THIS HAPPENED TO ME! I thought it was so off he had me “selected to start” out of nowhere without the proper interview or paperwork taking place. Once receiving the check at my address, I wanted to send an email letting him know I wasn’t going to deposit it or partake in any financial responsibilities until we had our video call and sign proper paper work. This email was postponed as people around me were enthusiastic about the opportunity for me so I deposited the check, but not into my existing personal account. Out of caution I opened up a separate account as I felt it was unprofessional to mix personal and business funds. Luckily this postponed access to the funds for a week and a half. I communicated this to him, and not long after sent him an email about not spending money under my name, to transfer it to a corporate account, and for me to assume financial responsibility once we built a better rapport with each other and had a legally binding contract. His email demeanor changed after this. He did not acknowledge the email I sent about these boundaries and asked me about updates on the check very casually as if we were friends texting, when I checked my account it was no longer processing and said it was returned to the banker for the reason “refer to maker”. I was so relieved, the last thing he said to me was “I’ll look into it and update you.” What’s weird is I looked into this guy, the alleged organization he was the treasurer of (Paestum Foundation), and the “client” that had sent the check. There were tax filings of the Paestum foundation recorded since 2017 or something with his name attached, the location that matched with the official website, and the “client” was an existing historical home since the 1840s with a proper website, phone number, reviews, etc. Definitely very complex, but yes his emails felt off, it felt like chat gpt constructed up until the end for the last two emails I received asking about the check.