"Karen" - her story

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Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 6:25 am

From time to time the moderators learn of a situation that we feel can help educate the public, but for their own reasons the people involved need to remain anonymous. This is one of those situations.

A lady, we will call her “Karen”, was solicited to receive checks on behalf of a company, cash them and retain 10% of the proceeds. She was then to send via Western Union the remaining 90% to the company. Unfortunately for Karen this is a classic 419 scam. The checks are not real and you will lose all your money.

Karen deposited one check for $4,500.00 into her account. After it “cleared’ she withdrew the money and wired the 90% via Western Union. The check was then returned against her account and her account was over drawn.

Karen was very lucky. She banks at a small credit union and has been a member there for a very long time. After calling the police, the credit union called their attorney, who is, fortunately, well versed in 419 fraud. He advised the credit union that while they were entitled to recover the funds from Karen, she is as much a victim of the fraud as they are and did not receive the entire $4,500.00.

The credit union could have charged the entire $4,500.00 back against her account causing her other outstanding checks to bounce. These would have been payments for necessities like electric bill, phone, groceries etc. However, the credit union was nice enough to simply enter into a loan with her to pay the funds back. She has had to put her house up as collateral for that loan. She will now have to make monthly payments to the credit union until such time as the money is paid back.

The moral of this story is if something sounds too good to be true it is. Karen certainly did not have fraud on her mind when she cashed that check. Certainly she believed she had found a little part time job to make a few extra dollars, and who does not need that in this economy?

Please be sure to check out any job offer over the internet. There are too many out there that are scams not to cause you to be double careful.

Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 6:41 am

Kind of a bittersweet end Confused

However, she is safe and not in great debts.
This is the good part of the story.

Something though: sometimes I get a stupid lad forgetting to send to "CCi" e-mails, and simply "CC"-ing them.
I often reply to all to warn everybody in the list.
Most often, I receive answers like "thanks, but who would still believe this story in the 21st century?"
Apparently, it happens sometimes.
That's partially why we do what we do Wink

Edit: The other part is because we are all demoniac people

Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 7:27 am

Thanks for sharing Eight... This is certainly a scam becoming more and more common, particularly like you say in this weakening economy...

Just remember Karen next time you think of feeling a little sorry for these scammers!

Glad she is safe, that is the main thing Very Happy

Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 12:59 pm

Thanks for posting Eight, sometimes we need reminders as to why we do this and that is a great example.

I will point at that I believe this girl is very lucky, somebody must have been looking out for her as I have heard of cases where it has ended much worse than that for the vic.

Well done to the bank and the attorney for looking after her the way they did.

Baiting Guru Joined: 07 Jul 2006 Posts: 5727

Thanks for posting that Eight. I had dinner the other night with a friend of mine that is a bank president and she says that she sees these things quite a bit. Kudos to the Credit Union that they are willing to work with this woman.

That amount may not sound like a HUGE sum of money, but depending on this woman's financial situation it could be a killer. Reminders of why we do this are always good.

Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 1:57 pm

Thanks for that, Eight.

I know for myself, $4500 would be a great sum of money. I'm glad the credit union's attorney knew about scams and their effect, and that there was no prosecution of the victim, as has been known to happen. I hope some baiter is now giving that scammer a very hard time.

I occasionally stop to think that even though I am wasting a scammer's time, I am far from the only person he is trying to scam. But at least I am keeping him from scamming one more, and that's all anyone can do, really.

Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 4:14 pm

Hopefully Karen understands the scam now and will be a voice out there warning others and preventing further stories. Could have been a lot worse for her.

Thanks for sharing Eight.

Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 4:51 pm

The credit union and their attorney are the ones who definitely deserve the plaudits here. They have helped the victim to cope with the consequences of being scammed in a way that many other financial organisations would not. I congratulate them. Very Happy

Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 4:59 pm

Thank you for sharing that, Eight. I have a very good friend who lives on disability who got caught up in a scam very similar to Karen's. Unfortunately, the bank wasn't as kind to my friend. My applause to the credit union and their attorney. And thank you for reminding us of the evil that lurks in the hearts of scammers.

