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On that Monday, when Mr Irvin gave me a ride to the Oakland airport, I hand no idea it would be the last day I would see him alive. My wife and son picked me up at LAX, and we went to IHOP just down the street in El Segundo for breakfast. It was so great to spend time with my family especially after being involved in so much “crazy” over the last week, and even then, I forgot to mention…. Monday, September 27th, 2021, I woke up around 5am. As soon as I checked my phone, I knew there was something wrong. My new night auditor, Myesha, had just been scammed for $1,200 by a fake caller, posing as our hotel’s owner, Mr Patel. It was true, our owners are two brothers, last name Patel. But this fake caller had convinced Ty that I was in a secret meeting at 2am, and that she needed to break into my office, grab all the cash she could find from our daily cash deposits, and drive it over to the local 7-Eleven to deposit it into the bitcoin transfer machine, and he gave her a specific bitcoin address to send it to. So, she followed his directions exactly, and the cash was now gone. By this time, Mr Irvin, my friend and new security, was waiting in his vehicle to give me a ride to the Oakland Airport. About 2am, the fake Mr Patel called Myesha at the front desk first, convinced her that he was the owner of the hotel, and let her know that he and I needed to text with her on WhatsApp. So, she connected with him on WhatsApp and then a second phone number posing as me, connected with her as well, letting her know that I was in a meeting, and letting her know to do whatever the owner says. She broke into my office. She had to break the rear door to my office to get in there. She was told she would be fired if she didn’t do it. He told her that a package would be arriving that morning with supplies for the hotel, but we wouldn’t be able to receive the package, and get the supplies for the hotel, unless she sent them the money to pay for it. At this point, I figure most reasonable managers would have cancelled their flight to LAX to pick up their car. Not me…I was determined to see my wife and son and pick up my car. I cleaned up, got dressed, and went down to the lobby from my hotel room on the 3rd floor. When I saw Myesha, she was scared to death and freaking out. When I told her that she had been scammed, she freaked out even more, to the point where I spent about 10 minutes just helping her calm down. After all, I still had a plane to catch…Our morning front desk person arrived, Myesha went home, and as I rode with Mr Irvin to Oakland airport, we had a great laugh and conversation about this morning’s events, and I let him know I appreciated him giving me a ride. My flight from Oakland to LAX was uneventful, thank God!
After breakfast with my family, I picked up my 2015 Nissan Sentra and drove back up to Vallejo to get back to work.