The scam usually begins with a moving broker, who solicits a customer, sets up the move, and then finds a carrier to pick up and transport the person's belongings. It's easy to become a broker in Florida, where establishing an LLC"You just go online, make up a fake name, and that's it and you're up and running.
The couple's belongings — nearly all of their possessions — were supposed to get to Missouri City between 10 and 14 days later. But that window came and went and nothing arrived. Wisuttismarn said she repeatedly called and texted the broker to no avail. She said she had no luck with the police department in Santa Clara, so she began her own investigation and eventually tracked her things to a Public Storage facility in Bothell, Washington.
But the bill for the storage unit with Wisuttismarn's belongings had gone unpaid and its contents were auctioned off. Wisuttismarn eventually got in touch with the man who'd bought her belongings and negotiated with him to purchase the items that he hadn't yet sold off for $3,000, according to a copy of the check Wisuttismarn provided.
"I met my husband in China, and I spent a lot of formative years there and, you know, to one who plays music, these things are special," she said."At the end of the day, we all die without anything, but, you know, I do miss that."