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Hello I'm New here! Joined: 24 Feb 2009 Posts: 4

Hi All

I was wondering if anyone can help. A work colleague of mine has been fooled by a 419 scammer.

She has been talking to them for quite a while now and actually sent a cheque off to him!!

Luckily she was talking to people in the office and they made her realise what was going on and they have cancelled the cheque.

I have just been told about this and the lady is coming to see me this afternoon to let me know how much she communicated with them and what details she has gived over. Obviously, before I get involved in reeling this guy in, We need to put some precautions in place because I don't know how far she has been duped.

Our work colleagues have told her to come to me as they know I used to have a go at scambaiting and was part of this site/forum about a year back.

I was wondering if anyone would be able to give me a hand as although I have some experience, you guys are masters compared to the baiting I've done.

This is the last email she has received and I've told her not to reply. I need to get this mugu to come over to me some how, and forget her email and phone numbers which she has given him!! Any Ideas?

Dear Bertrand,

How are you doing? I am sorry I have a little bit of sad news. There has been a tragedy which had occurred on Monday. Three people from our missionary group were involved in a fatal motor accident while traveling back to the Village from town. Two of them died instantly, while the third person is at the hospital and in a very critical condition. Her left lungs were severely affected and have been placed on an artificial respiratory mechanism. Now the doctors says that immediate response will have to be taken to save her life and that the bills must be paid for them to operate on her immediately. There is not enough money to pay her hospital bills to get her operated on. And on the other hand we have to make necessary funeral arrangement to bury the two dead victims.

Considering this new unfortunate development, we are grieving the loss of our members and doing all we can to save the life of the one at the hospital. And since all these three people contributed financially to this trip to the United Kingdom, it has been decided that two people from the group, (that is me and one other person) will have to stay behind to plan all necessary burial arrangements and to save the life of one of us at the hospital, while the rest 3 people will continue with the plans of making the trip to the United Kingdom. However, they trip will now only last for 2 days.

In line with these new plans, we will need you to deduct charges/fees for cooking launch and dinner for only 3 people for 2 days and have the rest sent back to us. The money sent back is the share for the diseased people and we will need this money to pay for their funeral and also to pay the hospital bills.

It is very important that the money is sent immediately to pay the hospital bills so that the operation at the hospital will commence and the life of the only survival of the accident can be saved. To make it all faster for us to pay the bills, please have the money sent today via WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER to my brother in the United Kingdom using this details:

name: DAVID SHENGE

address: 14 Heddon Street

Mayfair,

London,

W1B 4DA

Please feel free to deduct the western union charges from the money and have the rest sent. Please I expect that you get this done TODAY and get back to me with the wiring information including the MTCN Numbers, Sender's names, Amount sent and Text Questions and Answer (if any).

All inconveniences caused are regretted. Right now the only thing that maters now is paying the complete hospital bills for the operation to commence on time, and to bury the remains of our diseased members. Thanks for understanding and expecting your mail soonest.

Remain Blessed

Rev Tegah Shenge

Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2009 4:16 pm

I know it's not a laughing matter, but

Quote:

bury the remains of our diseased members

Now that's funny.

To bait this lad without him being suspicious, we need to see the original unsolicited email your colleague will have replied to, along with the email address.

Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2009 4:18 pm

LjStronge wrote:

She has been talking to them for quite a while now and actually sent a cheque off to him!!

Luckily she was talking to people in the office and they made her realise what was going on and they have cancelled the cheque.

To be on the safe side, she had best be talking to the bank and asking if they will either run all EFTs through her for a time or close down the account and open a new one. It's rare a scammer would try to do a shady fund withdrawal, but then, it's rare a scammer would actually ask for a check...

Or did she mail it to the supposed "receiver address" in that email to "Bertrand"? If so, there's probably just going to be a very confused restaurant on the other end...

Quote:

Obviously, before I get involved in reeling this guy in, We need to put some precautions in place because I don't know how far she has been duped.

