Need some advice from the experienced!

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Hello I'm New here! Joined: 22 Sep 2012 Posts: 2

New here. Have a scam going on and would like to know if anyone has suggestions on handling it. This is what is commonly known as the overpayment scam.

I had an elderly brother-in-law that was swindled out of about 30K shortly before his death, and I've see others ripped off- yet getting little or no help from law enforcement. When there are no consequences, such people just get bolder and greedier. That ticks me off, and that is what brings me here. Now- to our current situation.

My wife has a time share for sale, and she got an email offering to buy it at a good price. Within the first couple of emails, it was clear to me that something was not right. Then when the story of hard of hearing was used to avoid providing phone contact, and some other dodges used to remain untrackable I was convinced it was a con, and told her to play along until they tipped their hand. They have.

The story is that the buyer would make payment to the broker up-front for the earnest deposit and broker fees, and that would go into escrow. Then the broker was away on business, and the buyer says I'm sending you a cashiers check for $2900. Deposit it, keep the $500 earnest money deposit and please forward the balance to my broker who will contact you.

A check did arrive- mailed from Oregon, drawn on a legitimate bank, but a forgery. Good one too, but the micro-print showed it. A call to the bank verified it- however, the bank had no interest in prosecution. We were told they had been seeing these for two years, and we should just shred the check. Sure enough, we found posts on the internet where the same scam, even using the same names and amounts, were reported by several people.

I'm thinking- why aren't these people in jail? I decided to report it, and that was a waste of time. Even the FBI said "well- technically no crime has taken place until you have lost money to them". Legal research indicates that when a fake check is presented as good with the intent of financial gain, even if the check is not deposited or money lost, it's a crime. However, the choice to prosecute is elective, and so far, nobody wants to stop these jerks. The lack of investigation and pursuit of scammers is exactly why these people can do it for years.

So at the moment, we are holding a fake cashiers check for $2900, and the scammer is waiting for us to tell him we have deposited it. From what we can learn, they then say the broker is overseas on business and will call to instruct us to wire him the $2400 balance. While we don't know where the email comes from (a yahoo address) the check was sent by US Mail and postmarked in Oregon, so we know that at least one of the parties is in the US.

I haven't figured out what the next move should be. I think we have three general choices:

(1)We shred the check and tell them we know it's a scam.
Or- we set them up, with one of two objectives:
(2) Get these people to put themselves in a position that could get them arrested.
(3) Play the game out to cause them as much expense and hassle as possible.

Suggestions? Feedback?

Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2012 6:58 pm

The reason the lad is not in jail is probably that he's in a third world country. If they prosecuted the case, they'd get the guy in Oregon, who probably thinks he has a legitimate job printing checks, but not the lad in, most likely, Africa who hired him.

If you want to bait him, create a completely separate identity and respond to the original email as if you had a property at a nonexistent address for sale. You may want to use the dropbox, which is a benefit of premium membership, to receive the fake check. Don't use your own home or work address.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 22 Sep 2012 Posts: 2

vonpaso xlura wrote:

The reason the lad is not in jail is probably that he's in a third world country. If they prosecuted the case, they'd get the guy in Oregon, who probably thinks he has a legitimate job printing checks, but not the lad in, most likely, Africa who hired him.

If you want to bait him, create a completely separate identity and respond to the original email as if you had a property at a nonexistent address for sale. You may want to use the dropbox, which is a benefit of premium membership, to receive the fake check. Don't use your own home or work address.

You missed some of the details. He has already sent a check and it has arrived, so he knows our name and address.

Nobody thinks they have a legitimate job printing bank cashier's checks photocopied from an original, and printed on an inkjet either....

It's clear that at least one person here is involved, but we don't know who else or where they are at.

*** BANNED *** Joined: 26 Jul 2012 Posts: 1123

codit wrote:

Nobody thinks they have a legitimate job printing bank cashier's checks photocopied from an original, and printed on an inkjet either....

Sure they do. They got a work at home job with some bank or international corporation in an accounts payable/receivable/shipping & redirecting department.

Scammers do this all the time to victims. It is called turning the victim into a 'mule' as far as laundering terminology goes. They have basically turned the mule into the fall guy for their scams. Sometimes the mule is innocent and really thinks they have a work at home job. Other times the mule is right in on it opening mail locations and drop boxes with stolen identities. So it is hard to say whether the mule here is a knowing or unknowing accomplice but someone should try to warn the mule in the chance that this person is being set up as the fall guy all the while thinking they have some sweet accounts payable job they can do at home sitting in their underwear.

Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2012 1:07 am

codit wrote:

You missed some of the details. He has already sent a check and it has arrived, so he knows our name and address.

True, but if you do it right, he won't make any connection. Don't respond to him any more from your real address.

As to mules, look around Scamwarners. There are lots of stories of people who are offered check printing or money forwarding jobs by scammers. Here's one: http://www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=46969 .

Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2012 1:48 pm

codit wrote:

You missed some of the details. He has already sent a check and it has arrived, so he knows our name and address.

Nobody thinks they have a legitimate job printing bank cashier's checks photocopied from an original, and printed on an inkjet either....

It's clear that at least one person here is involved, but we don't know who else or where they are at.

Even though the check has been sent to you and your name/address are known to him, it is suggested that if you want to bait this person, just create a FAKE email account and start baiting him with a simple sentence like

Quote:

Please tell me again what you want me to do with this check.

The chances are he has so many people he is scamming that he won't know you from Adam.

Therefore I would suggest you sign up for a mentor, who can give you one-on-one advice about creating your character, etc. We, of course, will still be glad to answer any questions. A mentor can show you the tricks we have up our sleeves to find a location via the headers from this lad's email, creating a fake account, etc. (The mentor sign up panel is in the thread on Help, Hints & Tips)

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