this post was submitted on 13 Apr 2025
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spoiler42-year-old Vanessa Voss purchased a Cybertruck last year to help advertise her business.

In the last two weeks, she and her business have received threats online, over the phone, and on Reddit. Voss spent $436 on a self-defense course for her office and directed her employees to leave before dark.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Vanessa Voss, a 42-year-old business owner living in Tacoma, Washington. Business Insider has verified her identity and recent harassment. This story has been edited for length and clarity.

Last year, we purchased a Cybertruck for solely business purposes.

It has our logo and branding on it, along with my photo on the front. We also have a Silverado and a Jeep Cherokee that is wrapped in my logo. It just made sense then to buy a vehicle that allowed further marketing and advertising for our business.

I'm the owner of Voss Insurance Group, an agency that helps people navigate retirement and transition to Medicare. We don't work for the federal government but we facilitate enrolling people in prescription drug coverage, Medicare supplements, and Medicare Advantage.

Part of what my agency does is do a lot of branding and advertising related to the enrollment and Medicare process by offering free guidance and local services.

The purchase was made before people set Cybertrucks on fire or took strong political stances on Tesla. The edges of the vehicle are flat and it allows for enough description and visual components to increase our branding.

As of two weeks ago, we have been harassed online, over the phone, and via email for having a Cybertruck. Now, me and my business are under attack

The very first phone call that I received was from a gentleman saying that he was going to kill me.

The blocked caller also told me that I am a Nazi, cussed me out, and said I should kill myself. That day, I received a total of 12 phone calls, some of which were blocked and others that weren't.

I filed a police report over the phone after the initial death threat. I tried to report every number that called and we are still documenting calls and voicemails. There's not a lot the police can do as far as harassment unless someone shows up at our home or at our business and becomes violent. A police sergeant I'm friendly with recommended that I keep the Cybertruck in my garage until things subside though.

The calls have continued, although they've died down a little since that first weekend. The callers leave voicemails saying I should be embarrassed, that we need to take the trash out, and that I'm going to need a warranty because something is going to happen to it.

They even posted a picture of my vehicle in the driveway of my residence on Reddit so that people could further attack us on social media.

We also received three really terrible Google reviews and two on Yelp. We spent hours trying to get them removed and eventually were able to.

Most of the calls are directed at me, but some of my employees have also experienced harassment. One of my agents was speaking to someone who originally seemed interested in buying insurance and then started sending replies to her emails that were very vulgar.

We received a call this week from a gentleman who threatened to spread the word about my business negatively to the community. He was treated with professionalism but we did have to hang up on him for tying up our phone lines.

I believe it's a coordinated attempt since different people have been calling. They all communicate similarly, saying things like, "We'll tell everyone" or "We'll spread the word about you."

I don't feel like I'm at the point where I am scared for my life, but I am certainly taking precautions to protect my staff. We are an office of four women and our building rests right on a busy street.

Soon after the harassment began, I paid $436 for a two-hour self-defense session. The instructor is scheduled to come to my office to teach my staff self-defense tactics in the event that the situation becomes violent, or if people physically show up here at my office or at my home. The session will focus on a number of methods including verbal de-escalation, active shooter and intruder response training, and escape from common holds.

My employees are a little uneasy. I work really hard to give them a really safe environment and make them feel welcome, but we can't control what society does. We had a conversation about protecting ourselves in the office and leaving before it's dark. We also made sure to tint the windows in the Cybertruck so people can't physically see us, although my husband is the one who drives it.

I am very disheartened by the fact that people think it's okay to attack any individual.

Under no circumstance is it okay to harass an individual. I don't think that these people really understand the role we play in helping people with Medicare and retirement. They're just assuming that we're adding to what's going on from a political stance.

If Social Security or Medicare were to dissolve, I would be the first out of a job. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense for me to support one way or the other. I just want to help people with Medicare and make sure that people who are retired have some peace of mind.

We all have opportunities and careers, but that doesn't mean we agree with everything that happens in the world.

I'm just more baffled than anything. These are behaviors exhibited by grown adults, which blows my mind. There is no level of respect that these people are giving us without even reaching out and getting our side of the story. It's just straight attack mode, which is really unfortunate.

