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08/07/2004 10:17:16 AM · #1 |
Watch out for this 'scam', I almost fell for it! What they do is say they want to hire you for a wedding. They will pay you whatever you want, and will send a CASHIERS CHECK fed ex to you. Sounds good huh? well the catch is is that they want you to wire X amount of dollars to someone who will be doing something for the wedding. (wedding planner, florist, ect...) so you get the check cause you charged them double what you normally would, you CASH THE CHECK AT YOUR BANK. The bank actually CASHES this cashiers check. COOL, you have tons of loot, so you walks over to your nearest western union with a bunch of money, and wire it to the wedding planner who happens to live in ENGLAND? Wierd, but the bank cashed the check, and didn't draw it on your account!
The check is a forgery. The bank will ALWAYS cash a cashiers check, it's drawn on another bank. Until 7 days later, they realize it's a forged check, then the FINANCIAL CRIMES DIVISION of the SECRET SERVICE comes knockin' on YOUR door!
DO NOT EVER EVER EVER take a cashiers check from a "client" if you do, wait 2 weeks for it to clear. |
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08/07/2004 10:26:20 AM · #2 |
| How far did you go before you realized? |
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08/07/2004 10:28:45 AM · #3 |
| I cashed the check on a Friday, then I started to get really bad feelings, so I went on-line and did a search under Cashiers Check Fraud, Thats when I figured it out. I go into the bank on Monday and tell them I think it was a forgery, and they were complete morons, didn't know what to do. So I called a fried in the FBI and she did some research for me and sent it to the bank. |
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08/07/2004 10:30:46 AM · #4 |
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08/07/2004 10:33:20 AM · #5 |
| the 'scam' is called "Nigerian Check Scams or The 419 Scams" |
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08/07/2004 10:59:43 AM · #6 |
that's interesting.
I thought a cashiers check is always considered cash.
Good to know.
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08/07/2004 11:28:21 AM · #7 |
I had someone try that with me with the pool table I am selling. "They" were a billiards table seller in South Africa and wanted to buy it. He wanted a person that "owed" him $2000 here in the States to send me the cashiers check, I cash it and keep the $1200 for the table and then wire him the rest. I asked him why the guy that owed him money could not send him the check and then the seller could just send me the money. Weeeelllllllll....it was easier this way he kept saying. I kept telling him, NO it is not. No money no table. He kept trying to argue the point, so told him not to call again and I was not going to sell it.
These type of things keep sneaking through my spam filter too...You know the, "Hi, I am a Nigerian consolate...let us put millions of dollars in your account" type thing.
Be careful of anything you don't go and ACTIVELY look for!
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08/07/2004 12:10:46 PM · #8 |
Snopes.com is the best place to research scams and myths...
//www.snopes.com/inboxer/scams/carsale.asp
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08/07/2004 12:16:54 PM · #9 |
I work in the car business, and i've come across a few of these scams myself. People giving stolen credit card numbers to have a car shipped to foreign countries. Outrageous!
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08/07/2004 12:19:05 PM · #10 |
There are a lot of those scams originating from Africa for some reason. I get spam all the time, mostly from Nigeria (or people claiming to be Nigerian). All you have to do is wire somebody (usually it is a 'doctor' who desperately needs it for some compelling reason) and they will reiumburse you plus extra for your time. I'm sure a lot of folks get these emails. You didn't mention if you were simply approached in public because you had a camera, or if you were actually contacted in your capacity as a professional wedding photographer. If the former was the case, I would be suspicious of anyone willing to hire my services as a wedding photographer (or any other well-paying photo job) without seeing a portfolio. I'm not blaming you as the victim--I've fallen for a 'scam' in the past and I know how convicing people can be. It's just an observation.
While we are on the subject of scams, I would advise any young males (teens to early 30's) to avoid the guy in the van who wants to sell you speakers out of his truck. They hang around in parking lots and approach young guys without a bull story along the lines of "the guy we were supposed to deliver these to bailed but we can't take them back or the boss will flip". They make out like they are selling you stolen goods at a tremendous deal (usually $200-300). If you don't have the ready cash they are happy to drive you or follow you to a money machine. Anyway, the speakers are total crap but they have huge cabinets so they look impressive to someone who isn't a true audiophile. Someone tried to trade a pair at my husband's store and he bought them cheap just to display them with a warning. He had the grill off so people could really see the junky cabinet, woofers and tweeters. They always have some cound of name that sounds like it could be really expensive.
