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05/15/2006 02:39:06 PM · #1 |
Tried searching for this in the forums, but couldn't find anything...
This isn't really a photography related scam, but I did receive this as an email on Buzznet, and I know many of you have accounts on Buzznet for your photos, so I thought I'd mention it. The email is as follows:
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My name is Amanda Philips . I am an artist, practicing with my husband Mr.Fred Philips, here in the United Kingdom. We own the SUSAN ART WORK INC., here in London, (United Kingdom). I live in London United Kingdom, with my two kids, two cats, one pet dog and the love of my life, my husband, Mr. Fred Philips.
It is undeniably a full house that we keep. I have been doing my artwork since I was a small child, which makes it about 23 years of experience for me in the field.
I majored in fine and creative art in high school and in the college I professionalised in the art courses in the advance levels. Most of my works are done in either pencil or art brush mixed with color pencils.
I have recently added designing and creative artwork on the computer, and I have been selling my art works for the past 3 years to my prestigious customers from all over the world.
Also, I have had my work featured on trading cards, prints and magazines, I have sold in galleries and to private collectors from all over the world, but I am always facing serious difficulties when it comes to selling my art works to Customers in America and Canada. I have bigger customers from America and Canada but most of these customer’s offers to pay me with TRAVELER’S CHECK or MONEY ORDER or CASHIER'S CHECK, which is difficult for me to redeem into its cash equivalence here in London, United Kingdom.
My main reason for sending you this email is that I am looking for a representative in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and CANADA
I am looking for someone who will be working for me, and with me, as a par time worker and I will be willing to pay 15% for every transaction the person assists me in making.
Following your antecedent from the Internet, I decided that you should assist me in handling this situation. I decided upon you because my confidence reposed on you as someone that is responsible and reliable.
Presently, I am working on setting up a branch in the states so, for now, I need a representative in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA & CANADA who will be handling the payment aspect for our company.
The work you would be doing for me would not have to affect your present business or work. The work I would like you to do for me is simply to receive from me the TRAVELER’S CHECK or MONEY ORDER or CASHIER’S CHECK that my customers are paying me with. Because the cost of coming to the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA or CANADA constantly to redeem this payments is becoming too expensive, time-consuming and inconvenient for me.
When you receive the check payments from our customers or my secretary through the postal service, I would like you to cash the checks for me as soon as you receive them.
So when you cash the check, I would like you to subtract your 15% and the transfer charges and send the balance to my cashier in the United Kingdom through Western Union Money Transfer.
however, the problem I have is trust. And as a result of that, all i just need from you is your word of trust that thing will be fine.
PAYMENT WOULD BE SENT TO YOU THROUGH A TRUSTED POSTAL SERVICE AGENT. AND AS SOON AS YOU RECEIVE THEM I WOULD LIKE YOU TO IMMEDIATELY CONTACT ME, SO THAT I WOULD DIRECT YOU ON WHAT TO DO WITH IT AND HOW TO GET THE BALANCE TRANSFERRED TO MY CASHIER IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.
NOTE: All charges of the WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER will be deducted from my total sum, so you are rest assured that you wouldn’t spend a CENT out of your own personal money. You just have to deduct your interest and send the balance to my cashier for accounting and bookkeeping.
If you are interested in assisting me in this venture pending when our branch would be ready in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and CANADA for us to work closely together, please kindly get back to me immediately via this my mailbox. : amandaphilipsart@yahoo.co.uk
P.S, Please send to me the listed information below:
1. Your Name in Full
2. Your Full Contact Address
3. Your Occupation
4. Your Age
5. Your Marital Status
6. Your Direct Phone Number and Fax Number
I eagerly await your prompt response,I appreciate your fervent dedication and your decision to assist me.
Pls all response should be sent to my private email : amandaphilipsart@yahoo.co.uk
Thanks for your assistant and God bless,
Thanks for your assistance and God bless you for your anticipated dedication,
Director of SUS ART WORK INC,
London, United Kingdom.
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I checked the company out online to see if it was legit, and low and behold, the first site that came up listed a number of scams, including this one. The site was here.
Just wanted to make sure people were aware of this. |
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05/15/2006 03:40:28 PM · #2 |
thanks for the alert but usualy anything that involves sending any kind of check(cheque) for me to cash and send back cash is usualy a scam in my book.
~~Cher~~ :o)
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05/15/2006 03:47:52 PM · #3 |
This is a great find!! Between this and those people in Nigeria who want me to represent them, I'll be rich!
I sure hope somebody doesn't fall for it, because I'm sure at some point they'll ask for money so they'll know they can trust you. |
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05/15/2006 03:59:29 PM · #4 |
Almost always when an email satrts with "Hi, I am...." and then gives out a bunch of information about themselves for no reason....it is in the trach before I can read the name.
