The Quest for Luxury Living Takes an Unexpected Turn

Devin Friedman, a journalist, recounts his desire to have a luxurious house with a pool like his friends Bobby and Eric. He decides to hire a pool contractor named Gary Kruglets, who promises to build a pool similar to Bobby and Eric's at a lower cost. However, after sending several payments totaling around $31,000 via Zell, it is revealed that someone hacked into Gary's email and scammed the money. Devin's attempts to recover the funds are met with little assistance from Zell, the peer-to-peer payment app used for the transactions. Law enforcement is also unhelpful due to the relatively small amount involved. Despite the loss, Devin eventually manages to build a pool, but with a different contractor.