I wouldn't particularly recommend baiting this person. At least not right away. Your work colleague has already shown she was willing to reveal a lot of information by mailing a check, and frankly, victims often lie/hide just how much they really DID share, because they're embarrassed.

Quote:

This is the last email she has received and I've told her not to reply. I need to get this mugu to come over to me some how, and forget her email and phone numbers which she has given him!! Any Ideas?

Unless you have some magical forgetting dust, you can't make him forget her email and phone number. She mailed a check. She's marked herself out as an excellent victim, willing to pay, even if she did cancel it before it arrived. Unless he's lazy, expect him not to let her go easily.

I'd suggest reviewing what she admits giving him, offering advice on how to minimize the risk and annoyance, by stonewalling him and just disappearing, (like how to contact her phone company and ask that his number be blocked if he starts harassing her on the phone or to filter his emails straight to trash), then point her to a victim support site, where she can be anonymous and may reveal more, plus she can educate herself at her own pace.

If you want to make his life miserable for a bit of payback, I'd be more inclined to do that after a few weeks have passed and he's less likely to connect the two events. I know it's more of an annoyance than a real threat, but I've had some victims tell me they were horribly harassed and threatened by scammers all hours of the night when they terminated contact.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 24 Feb 2009 Posts: 4

Roycropper wrote:

I know it's not a laughing matter, but

Quote:

bury the remains of our diseased members

Now that's funny.

To bait this lad without him being suspicious, we need to see the original unsolicited email your colleague will have replied to, along with the email address.

I've just sent a quick reply over to him, just to get him interested in sending mails to another address, I've set up a gmail account, awaiting his reply now. I'll ask her to send me all the originals emails so we can see exactly what was said

Edit to add:

@mrsbean: Ok, maybe I should just back off then and get her to follow the steps you have mentioned.

Combined sequential posts and deleted full quote of text above. -luckey

Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2009 4:22 pm

I don't see any reason why you can't bait this guy, but I would certainly leave her out of it.

Baiting Guru Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Posts: 3193

It sounds as if the story got a little garbled in the telling. This is what I think you will find when you talk to your work colleague directly.

The scammer sent a cheque to pay for five people's accommodation in the UK for some time (longer than 2 days). Your colleague paid that cheque into the bank. Now the scammer is saying that due to tragic circumstances there are fewer people coming to the UK for a shorter period. Therefore they have over-paid, and please could they have their money back. Your work colleague then sent them money by Western Union, which they seem to have been able to recover after their friends warned them they were being scammed.

This is a classic over-payment scam. The cheque will be forged or stolen. The bank is required by law to make funds available within four days, but the risk remains with the customer until the statute of limitations runs out a few years later.

If this scam works, the scammer gets the money from Western Union and the victim gets a huge overdraft and maybe a criminal record for passing fraudulent cheques.

I suggest you sit them down and make them watch at least the first of these documentaries:

http://forum.419eater.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1311722&highlight=#1311722

If they have paid the cheque into a bank, then they should go to the bank and tell them it is probably fake. They will be viewed in a better light if they tell the bank, rather than the bank telling them and maybe getting the police involved.

Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2009 5:13 pm

...........and in case you are in any doubt, most people in the UK are looked after by the NHS (the National Health Service) which is entirely free, even to non nationals, so any hospital bills are totally fictitious and no medical care would be held up for want of money.

I had a kidney removed a year ago, and the cost to me was nothing. Whenever I get a scan now (free also) the radiologist always asks "Did you know you only have one kidney ?" Rolling Eyes

I'm running out of smart replies to that one. Very Happy

Private TV isn't free - but I guess if she's on artificial ventilation he/she wouldn't be too interested, but I have an unused card I can send. Laughing

Excellent deductions and advice by thud419.

Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2009 5:24 pm

I agree with Thud419. This is a classic overpayment scam...and I would find it very surprising if your friend actually sent a cheque. Western Union or Moneygram are far more likely - although they might have wanted her check so they could use it as a fraudulent check for yet another scam. With that in mind, even though she canceled the check, she still sent it - they'll have it - she'll need to watch her account closely. She should definitely talk to her bank, and spill it all...as embarrassing as it might be.

