Stripe Atlas Scam: How I Woke Up With a Phantom LLC in Delaware

I’m an autistic small business owner. I went to bed one night thinking about client emails and tomorrow’s to-do list. Nothing unusual. Except one thing.... I'm a sucker for a scam and way to gullible. Enter fintech goliath Stripe. I recently joined stripe to attempt to get a merchant account. Turns out I got a lot more than that! My story of a Stripe Atlas scam left me with a ghost company, complaints to regulators, and one hell of a story. I saw when life gives you phantom shell companies, make lemonade!

Stripe Atlas scammed me- and I respect the hustle.

I woke up the next morning with… a company in Delaware. At least, that’s what Stripe Atlas told me. They proudly declared I’d been incorporated—pop the champagne, cue the startup confetti. 🎉✨

Except there was a tiny problem. I never asked for another LLC, I had one already. and Delaware? Yeah, Delaware had no idea who I was. 🧐

Welcome to my life

Enter the Phantom Company

Stripe had hit my account for $500. No warning, no handshake, no courtesy call. Just—poof—$500 gone. 💳💥 Then came the email: “Congrats! You’re incorporated in Delaware!”🎩

So I do what any reasonable person would do: I check the state’s records. Guess what? No company. No filing. No nothing. It was like Stripe had sold me a unicorn. 🦄💸 When I asked Stripe about it, they assured me, with a straight face: "It's too late to refund you money, you have a second company!.” 🤡

Where- Outer space? The Metaverse? Delaware was over here sipping iced tea like they’d never even heard of me. 🍹

The Bank That Napped

Meanwhile, Huntington Bank had the chance to block this charge before it posted. They didn’t. They just shrugged like, “Eh, too late.” 🏦😴

So now I’m standing there with:

• A $500 hole in my wallet 🕳️💰

• A bank that couldn’t be bothered filing a fraud complaint 🛌

• And Stripe insisting my invisible LLC is alive and well in some alternate universe 🌌

My New Hobby: Filing Complaints

At this point, I’ve filed complaints with every regulator I could find: CFPB, OCC, FTC, California AG, Delaware AG, and yes—even the FBI cyber division (I3). 👮‍♂️💻

Because apparently Stripe Atlas is running the world’s first Schrödinger’s cat LLC: simultaneously incorporated and not incorporated at the same time. 🐱📦

The Strong-Arm Refund

After weeks of chasing ghosts, rattling cages, and basically moonlighting as a one-man watchdog agency… Stripe finally blinked. They handed the $500 back. Not because they wanted to, but because they got pushed into a corner. 🥊💸and I incinerated them on a federal and state level.

The Takeaway

So if you’re planning to sell online or get a merchant account with Stripe, let my story be a cautionary tale.

You might get more than you bargained for: Invisible companies. 🤯Banks that nap through fraud. 😴Refunds that only come after you yell loud enough. 📢

Stripe likes to market itself as the sleek, modern face of online payments. But sometimes? It feels more like a carnival funhouse: Pay $500, spin the wheel, and see if you get a company… or just a headache. 🎡🎭