A former computer repair employer of mine apparently had us running what they call a 'check racing scam' back around 2014. I didn't fully understand the nature of the scam back then, but I knew it seemed really fishy.

He'd write on the memo line 'loan to shareholder', though he wasn't on the stock market and we most definitely weren't shareholders.

When 2015 came, I was expecting my tax documents so I could file and get my tax returns in a timely manner, which should be given to employees in January and are due with the IRS by April 15th, at least here in the USA.

But no, even by April 15th, we still didn't have our tax documents. It was on that very day I quit, and I reported everything to his banker, his tax people, and Walmart, where he had us cashing those checks.

Needless to say, those organizations were not happy with my former employer. That's also how I learned what they call that sort of scam, a check racing scam.

He'd print out and have us cash checks in the amount of $1500 at Walmart, then have us bring the cash back to him and he'd go to his bank and deposit the money into his own account. Apparently Walmart doesn't bother verifying the checks for another 2 days or so if the amount doesn't exceed $1500.

As I reported his fraud to the different companies involved, I made it clear with them that any check in the amount of $1500 was part of his scam, but the lesser checks around ~$400 to $550 or so were my legit paychecks.

His tax people told me that what I reported answered a lot of questions they had. His banker said he didn't have the privilege to share the employer's banking data with me, to which I responded that I wasn't asking any questions, I was only there to report (with evidence in hand).

I forget what Walmart told me, but their money center apparently passed the info up the chain of command. And then I just walked, and took my own personal toolkit with me.

I was one of the best employees he ever had, nobody else was worth a shit at soldering or had the knowledge and ability to get rid of rootkit infections.

He had 5 shops open when I quit. Within 2 years, they shut all of them down. Last I heard through the grapevine was that he was planning on opening a restaurant somewhere.

Lesson: If you're running a tech shop, don't fuck with the hardware and data recovery specialist, we do keep backups.

As a final note, once I got my 'tax papers', it was in October, and it was just a fucking PostIt note with how much I earned the previous year.

Edit: Yes, I'd still do that again to this day, if I had to. I despise scammers, and I especially despise scamming employers that make their employees part of the scam as part of their terms of employment.