I haven't considered selling the Cybertruck because it takes a whole lot of courage to consistently grow and work and strive really hard to be successful in business and help the community. I am not one that will be bullied. I'm just not going to allow a group of people to bully me into actually trading in my vehicle.

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[–] Esoteir@hexbear.net 56 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

self defense classes $400

cybertruck $80,000

someone who is good at the economy please help me budget this. my family is dying

[–] Evilphd666@hexbear.net 14 points 2 weeks ago

porky-happy I got myself a massive tax write-off

dumpster-fire

porky-scared-flipped How did my tax write-off not save itself? What do you mean the insurance was cancelled?! I'm an insurance weasel myself!

[–] NephewAlphaBravo@hexbear.net 54 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I work really hard to give them a really safe environment

A self defense class costs extra money and puts the onus of your mistake onto individual workers, selling your swasticar costs negative dollars and doesn't burden your workers. You're a shit boss in both directions, wasting your own profits and making your employees hate you.

[–] happybadger@hexbear.net 21 points 2 weeks ago

If any of those workers are injured, it's her workmans comp insurance that has to cover it. She's paying out of pocket for surgery and lawsuits. On top of paying $400 to teach lawyers how to karate chop antifas to death and the lawsuits that will bring.

It's astounding to me. Why drive that. Why invite even more flak by writing a whiny op-ed about it. I didn't even know this business existed and now I want to breadpill qin-shi-huangdi-fireball her stupid truck as a tourist attraction. Why make yourself the ethical version of throwing rocks at a zoo animal to make it do tricks?

[–] Self_Sealing_Stem_Bolt@hexbear.net 47 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

I haven't considered selling the Cybertruck

I refuse to consider the one thing that could end all of this

[–] happybadger@hexbear.net 37 points 2 weeks ago

The purchase was made before people set Cybertrucks on fire or took strong political stances on Tesla. The edges of the vehicle are flat and it allows for enough description and visual components to increase our branding.

https://i.insider.com/67f7facca466d2b74ab2d32a?width=700&format=jpeg&auto=webp

It looks like any generic wrapped truck except stupid. Any cargo van, but stupid. She could wrap a Prius in that and still have most of the messy design. I don't get the ideological devotion to a truck which loses you business, makes your customers hate you, puts your staff at risk along with your insurance, and is a shitty vehicle. There's no answer beyond i-am-adolf-hitler and a deeply pathological persecution fetish.

[–] BelieveRevolt@hexbear.net 19 points 2 weeks ago

Still love the truck!

[–] LanyrdSkynrd@hexbear.net 38 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

we facilitate enrolling people in prescription drug coverage, Medicare supplements, and Medicare Advantage.

Part of what my agency does is do a lot of branding and advertising related to the enrollment and Medicare process by offering free guidance and local services.

They phrase this like they do this out of kindness, but tricking elderly people into Medicare Advantage is a massive business.

These shitty little agencies open storefronts with names like, "Senior care solutions", to trick people into thinking they are like a nonprofit service. In reality it's a business that gets huge commissions to get people into privitised Medicare Advantage plans. These are plans just like every other kind of shitty private health insurance where you need pre-approval, where they deny claims automatically, and where you can get dropped when your care gets too expensive.

Fuck this lady.

[–] JoeByeThen@hexbear.net 23 points 2 weeks ago

this

This lady is a grifting monster.

[–] Evilphd666@hexbear.net 9 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] HexReplyBot@hexbear.net 2 points 2 weeks ago

I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:

[–] PKMKII@hexbear.net 34 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

porky-happy “Businesses don’t need to be regulated by the state, reputation in the market will self-regulate businesses.”

porky-scared-flipped “My actions have ruined my reputation in the market this is unfair!!!!”

[–] abc@hexbear.net 28 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I'm the owner of Voss Insurance Group, an agency that helps people navigate retirement and transition to Medicare. We don't work for the federal government but we facilitate enrolling people in prescription drug coverage, Medicare supplements, and Medicare Advantage.

girl why do you need THREE vehicles branded with your insurance group sounds like you're writing off personal vehicles as work vehicles for tax fraud but what do i know

[–] came_apart_at_Kmart@hexbear.net 10 points 2 weeks ago

Medicare advantage is one of the most heinous scams in American healthcare insurance and provisioning, which is a really fucking high bar.

this lady is outing herself as one of the most aggressively evil assholes in the world.

so I'm of course she used company funds to buy a Cybertruck as rolling advertising and is receiving death threats.