I especially love this "I decided upon you because my confidence reposed on you as someone that is responsible and reliable." As Bugs Bunny would say..."she don't know me vewy well....do she?"
I wonder if I could send her, her own address and information? Have them figure that out. :)
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05/15/2006 04:15:59 PM · #5 |
Uh uh oooh! Be careful there! Last time I suggested that Nigerians were anything but the most honest, law-abiding, moral citizens on the planet, I got a tongue-lashing for it in the forums.
Ever since then, I have carefully considered each and every one of the multitides of multi-million dollar offers I have received from them each and every day. I'm sure one of them is bound to be a sincere offer...
Originally posted by mad_brewer:
Between this and those people in Nigeria who want me to represent them, I'll be rich! |
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05/15/2006 04:44:07 PM · #6 |
Originally posted by alanfreed:
Uh uh oooh! Be careful there! Last time I suggested that Nigerians were anything but the most honest, law-abiding, moral citizens on the planet, I got a tongue-lashing for it in the forums.
Ever since then, I have carefully considered each and every one of the multitides of multi-million dollar offers I have received from them each and every day. I'm sure one of them is bound to be a sincere offer...
Originally posted by mad_brewer:
Between this and those people in Nigeria who want me to represent them, I'll be rich! |
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Thanks for the advice, but I was only referring to my acquaintances who happened to be rich and need a representative here in the states. And they know me. And they trust me. It's a very short list... |
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05/15/2006 05:02:21 PM · #7 |
I'm responsible for checking my bank's public email address, and we get these all the time. It annoys the BSA officer quite mightily since we have to file a suspicious acitivity report on every last one.
(1) Never accept a foreign check, even if the bank it's drawn upon says it's legit, unless you personally know the issuer. The United States has a statute of limitations on claiming fraud on a check, but other countries do not. Your check from an internet customer in Canada can be contested several months after the funds clear and are deposited to your account. You are the one who is out the money.
(2) Always attempt to verify the authenticity of any cashiers checks. Do not assume that just because it looks authentic that it is. We get about five FDIC alerts every day from banks on whom forged cashiers checks are being circulated. If you get the all clear, do not spend any money until the check has cleared the issuing bank.
(3) Always verify the authenticity of traveler's checks. We just had a customer who was duped into a sort of soft Nigerian scam to the tune of $5000 with a fake American Express gift check. (And by the way, the FBI calls them Nigerian scams for a reason - such scams proliferate in Nigeria because the banking and extradition laws are a total shambles.)
(4) As soon as someone claims to have overpaid you and wants you to wire the excess funds back to them, you can be assured that it is a scam.
(5) Never release goods to a buyer until funds have cleared all the checks I've listed, along with any others you can think of. We recently had a customer who received a cashier's check for an excess total from a guy who bid on his boat on eBay.
(6) What is particularly disturbing about the example letter copied in by the original poster is that they are gathering personally identifying information (PII) that can (and absolutely would) be used to steal your identity. Another gathering place for PII is all those memes on Myspace, Livejournal, etc. which commonly ask for birthddates, pets names, significant events, favorite colors, etc - all of which are also commonly used as password questions. Be careful what information you send out into the world.
If anyone has any questions, PLEASE feel free to PM me. Like I said, I work in banking, I deal with this on a daily basis.
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05/15/2006 05:21:59 PM · #8 |
A scam similar to this was recently discovered in Australia.
The sent a email similiar to this and was the method they used to launder money out of Australia. People who get involved in this are usually unaware they are doing anything wrong and do get paid the 15% but it is all stolen money.
Somehow the sender of the email use a virus and were able to obtain account details from people using online banking with one of our major banks then they simply transferred the money into the other Australian accounts which they had already solicited by the email and then having the money transferred to a Russian bank account via Western Union Transfer.
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05/15/2006 05:26:38 PM · #9 |
I cashed a International US Postal money order here in Japan with no probems (albeit it was the first one they had ever done in the small PO) , so I can't imagine she has problems doing it in England.
You've got to like the name of the company - SUS Art Work. Looks a bit sus(picious) to me. |
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05/15/2006 05:56:26 PM · #10 |
Originally posted by Pug-H:
I cashed a International US Postal money order here in Japan with no probems (albeit it was the first one they had ever done in the small PO) , so I can't imagine she has problems doing it in England.
You've got to like the name of the company - SUS Art Work. Looks a bit sus(picious) to me. |
You are quite right - there would be no problem whatsoever in changing any form of money in the UK -unless she wanted to avoid tax I suppose but can't see how her system woould help that!
THIS IS A SCAM!!!!!
P
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