New Scam deal???

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Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 11:27 pm

I have been chatting with a nice lady( i think) from Florida, who's dad was in africa on vacation and had kidney failure. So she and her son rushed there to be with him. After about 6 weeks of chat, some lovey dovey, she asked if I could send her money to cover her hotel expenses. Naturally I aint sendin anybody money that I never met. SO I convinced her I wasnt the guy for that, and expected her to vanish. Nope she wanted to be the girlof my dreams, a few weeks wennt by than she asked if I could mail out to her dads friends in America (cheaper than mailing from Africa) a few letters.Asknig them to help them get money to paybills and come home. It sounded reasonable, we had chatted now for a few months, and all seemd on the up and up, so I agreed. Today Iget a fedex, with 25 envelopes all addressed. I decided totake a look see at the letter dad was writing to his friends. The first one I opened had 4 $1000 walMart money orders in it,andd no note. so I open a few more, all with $4000 in them note free. First i called wallmart,and was told it probably was a scam,

So I decided to make a call or to to some of the addresses on them. The people to receive these fortunes have necer herd of the senders, and wouldn't have cashed them. So the girl (or guy) IMed me to find out id all had been mailed. I told her I just gave them to the Post Office because they wanted to check the contents,I was playing dumb. Than told her the cops were here to pick me up for international fraud. Unfortunately for her, she had provided me with her african telephone number, so if the cops really want to get them it will be easy. Intersting to say the least. There had to be well over 100K in money orders in them envelopes! I sure hope they cost the scammers some money, I delivered them personally to the detectives in my town, and they told me to give them a call to learn the outcome of their investigation. I thought it was pretty cool they will give me further information as to the "investigation" . They were going to contact the FBI, the Florida police, as thats where she alledged she was from, and the internet fraud peoples! I doubt very much she actually was American, and hope her dads kidneys are OK! Hey what can I say I am compassionate!

oH i need to add this person is still on yahoo. her name alledges to be Cynthia Hechman from Hollister Florida, I doubt that is real, her (or his) screename is [email protected] Very Happy

Just in case anyone would like to say hi to her! I contacted [email protected], but she is still on there! I do have several pictures of herself, but I would rather not publish them, One factoid that gave me a clue was I had sent her to one of my personal websites, she saw a picture of John Lennon holding a flower, and asked if it was ME! hahaha Razz

Posted: Wed Aug 02, 2006 5:28 am

Welcome and well done, sounds like you did exactly the right thing. Very Happy

Someone else may be able to tell you the method behind this scam but I would guess it's to payin/cash the checks and send the money back to the sender by WU, then when the checks are found to be fraud the original money is taken out of your account too - so you lose twice and then have to explain cashing fraud checks.

If you're going to make a hobby of this, please read the many threads about baiting safely (ie - no personal details) Wink

Posted: Wed Aug 02, 2006 11:56 am

That's pretty much it. YIM scammers generally work off a script. They like to send Money orders and other checks which (amazingly) they can't cash in Africa. They want to send them to you, have you wire (WU, MG) most of the cash back to them, then the money order hits your bank and...you are out the money, and the bank wants to know why you are negotiating fake MOs, not to mention the police may take an interest in you.

Posted: Wed Aug 02, 2006 1:35 pm

I definately will read the posts and get the most from them. I had gotten a job offer over the christmas holidays, basically a common "scam" thing. I received a check from an Ariizona Company, who I had not heard of. My "job" was to cash this check at a check cashing place, than wire them the balance less 20% for my efforts. The check was written on Bank of AMerica, and fortunately I have one nearby. I brought it directly to the branch manager, and was informed that the check was good, plenty of money in the account and I should cash it. I asked him to hold it for a week, contact the company on it to make sure it was authentic and legit. It took them a little over a week, when I returned to the bank, they informed me it was bogus and must have been stolen by a former employee. 2 weeks later I needed to open an account, I was new to the area, so I figured I would open it at bank of america. Those suckers turned me down! Said I was involved in a money laundering scheme and wouldn't open it. I contacted the police, to make sure my name stayed clean and a report, with all documentation was filed. So much for being honest!

Posted: Sat Aug 05, 2006 3:13 pm

cas....

If you had a suspicion that the cheque was fraudulent, your mistake was cashing it.

It's a catch-22 for you.... you suspect it was fraudulent, yet cannot be sure until you try to cash it.

You will know the next time.

No-one will send you money on the understanding you will send 4/5 of it back. Anyone pretending to is a fraudster.

Posted: Sat Aug 05, 2006 4:27 pm

Full requote of previous post deleted.

I CASHED nothing, I know you get nothingfor nothing in this world, my prupose was to alert the bank. I wouldnt sign it, nor anything I didn't earn legitamately... I suffered no losses. No lessons to be learned on this end! Very Happy

Posted: Sat Aug 05, 2006 6:32 pm

Then you got screwed then.

Posted: Sat Aug 05, 2006 7:10 pm

Mod Edit: Full requote of previous post removed.
Cut it out -- it's not necessary. Exclamation

I got screwed by the bank, just for giving the check to them. The manager even went to bat for me with the security department, but they didn't want to hear it. so next time i either rip it up or give it to the cops to deal with. More than likely rip it up, especially with my name on it. Exclamation

Wannabe Baiter Joined: 11 May 2006 Posts: 97

^^^^^

No good deed goes unpunished, dude.

Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 4:53 pm

Mod Edit: Full requote of previous post removed --- AGAIN !!!

Hopefully my punishment is over. Just the fact I accepted a job position that had seemd bonifide, yet to easy. I can see your point.
The punishment, actually turned into a benefit, as the bank across the street offered much better services, more of a local bank. Very Happy

Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 5:01 pm

@Bramle,

Such a positive response! Exactly NOT the type of odd response expected from this site. I expected intelligence as comments not brillant comments as this one. Perhaps you could explain that one and tell me where the screwing took place. My wallet is full, the people who's check was bogus didnt lose any money, and I got a better bank to deal with. So if I got screwed, I haven't quite figured out exactly what you are talking about.
The job offer came from Monster.com, a reputable job site, that evidently scammers use to do these types of suckering people in. Very Happy

Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 8:20 pm

Calm down guys. Bramble you misread Kenny's first reponse. Kenny this is a large site so of course some of the comments may be negative...I always find it amazing how members who have been here a week or two can suddenly become expert enough to offer advice to even newer members.

Oh and Kenny you dont need to repost the previous comment made. That is damn annoying and unnecessary

Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 9:07 pm

Hey, new members can offer us new ideas we old, set in our way baiters may not have thought of. I personally use Picasso's tried and tested method for rooting out scammers nowadays. Send them a grand and if they disappear with it they're a scammer. It's working a treat I'll have you know. BTW, can anyone lend me some money for a drink? It's just that I'm a little broke right now....... Wink

Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 7:38 am

Cas...

Ease up there mate.

The comment has not crossed the Atlantic well.

The term is used to indicate you got a raw deal... that's all.

Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2006 10:39 pm

First of all I appoligize if I took offense to a couple comments and remarks. Lets all work together and make these people go away or at least bonkers.
OK HERES THE LATEST PLOY she wants me to do, She wants my bank account number, to wire transfer money too. Naturally I didn't give it to her, and if I did it would be the empty one, and I would notify the bank ahead of time, also the police. She states she will direct deposit 4K into my account, and I will western union her the money, when I receive it. Naturally my general opinion is, she just wants the bank info and nothing will be direct deposited. Let me know if this is the proper way to do this. I want to allert the bank, tell them NO outgoing payments to be made to anyone, I haven't used the account in months anyway and the balance is like 12 bucks. I just don't want them to nail me on overdrafts from fraudulant check scheme. I am hoping the cops may have an account I can give her, but I doubt that. Anybody have any suggestions? I have to call the detectives tomorrow and get an update on the money orders she had sent the last time, so naturally I am going to drill them as well.
Should I assume she just needs the checking numbers to defraud me??
Very Happy

Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2006 12:40 am

Kenny
Very often these lads are also involved in phishing. They steal bank login details from innocent people and then use the phished information to wire transfer money out of the victims accounts to yet another victim, - you.
They will also do this with stolen credit cards. Max out the card on the allowed cash advance.

The lovely lady is more than likely a man and not in Florida. Please post the ip address used, so we can help you determine where the lad is mailing from.

Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2006 1:18 am

entire quote of previous post not neccesary and removed

OK I will get the ip address and post it, but she(he) is alledgedly in africa, and trying to get home. Tomorrow I am to call the local police who have the previous stack of money orders she had sent me, to find out details. They were to contact the florida police in the town she alledgedly lives in, and verify that, as well as other legwork. How do I get the IP address? She( he) uses Yahoo, and recentlychanged her ID since my original posting. which I will also post.

Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2006 2:04 am

mod edit -Unneccesary flame removed - lotta

For future reference, my .02 is that when checks like that show up the old mantra of "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is" applies. I would have just torn the check up and thrown it away. As for the OP's specific situation, you got entered into one of the MANY consumer related databases that keeps tabs on you (LexisNexis, ChexSystems, etc) and once you are in there you are flagged. Sorry.

Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2006 2:25 am

This is such a common scam used Kenny. Invariably they are always American but for some reason or the other are stuck in Nigeria. Dad is sick, hotel bill needs to be paid, help with a visa, or money for a ticket home. Very often they have a friend who owes them money and somehow cannot have the friend mail it to them directly. They have fake checks/money orders mailed to you and you in turn Western Union the money. 99% of scammers use Western Union.
What was the id used prior to changing to this one? What address in Florida did she give you?

In Yahoo, go to the bottom right hand corner of the mail and click on full headers, then post it here. Be sure to remove your personal email addy from it.

Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2006 2:47 pm

Thanks for the insight, I talked with my local police as far as the "florida" address given to me as home. I was told no such person or address.
For our records on the forum here is the info:
Cynthia Hechman 903 Old Gainesville Hwy Hollister Fla 32147
The IP address: 66.163.178.179 ( hopefully that isn't my IP!)

was told it originated from Ghana by police.
I have never gotten any emails from this person while in the US to my knowledge.

The cops also informed me it was in the FBI hands, and they really don't do anything about these very common scams. Especially when no one loses money, or ID theft.

Anyother info I can gather, please let me know.