Really funny one-might be a myth.

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Posted: Sat Dec 27, 2008 6:25 am

The scam was supposedly performed by a company selling pornography or other sex aids and trading under a highly explicit name. Customers were invited to purchase adult material from the company, and were assured that the actual transaction could be made with a separate company with a non-explicit name in order to prevent the explicit name from appearing on transaction logs and bank statements.

In fact, the company did not have any items to sell. Once a sufficient number of customers had sent money for items, the company sent out letters of apology to all of them, and also sent them refunds - in the form of company cheques clearly printed with the explicit company name Razz

. All of the customers were too embarrassed to pay in a cheque that was clearly from a porno company Embarassed

, so the scammers running the company got to keep the money - and had technically committed no crime, as technically they had made every effort to refund the money.

It is not known if this trick ever actually happened or not.

Posted: Sat Dec 27, 2008 6:49 am

Since they accepted money and knew they had no product to sell, that's fraud and a crime. The fact they attempted to return the money only reduces the chances of anyone actually filing charges.

Also something is wrong with the story. If they accepted payments via credit card and sent check refunds, that would cause them to lose money due to credit card discounts. If they accepted checks/money orders they would pay fees to their bank to cash them.

If someone were embarrassed to cash the check, they could easily make an ATM deposit at another bank's ATM (assuming they have an ATM) and it wouldn't show up at their own bank. Also, one could do a night deposit too.

There's something else wrong with the story, but I can't put my finger on it.

Posted: Sat Dec 27, 2008 11:41 am

Snopes.com has an entry for a version of this story:

http://www.snopes.com/risque/porn/porntape.asp

They don't actually give it a rating, but the text leaves little doubt that the OP is a netmyth.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 19 Dec 2008 Posts: 1

Watch 'Lock, Stock and 2 Smoking Barrels'. Laughing

They mention the scam in the movie though I have heard it a few times after seeing it...not sure if it's true either

Posted: Sat Dec 27, 2008 11:54 am

Actually the Snopes entry references Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.

I must watch that film in full some day...

Master Baiter Joined: 23 Jan 2009 Posts: 241

I would just bank the cheque, I have no shame when it comes to money, ha ha

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