hearing officer even told her so), they found for me. In the second case, Boss was just a total jackass and disappeared. He didn't even show for the hearing, and the hearing officer said this showed I was really just a contractor. It was... AMAZING - I think I may have even said, "Are you f\*cking KIDDING me?!" So, fighting for unemployment can be a crapshoot. But you still should, and your boss should be in jail.
Your boss made a mistake giving you the rest of the week off, you’re going to have a lawyer by Monday. This is the time to spend your rage as energy to right this wrong, and protect yourself from any other ridiculous antics. Remember to ask your lawyer whether to file an unemployment claim right away, because delaying on that can cost you seriously. Congratulations on your work so far, it sounds like you scared this fool out of destroying other people’s credit.
I’m Infuriated and I don’t even know you!!
that's some jail time coming for your boss.
File for unemployment but provide the police report and a good description of what happened. Stay on top of the police investigation. He could continue to use your identity if you don’t stay proactive.
Get a lawyer and file a wrongful termination suit. You probably won't collect anything but at least you will have that to prove to unemployment. Do not sit on this. File unemployment now and also call the labor board in your area.
Your ex boss needs to be in prison for identity theft and fraud...
Lawyer up and call the cops and watch the oh no consequences bus show up for your ex boss.
"I'm going to take about a month to just chill before trying to find something else. I feel like I owe it to myself after the last 6 weeks at work." You do not need to be chilling right now. You need to be lawyering up. This is wrongful termination and identity theft.
Go after him hard. Get a news outlet to write it up. Get attorneys. Put this fucker in jail.
Did you lock your credit??? Make sure he doesn't do it again to pay his legal bills!!!!
Sounds like old boss gave you a blank check. I’d get all your record together, go talk to a lawyer, and start seeing about a civil suite to accompany his criminal suite for identity theft. NAL so maybe you don’t have enough for a civil case, but I’d go get a lawyer or two to review the facts and confirm I have no case.
So glad you went to the police and you your coworkers did too. I hope you boss gets years in jail for all of this. You should also sue for wrongful termination.
You need to call a lawyer like literally today
I echo what many are saying on here in that you have an airtight wrongful termination case. You can go after them for wrongful termination and retaliation for reporting him. You also, which I see you have already done, need to go to the police and tell them not only has he stolen your identity, but he got you fired from your job as retaliation. I'm not sure what state or country you live in, but your boss is in big trouble! Get yourself a really good employment law attorney, go to the EEOC if you live in the States, or whatever serves as the labor board, and go after your former place of employment and your employer. Please update
First lesson everyone should learn… Freeze your credit report, it’s free!
Dang...wrongful termination, identity theft, mail fraud. ..that guy uses gonna be under the jail. I hope 100% that you're in a place where they will prosecute.
Find an Employment Attorney and sue your old boss, as your firing could be easily interpreted as retaliation. You may also deserve compensation for the whole credit card theft issue. This would be a civil lawsuit, in addition to any charges brought by the police. Seriously, check it out.
!updateme
Contrary to some advice: OP may not need to wait to consult a lawyer. Most lawyers represent wrongful termination cases on a contingency. If OP has to pay up front, that may mean the lawyer isn't confident on the payout. At least the initial consultation should always be free. ID theft is a criminal offence so the boss will likely go to jail, and it seems like the damages the victims suffered were mitigated (made whole) by the credit card companies, so it wouldn't be easy to get a payout in a civil case. This is a very strong wrongful term case, so it's still good to check with a lawyer and see if they can represent on a contingency.
UpdateMe!
Enjoy that lawsuit. Hire an attorney and alongside the stolen identity you have wrongful termination.
Don’t just file for unemployment, get an attorney and sue him
Business Insurance is usually $1 M or more, get a lawyer
Get on it with an attorney before his insurance lapses, or at least get in with the crown that'll receive some form of payment if/when he files bankruptcy.
oh i hope he gets a long string of nights in the pokey
Wow!! That’s just crazy!! I can’t even imagine.
Your ex-boss is going to prison, you'll all be collecting unemployment, and I hope you have time to heal your mental state after being so bloody taxed.
Holy shit. File a police report STAT!!! This is Felony theft!!
If it has t already been said in another comment, you should go to an HR atty for wrongful termination and theft of your private information. You should get your fellow employees to join the suit. Your former company likely has insurance to cover employee lawsuits - so there are likely resources backing up a judgment or settlement.
Absolutely file for unemployment. Document everything. Freeze your credit report. Follow up with everything. Just be happy that you discovered this because this ex-boss of yours will hopefully go to prison for this. File an unlawful termination lawsuit against him.
File and press charges. Leave reviews warning other future employees. And then smile and wave you will bounce back everyone loses a job either intentionally or unintentionally. Your better off. Congrats on the freedom take your time find a right fit.
What I do not understand is if OP even thought his boss (or anybody)stole his identity why did he not freeze his credit. Then report it to the police six weeks ago. Especially when his boss told him to wait to report it.
I think you guys all should come together and sue him for at least a year salary per person.
Updateme
Your boss is lucky you’re an intelligent and well adjusted person because there are a lot of people that wouldn’t have reacted as kindly as you did in this situation. Hope he enjoys courts.
Go after him in any way you can(legally of course). Unemployment and maybe sue him directly if you can. You also have an interesting story for when you get asked why you are no longer with this company.
I read a post again recently (because it was recently updated) where a teen kid was blackmailed into working off a "debt" for trashing a hotel room at a hotel for three years without pay. When the teen tried to leave, the boss threatened to take everything they had and have them arrested. Everyone told the OP to get a lawyer, stat. OP called, and the lawyers were salivating for OP's case, to the point that they actually got an appointment the next morning! What that OP's boss did was very, very illegal. The lawyers took the case pro bono and OP won big. What your boss did to you was illegal, and lucky for you, you have a paper trail! Print out the email of your credit report that you asked for when you got the first bill in your hand. Bring the bill (it will be dated). Bring copies of your write-ups to show they coincide with you bringing it up to your boss (if you requested a meeting to talk about it, bring proof of that email or whatever), and the other write-up came after you put a hold on your credit. Bring the police report and mention what date the detective showed up to the office. Then gather all the co-workers who also had their credit stolen and were terminated when they brought it up. You have a wrongful termination lawsuit on a golden platter, as well as identity theft and fraud.
If you and your coworkers are in the USA, you and all of your coworkers are protected against termination, layoffs, and any other adverse actions by your employer. You have a huge lawsuit on your hands and can likely take the business and owner for a whole lot of money.
He is going to prison. Talk with an employment atty. You have grounds for a wrongful termination suit.
CALL a lawyer - you have a potential case not just criminally but civilly to recover damages / impact to you. If you AND the other employees call a lawyer together the lawyer may be able to rep y'all as a group
RemindMe!
Get a lawyer and sue. That’s retaliation, plain and simple. Also, start looking for a job today. It will take you at least a month to find one, and likely much longer. You will still have plenty of time to relax.
It'll be tough for him to fight the unemployment from prison, which is where he will likely end up. Sadly that will take some time. Just keep your proof, and send in the copy of the police report. No state is going to deny you even if you had voluntarily quit.
Sue your boss for wrongful termination. Firing you because he committed fraud using your name and you reported it falls under retaliation protection laws.