The 'scam' my husband and I fell for was really more of a one-time con job by an addict who happened to take a class with my sister-in-law at the community college. Apparently, she had given him a ride home once and driven by our apartment house and casually mentioned that her brother lived there. One early summer evening he knocked on our door, saying he knew my husband's sister from school. He had run out of gas and didn't have any cash. He was hoping we could lend him some gas money. He was very clean cut and well dressed in a preppie way. We had friends over and we all discussed it. In the long run, we figured $10 bucks was no great loss if the guy wasn't on the up-and-up. My husband is a very charitable sort who tries to live by the words of Christ in spite of our some what boho life style and liberal politics. We actually went to the money machine to get out $10 or $20 bucks. Later, my sister-in-law told us that the guy was a coke addict and he had borrowed money from her (a bigger sum) in the past with a similar sob story. She didn't know he was an addict at the time, of course.
Message edited by author 2004-08-07 12:19:50. |
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08/07/2004 12:19:24 PM · #11 |
general rule, if someone wants you to send them money EVEN is they are going to send you some, dont do it, especially if they are in a different country than you are.
If they are in a different country than you, it makes it THAT much harder to catch them or track them down
James
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08/07/2004 12:24:28 PM · #12 |
Originally posted by melismatica:
While we are on the subject of scams, I would advise any young males (teens to early 30's) to avoid the guy in the van who wants to sell you speakers out of his truck. They hang around in parking lots and approach young guys without a bull story along the lines of "the guy we were supposed to deliver these to bailed but we can't take them back or the boss will flip". They make out like they are selling you stolen goods at a tremendous deal (usually $200-300). |
I know someone who had something simliar done, but it was with leather jackets.
He was approached in a large car park by a guy who said he was soon to be travelling out of the country and was supposed to have sold the jackets. If he took them through customs he would have to pay the TAX and VAT on them.
Normally if it sounds to good to be true, it is (and it's normally illegal goods too) |
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08/07/2004 12:45:41 PM · #13 |
We had this happen to us about a year ago, but alot more money was involved. The folks at our bank knew right away the 'scam' and called the authorities.
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08/07/2004 01:24:35 PM · #14 |
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08/07/2004 01:24:59 PM · #15 |
Could it be that the nice deposed family in Nigeria whom I am helping recover their wealth might be a 'scam' too?
;) |
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08/07/2004 01:35:23 PM · #16 |
//www.scamorama.com
'Scam' the scammers site. Very entertaining. What they do is reverse the 'scam' - their belief is, if they occupy the scammer's time with a reverse 'scam', the less time they have for scamming the vulnerable. Quite fun and addicting but dangerous. |
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08/07/2004 01:40:21 PM · #17 |
Originally posted by flip89:
//www.scamorama.com
'Scam' the scammers site. Very entertaining. What they do is reverse the 'scam' - their belief is, if they occupy the scammer's time with a reverse 'scam', the less time they have for scamming the vulnerable. Quite fun and addicting but dangerous. |
Yes, the folks over at BBspot.com had some great letters in their mailbag feature detailing the back-and-forth correspondence -- quite hilarious!
Here's some news of recent arrests. Note the amount of money "recovered." |
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08/07/2004 01:45:30 PM · #18 |
| Here is an interesting & humorous 'scam' baiting site According to the link, 419 scams are so named because 419 is the part of the Nigerian penal code that deals with fraud schemes. Anyway, the people at the link spend their days & nights trying to 'scam' the scammers. Then, they post their results on the site. It is insightful to see how these people think. |
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08/07/2004 03:47:35 PM · #19 |
Originally posted by nshapiro:
Could it be that the nice deposed family in Nigeria whom I am helping recover their wealth might be a 'scam' too?
;) |
No, no. I'm sure that yours is all legit.
Kev
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08/07/2004 05:23:23 PM · #20 |
very comman 'scam' actually, some 'scam' artists were using ebay for a while, purchasing big ticket items and sending a cashiers check for several thousand dollars over the auction price and praying on unknowing people who would then in turn send him back the extra cash.
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