Advice. please help

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Hello I'm New here! Joined: 04 Aug 2009 Posts: 3

Help...Like most of us...my fam has been hurt by the economy...facing foreclosure. I found an internet site intended to help families like mine and posted an ad. Shortly after, I was approached by email by a man willing to help me. He promised me $5,000. It took awhile for him to get the check to me. He is in another country, but lives stateside. He seemed very nice and genuine. I told him I was leary of him and afraid of being scammed. We have communicated email and he has my cell #. He has called repeatedly. The check arrived yesterday. He wants me to wire $4,000 to another person however, I have not proceeded to the bank. We never agreed on this. He told me I was going to get $5,000 and now says we agreed on $1,000. Never happened. I called the alleged bank, and they were unable to verify if the check was legit. I told him my credit union will hold the check until verification. I think he getting annerved. What should I do now? He has my address and phone number. How should I handle this guy? Is there anyway to get him back? I know this is a scam and have read about this online. Thanks

Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 5:40 pm

Well you could tell him your house has been demolished and now they are building a shopping centre on it, then you could tell him you have to go back to prison due to breach of bail terms. However if this scammer has your personal details then you should drop all contact with him asap.

Also before to visit the forums at scamwarners.com and report what happened there.

Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 5:42 pm

From one banana to another, welcome and excellent job sniffing out this scam! Very Happy

This is a fake check and you should certainly not deposit that check if you haven't done so already. Either destroy it or write "FAKE" across it in big, bold letters and keep it as a souvenir of your run-in with a scammer. If you did deposit the check you should immediately go to your credit union and explain the situation and they can get it all straightened out. You might even bring a printout of some of the emails you have exchanged with this scammer.

As for your personal information, I would stop all contact with this person. Do not read or answer their emails and either avoid phone calls or tell them that you're not interested anymore and hang up. This person has likely never truly lived stateside, and you are likely under no danger. Again, be cautious and avoid all contact with the scammer.

I encourage you to head over to our sister-site, http://www.scamwarners.com, to share your story. They can give you more information and help you further, or we can help you here.

If you are interested in getting involved in baiting I would leave this particular scammer alone since he has your personal information. Read the stickies, check out Eater University, and sign up for a mentor if you'd like to stay and bait these jerks. Wink

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 04 Aug 2009 Posts: 3

Thanks guys. I will do so. How do I stop the phone calls? He has called 4 times today. I don't answer them, but I can't stand the constant ringing of my cell.

Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 5:59 pm

You're most welcome. Smile

As for the phone calls, you might either see if you can block their number (I know nothing about that kind of stuff), or you could answer and tell them that you're not interested anymore and are reporting them to the police, then hang up before the scammer can protest. In most cases if they know they're not going to get any money from you they will leave you alone.

Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 6:12 pm

If you call your service provider they might be able to block the calls. If all else fails just keep ignoring the calls and put the phone of silent or vibrate for now, he will get bored of ringing and forget about you.

Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 2:01 am

@ Nanabanana Also watch out for fake emails from the 'FBI' telling you to go ahead with the transaction as Robert Mueller himself has authorized the transaction. This will, of course be the same scammer using a different email address.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 04 Aug 2009 Posts: 3

Sir Cumference...I have gotten the FBI email so I am ignoring him from now on. I told him my husband got a promotion and his company was buying our house so we could transfer to another state ASAP. I told him I was going to tear the check up and would not be needing the $. I offered to send it back and acted like I still believed his lie. Thanks for the warning. Cool

Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 6:14 am

Nanabanana. It's not guaranteed that you'll receive fake FBI emails but in my experience in baiting quite a few check scammers it often happens.

Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2009 6:18 am

I wouldn't worry too much about him having your personal details. I mean, obviously it's not something which should be celebrated, but he can't really do anything to you. You'll have to endure a few weeks of harassment as he calls your phone, sends you e-mails, and contacts you under the guise of authority figures, but if you just ignore all of these, they will fade.

You also don't need to worry about getting in trouble with the law in your home state. You've done nothing wrong or illegal and any e-mail telling you otherwise is just sent by the same guy and should be taken with a very large grain of salt.

Good luck, and nice job spotting it before it was too late. Thumbs up

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 18 Aug 2009 Posts: 2

BluthBanana wrote:

You're most welcome. Smile

As for the phone calls, you might either see if you can block their number (I know nothing about that kind of stuff), or you could answer and tell them that you're not interested anymore and are reporting them to the police, then hang up before the scammer can protest. In most cases if they know they're not going to get any money from you they will leave you alone.

If you gave the person a cell phone number, you can block it directly from your cell phone. (Different phones have different means, but there are 10 you can block at any given time by entering those numbers on your keypad. Look at your manual for the cell phone.) You can get the phone company to block 800 like numbers, but if you block one, you block them all, and some of them might be useful to you so I would be careful doing that. I have a phone that literally speaks to me by telling me the number that's coming in. If it's an 800 like number, i let them leave a message if they like, otherwise, I don't bother to pick it up. It's an easy way to deal with that. A voice-led caller ID. There are lots of caller ID type phones and services you can subscribe to.

Hope that heps.