Scammed! (Not Us -- A Friend's Daughter.)

Craig's List has warnings all over the place against accepting bogus cashier's checks & advising against sending money via Western Union --

** CRAIGSLIST ADVISORY --- AVOID SCAMS BY DEALING LOCALLY
** Avoid: wiring money, cross-border deals, work-at-home
** Beware: cashier checks, money orders, escrow, shipping
** More Info: http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams.html​

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Unfortunately, not everybody gets the message, or pays attention. A friend's daughter had an ad on Craig's List offering a room for rent. She got a nice reply back from a lady who said she'd take it. The nice lady followed up by sending a cashier's check covering (a) 1 month's rent in advance, (b) a security deposit, & (c) $3,600 extra to pay the movers who will be bringing in the nice lady's furniture & belongings. The nice lady included instructions on wiring the $3,600 to the movers, who were out of town -- naturally, along with the nice lady's things.

So our friend's daughter cashed the cashier's check down at the bank, deposited the rent payment & security deposit, & wired $3,600 to the "movers."

After a few days, the bank notified our friend's daughter that the cashier's check was bogus & told her she is immediately responsible for repaying the bank the full amount of the fake check. Unfortunately, it's a familiar story I'm sure you've heard before, with minor variations.

What's really wicked is that the same scammer sent a similar response to The Chief Of Staff regarding a 3BR suite The Chief Of Staff is offering for rent via Craig's List...

Hi,
Hello to You overthere and how is your day? I saw your advert that You have a room available for rent and i am interested in knowing the availability of the place and i will also want to know more about the place, neighboourhood ,and the utilities included...?
I am Lucy Okuyade,a Medical Humanitarian Nurse ,and ve been involve since the past 8 years,taking care of the motherless babies,Homeless one and all of that,I am still kind of young because i just turned 27yrs old...I Can speak both English and German,i love to live with clean people,caring,responsible,neat type. I'm 5"7' straight,and i am in south Dokota now ,I will want to move by the ending of july depending on the availability of the room ,I speaks English fluently ,so we have no barriers.
I'll let You know more about me if i am to rent this particular room that you have to offer.
I will be anxiously waiting for your next email
Kind Regards

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The Chief Of Staff read that over the phone to our friend's daughter after hearing about what happened from the scam victim's mom. "That's from the same person," she said. "That bit about five seven & straight is the giveaway. Only my scammer said she's in Nevada, not North Dakota. And mine speaks French instead of German."

The Chief Of Staff had already decided not to respond to the inquiry because it just sounded too stilted & fishy. In any case, The Chief Of Staff requires an applicant's SSAN for credit check purposes, plus criminal check, plus payment of 1st month's rent & security deposit in person by cash. The scammers have to get up pretty early in the morning to put 1 over on The Chief Of Staff.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

What's that, that's born every minute????

Unfortunately as long as there are folks who will pay...there are cons that will play!

Kinda funny that ya cant trust those checks that used to be so reliable.

Not really...

For my roommate ads, I get a constant barrage of people off shore or on the mainland that want to rent my room.

I answer most inquiries, and when people that are not on island ask me if I will rent to them, my stock reply is that when you get here, you can take a look at the room if it's still available.

Even the Nigerians have stopped bothering me, Alan.

The part that really gets me is every time I fall for the "I'm on the mainland, but I'll be there on xxx, and I really want to rent your room" line. For me, that one gets me more often that any Nigerian scam.

-David

I ran a tutoring ad and they wanted to pay me a year in advance.....I smelled a rat (big clue is the English and the fact that they want to do the transaction sight unseen, be it renting an apt., hiring a tutor (without checking references, etc.)

There was a story on the local news last night about someone who answered one of those "mystrey shopper" and was sent a check via UPS that she was supposed to take to some Money Gram shop, cash and then wire a portion of that check to a third party. Her "job" was to observe how they interacted with customers and what she thought of the overall experience.

Scam Follow-Up.

The nice lady asked our friend's daughter to wire another $1,100 for customs -- otherwise the "movers" won't be able to bring the nice lady's personal household goods into the country so she can move into the Craig's List room for rent.

Our friend's daughter is considering wiring $11 (not $1,100) if -- if -- she can pre-arrange with the police at the receiving end to be there to snap handcuffs on the "movers" when they show up to get the cash.

Good luck with that, eh ?

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

That sounds like a great plan...I hope the police are willing.

The funniest part of Alan's quote, from an old English teacher's point of view, is the line, "...I speaks English fluently...":hysterical:

Marty

Who Knew Teachers Still Taught Old English ?