[–] sewer_rat_420@hexbear.net 27 points 2 weeks ago

Oh, its a business that grifts off of elderly and helps the private insurance industry pilfer public funding. Nice

[–] Xenomorph@hexbear.net 26 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

The $400 an hour self-defense lessons:

spoiler

[–] Pentacat@hexbear.net 2 points 2 weeks ago

“Do you think anybody wants a roundhouse kick to the face while I’m wearing these bad boys?”

[–] happybadger@hexbear.net 25 points 2 weeks ago

triangle-bottom-right elmofire border-middle-horizontal-square filled-square triangle-bottom-left

filled-circle filled-square filled-square filled-square filled-circle stalin-gun-1 ecoterrorist Unlimited brazen bulls on swasticar owners

[–] WhatDoYouMeanPodcast@hexbear.net 19 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

I got half off my membership at a BJJ school to teach 1 fundamentals class a week. But if I were tasked, independently, with doing 1 week of fundamentals for 4 people and I was feeling nice I might concede to $400. I -

Soon after the harassment began, I paid $436 for a two-hour self-defense session. The instructor is scheduled to come to my office to teach my staff self-defense tactics in the event that the situation becomes violent, or if people physically show up here at my office or at my home. The session will focus on a number of methods including verbal de-escalation, active shooter and intruder response training, and escape from common holds.

That motherfucker made off like a bandit. Nobody learned shit. I tried really, really hard to impart the importance of being able to escape being mounted while I coached. When it came time for competition, I kept seeing these jokesters, after a solid 3+ months of training, not be able to get their feet back in between them and someone aggressing on them.

If I got scammed for that much money I wouldn't write a fucking article about it.

[–] AmarkuntheGatherer@lemmygrad.ml 19 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

The dumb shit for scammed for 100k for whatever the swasticar costs, that 400 bucks is nothing for such a professional chump.

[–] Belly_Beanis@hexbear.net 12 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

How the fuck is she even in business? $100k on a fucking ad in a tiny ass suburb where people have to see you driving the thing? Plus all the maintenance and insurance costs? 30 second ads on TV cost less and you'd actually reach your target demographic (retirees on Medicare). She could have gotten a fucking billboard in Seattle for that price.

Capitalists are so fucking bad at capitalisisiwwojejnbffjkeoeowwbwvgsgrioqqphdbdb 🤬😡😠

[–] hotcouchguy@hexbear.net 6 points 2 weeks ago

She's a health insurance parasite, it's basically free money

[–] happybadger@hexbear.net 9 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

my cousin ricky is VERY good at neck chop and he charged us OVER $400 to learn the maximum death chop. do NOT throw bread at my turck.

[–] WhatDoYouMeanPodcast@hexbear.net 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

For $670 I will teach you to open the 1st gate and do a primary lotus

[–] Assian_Candor@hexbear.net 17 points 2 weeks ago

Lmao she really published this with the phone number visible on the truck susie-laugh

[–] buh@hexbear.net 13 points 2 weeks ago

SS in both her first and last name

nominative determinism at work

[–] JoeByeThen@hexbear.net 11 points 2 weeks ago
[–] ElChapoDeChapo@hexbear.net 10 points 2 weeks ago

I saw the dispensary I was going to had done the same thing and I turned around in their parking lot and drove away without buying any edibles

I'd rather make my own edibles than fund a nazi

[–] chungusamonugs@hexbear.net 8 points 2 weeks ago

CW: Suicide

spoilerIs saying she should kill herself really a death threat? I don't know where that falls legally.

This sounds like more of "I wanna make dumb decisions and ALSO everyone should love and worship me for them".

[–] InevitableSwing@hexbear.net 8 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Last year, we purchased a Cybertruck for solely business purposes. [...] I haven't considered selling the Cybertruck because it takes a whole lot of courage to consistently grow and work and strive really hard to be successful in business and help the community. I am not one that will be bullied. I'm just not going to allow a group of people to bully me into actually trading in my vehicle.

It's theoretically possible she was ignorant of Musk as a toxic human being. But I don't buy it. And she sounds like a right-wing asshole.