Overpayment scams are done in a variety of ways:

1. Scammer pretends he's buying something that was advertised, but his secretary "mistakenly" made the check out for higher than the price, and the scammer asks the seller to wire him the difference.

2. Scammer pretends he's going to rent an apartment - he sends a check for more than the requested amount, and asks the landlord to wire the difference to a "moving company". The moving company is...of course...him.

3. Scammer pretends he is hiring you to process "customer payments". You receive checks, cash them at your bank, and wire him the money, less a "commission" for your efforts.

In all these cases, the check will eventually turn out to be fraudulent - and the victim is on the hook for the full amount. These are only a FEW of the ways in which this scam is run. I actually think your friend's scammer is using an interesting twist on it...one that is supposed to tug at the victim's heartstrings (oh those poor diseased people who need to be buried, and the poor woman who's left lungs - both of the left ones! - have collapsed!). But it's all the same crap.

As others said, if you can get the original email from your friend and post it here, I'm sure there are some industrious baiter who would love to have a go at him.

Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2009 5:53 pm

Yeah - find the most gory pictures you can get from medical sites on the web, of course without identifying faces of patients, and send them along with some badly written instructions on how to perform a do it yourself lung bypass using parts from the local Halfords (car spares store).

Include the use of as many plumbing and car repair tools as possible but dress it up in medical lingo.

Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2009 12:14 am

If want to bait the lad on whatever his current format is, create a totally brand new clean gmail address and send him an "accidental" email (something bland, doesn't really matter, "Hey Monica, is that you? Great to see you the other day but guess what, I lost that slip with your number on!" will do), just means he's got your email address and will spam it with his new format in a day or two.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 24 Feb 2009 Posts: 4

Hi Folks

Just an update.

In spoke to the lady in question yesterday and you guys were completly spot on, SHE was sent the cheque and then he asked for a refund for part of it.

Yesterday she went to see the police who told her not to cancel it and let it cash as they believe it is stolen (obviously) She has also to the bank who are taking the neccesery precautions.

It is difficult to communicate with this lady as she is Spanish and her english is not so good, but it's certainly better than my spanish!

I'll keep you posted of any further updates.

Thanks for all your help so far!

Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2009 9:58 am

Scamwarners have a Spanish speaking member if it will help for your friend to be able to write to somebody in a familiar language.

If so, direct her to www.scamwarners.com and ask for a Spanish speaking advisor

By the sound of it, you have it under control but it never hurts to know where to find help if you need it Wink

Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2009 10:46 am

And good on you for spotting this and dealing with it so effectively - maybe follow this all up with an email around the department/company (leave her name off, of course) telling people that it happened to a colleague, how the scam works, and for them all to be vigilant with any transaction that involves overpayment.

Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2009 11:14 am

The "diseased members" bit was funny, and there's this too (emphasis added):

Quote:

we will need you to deduct charges/fees for cooking launch and dinner

And I actually know someone who's a ship's cook...

Seriously - LJS, your friend is fortunate. Cheque scams are among the most insidious of the 419s.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 24 Feb 2009 Posts: 4

Hi

I have passed the scamwarners site address over to her and let her know that there is a spanish speaking member she can talk to.

I have also sent an email around the office letting everyone know.

I have begun communication with this guy, so we shall see how things pan out, it is with a fresh gmail account I set up and on another subject altogether.

Forgot how much I missed scam baiting!

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 09 Mar 2009 Posts: 1

hi there,

same thing happened to me ... but on the day i received the "car crash" e-mail I replied to the guy and told him to f*** off.
I received another e-mail where he pretended to be surprised and nothing else since.

They have my phone number as it was taken from my website but had no harassing whatsoever/.. i even posted a blog about the scam but i see he was very clever and did all hs baiting at the very same date..