VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, [3], 4 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 10:31:48 03/26/04 Fri
Author: Horst
Subject: Check scam circulating here

Check scam circulating here
The Cullman Times
Published on: 03-26-2004

HANCEVILLE -- Warning! If you ever find yourself chatting with someone on the Internet and they ask you to do them a seemingly harmless favor, avoid it like the plague or else be prepared to lose some big bucks.

Local law enforcement officials report that a new international and highly sophisticated scam is circulating in the area which attempts to take advantage of a person's good nature.

"But make no mistake about it," said Cullman County Assistant District Attorney Sara Baker. "It's not your good nature they're after -- it's your money."

According to Baker, a Hanceville man recently started chatting with a woman on the Internet who claimed to live in England. She told him she was originally from Nigeria and still had family there.

"Eventually she told him she was attempting to support her family in Africa, but was running into difficulty in dealing with the Nigerian government," Baker said. "She said she wanted to send her family some things, but the country charges such high duties and taxes that the cost of doing so makes it unfeasible."

Baker said the woman reportedly told the man that she'd like to order some items to send her family and have it sent to him here. She offered to pay to have it sent to Nigeria. All he would have to do is repack it and ship it and she would pay all the costs up front.

"The woman made it sound so innocent and played it up that he would really be doing her and her family a huge favor and so he agreed to help," Baker said. "After a short time items such as clothing, cell phones, GPS devices and electronics began arriving at his home in Hanceville. He then started getting invoices and bills from the vendors sending the items, which were all bought by credit card. Unfortunately they were bought with a stolen credit card."

In February the man received a cashier's check for $4,800 which was a lot more than the cost of shipping the items, Baker said.

"At that point we were concerned that our potential victim may have actually been a part of the scheme and this check was a payment to him for his services," Baker said. "So we contacted an agent with the FBI who referred us to the Secret Service. As soon as I called them and made mention of the word Nigeria, they knew what I was calling about."

Baker said the Secret Service representative she spoke with asked if a cashier's check was involved.

"The Hanceville Police Department initiated this investigation and they were in possession of all this stuff that had been sent to the man's home. We told them to take the cashier's check and cash it and we would place the money in evidence," Baker said. "Hanceville Police took the check to a local bank which initially accepted it, but later it was proven the check was counterfeit. It looked authentic in every possible way. It had the watermark and everything, but it was bogus."

According to the representative Baker spoke with from the Secret Service, the cashier's check is the main thrust of this particular scam.

"What we feel would have happened is that they would have gotten in touch with the man in Hanceville and they would have told him the amount on the cashier's check was in error. They probably would have told him to go ahead and deposit it into his bank account, deduct what he needed to ship the merchandise to Nigeria and send them the rest, usually to an address overseas."

Baker said chances are the bank would accept the check and credit the amount to the victim's account. Then, by the time the bank found out that the check was bogus the people behind the scam will have received their merchandise and the money that was leftover after shipping expenses.

The bank then would charge the amount of the check back against the victim's account and there would be no way to recover it.

"It's a pretty slick scheme that could end up costing you thousands of dollars when it appears there is no risk on your part at all," Baker said. "And this is a scam that is fairly widespread. In fact, we've received information with Hanceville's help that several other people in our area have been approached in a similar manner."

The perpetrators of this scam, as with most schemes of this type, are very smart and convincing, Baker said.

"And what they are asking you to do seems like a reasonable thing. They want to provide for their family in Nigeria and you can help them do that by shipping the items they pay for with the money from a cashier's check they send you," Baker said. "The problem is, it's not real. Thankfully, the potential victim here wised up and contacted the local authorities before he was taken for a ride."

Hanceville Police Capt. Steve Conner, who assisted in the investigation, said its frustrating to learn there is very little that can be done to find, let along prosecute these people.

"We just need to get the word out to folks that there is nothing to gain and everything to lose in getting involved in something like this," Conner said. "If you are approached by anyone, particularly someone you're chatting with on the Internet, and they ask you to do them a seemingly harmless favor, take our advice and avoid it like the plague."

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]
[ Contact Forum Admin ]

Forum timezone: GMT-8
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.