Baiting Guru Joined: 07 Jan 2007 Posts: 2922

A timely reminder of why we do what we do. Lets hope that Karen can get back on her feet and nice to see the credit union being understanding.

Thanks for sharing eight.

Baiting Guru Joined: 17 Sep 2006 Posts: 5905

I detest these kind of scams Mad

, it is easy when you are out of work and desperate for cash to start listening to online proposals that, whilst working, you would just ignore and treat with the contempt they deserve. There have been times when money is short when I have started to want to believe, not in these cheque scams I know they're fake, but things like "we have a full proof system, earn x amount of $/£ a week from the comfort of your own home." I almost have to convince myself in times of great need that it really isn't worth enquiring.

Anyhow the point is a lot of victims who take these kind of "jobs" are usually desperate individuals who for some reason or another find it hard to find work, maybe because of childcare issues (etc). The scammers prey on their vunerability without a second thought for the life they are ruining and the fact they are making the already financially needy even more financially needy; it makes my blood boil Mad

Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 10:36 pm

My roommate has a job that doesn't pay much. She's constantly sending away for "make-money-from-home" stuff. I have told her repeatedly that they are - if not scams - at least not worth the postage or shipping charges she pays for them. She has acknowledged that they aren't worth going after, and yet she still persists in thinking the next one might be IT.

I have told her I will not loan her money for any such scheme, and I will not tolerate her skimping on her rent or utility payments because she's sent money to one of them. So far, she has complied.

But I've known her for many years, and it makes me sad to see her fall for this kind of thing.

Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 7:56 am

Congratulations to the Credit Union and the lawyer. Great work, showing a human side that unfortunately seems to be missing in todays world.

Thanks for posting this Eight, this is a scam that desparate people are likely to fall for.

Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 3:34 pm

Having just read about her bad luck, look what fell into my catcher account. Anyone else want to join in?

Rep Needed
InboxX

[email protected] to me
show details 15:45 (43 minutes ago) Reply

Greetings

I am john kay,and i am the Managing director for hattersley narrow fabrics Ltd.We are a group of business oriented people who deal primarily in screen process,wicks and
braids textiles and all sort of hand printed textiles.Major supplies and exports.
We are searching for financial payment contractor (Accounts Receivable) for our company who are willing to work for us from home and get paid weekly without leaving
their present Job.
Our clients shall be making payments to us for supplies in money orders/certified checks so you shall help in the processing of the payments to us. Subject to our
satisfaction you will be paid 10% on any transaction you are involved in.
Please if you are interested send the following to [email protected]

1. Full Name:
2. Address (Inclusive City, State and Zipcode):NO P.O BOX
3. Telephone no:
4. Occupation:
5. Age:
6. Sex:

I AWAIT YOUR RESPONSE
Mr. john kay

Baiting Guru Joined: 07 Jul 2006 Posts: 5727

^^^ Hey, I got that one too! Of course I sent off a reply. NO PO BOXES!

Not gonna be a problem. I've got ghost towns all over the United States lined up.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 26 Aug 2008 Posts: 4

I got this same email haywood, even the same email address. I simply asked if its ok to the fabric company if I don't deal with sinthetic fabrics as I am allergic to them. No reply

Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 7:02 pm

I have to agree that the cheque and job scammers are the scum end of the scamming community, though it's difficult to differentiate degrees of putridity in their world of crime and thievery.

I know Music man and others have had mass bait threads in the past for these scammers and don't know if they are keeping it going.

Anyone who has seen me operate knows that apart from from Lottery scammers, my speciality is to fix on something (or someone) and then bear down on them as an unrelenting pain and torment.

If I can't find any recent thread I'll begin a new one and then they can endure a pounding on their resources and nerve endings.

Some tactics, like telling that the cheque came with a note to send the money by Wuxfer to Mr G0mer should create some mistrust among the scammers and their associates.

Baiting Guru Joined: 17 Sep 2006 Posts: 5905

^^^^

Like that idea Gomer, we could use the same kind of tactics that you use for lotto lads, if we glean a load of email addys for job lads and encourage people to send ASEMs along the lines you just suggested.