Kona Lovers said:

The funniest part of Alan's quote, from an old English teacher's point of view, is the line, "...I speaks English fluently..."

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In Olde English, that's how they say it, no ?

It's the folks speaking Modern English who leave off the "s" -- not that there's anything wrong with that.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

AwayWeGo said:

In Olde English, that's how they say it, no ?

It's the folks speaking Modern English who leave off the "s" -- not that there's anything wrong with that.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

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Not only that, we teachers of Modern English have dropped the "e" from "olde"- imagine that!

Marty

Who'd A-Thunk ?

Kona Lovers said:

Not only that, we teachers of Modern English have dropped the "e" from "olde"- imagine that!

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Who knew ?

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

Can someone here explain something to me?

Maybe somebody who is a banking expert?

Why do banks clear a cashiers check? Is there not a waiting period for a cashiers check to clear? I have to wait for the checks I deposit to clear.

Is there an expert out here to explain this?

My take on the check/cheque clearing:

In the olde days banks seemed to take forever to clear cheques. Somehow that worked to their advantage.

Sometime in the last 30 years or so the Fed imposed some rules about fund availability. A local check, funds were supposed to be available in 2? days, out of state checks, something else. The banks had to adhere to those rules.

In the meantime they still went about the task of verifing cheques were good for the amount written, the verification process, which we think of as clearing.

The funds can be available but the check subsequently no good.

I am sure there are even more horror stories. My sister got a check ($3K) from a large insurance company. When she went to cash it the bank said that the account had had fraud detected and they would not cash it. They wouldn't call the company to confirm or nut in honey. I let her deposit it in our account and took the interest for 5 days until it cleared! Of course, I let her use the money in the meantime. That's what big sisters are for.

billymach4 said:

Can someone here explain something to me?

Maybe somebody who is a banking expert?

Why do banks clear a cashiers check? Is there not a waiting period for a cashiers check to clear? I have to wait for the checks I deposit to clear.

Is there an expert out here to explain this?

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By federal regulation, there is a maximum amount of time a bank can hold a check without releasing funds. In the case of these international cashier's checks, the time required for the check to clear the banking system is substantially longer than the maximum time the bank is allowed to hold the funds.

The scammers exploit that difference. They count on their victims to assume the check must be OK because the check is a cashiers check and the bank has held the money the requisite time. So the victim gets access to the funds, wires the refund, and believes everything is fine. When the check does get returned, though, the bank requires the depositer to return the funds that were withdrawn.

The perpetrators of the scam always require the money to be wired to them because a wire transfer is as good as cash - wire transfers are prepaid and aren't sent unless the transfer is funded. So as soon as the scammer gets the money transfer, they have the money and they are gone (unless they believe they can play the sucker for yet more money).

My customer...

I have a fairly new customer at the bank who called me yesterday morning and wanted to have me verify a check she received to see if it was bad since she did not want to put a bad check into her account. I asked her to bring it in for me to look at but she could not get over to the bank because of car problems. I had her tell me her story; She said you have heard of Ashley Furniture, right? I said yes....well, she said, they want me to help with some payments for shipping....Now, already red neon lights are flashing in my head, it just screams scam, she has this check for $4,000.00 from Truckers Service Center LLC out of Ocala, Florida. She gave me the routing and account number. I aasked her what bank was it drawn on, she said there was no bank name anywhere on the check...I asked her how she received it, she said by UPS. Ok, if this does not scream scam, I don't know what does. Anyway, we hung up the phone and I found out that it was drawn on Suntrust Bank. I called their merchant verification line,Suntrust told me that the account was closed. I called her back and told her that. Now, I am not sure if I trust her or not. I am trying to decide if she was scammed or if she is trying to get away with something. She only recently opened her account with me with cash. We are going to watch her account and will put appropriate holds on any checks she deposits. If she does....well, we shall see... .

If these scammers have access to cash (and anyone who can legitimately get a cashiers check must have access to cash), then one has to wonder why they can't just wire the money they are trying to pay. Just seems so much easier than paying for a larger than necessary cashiers check, and then sending it to someone, and then telling that person to wire back the balance (while also telling the scamee to keep some for their trouble).

It's not rocket science, but somehow this trick works every day. I don't get it.

The beauty of UPS in instances like this (from a scammer's point of view) is that mail fraud may be out of the equation as they are not using the Postal Service (though I could be wrong on this one).

djs said:

The beauty of UPS in instances like this (from a scammer's point of view) is that mail fraud may be out of the equation as they are not using the Postal Service (though I could be wrong on this one).

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I'd say you've hit the nail square on the head on this issue.

Marty

One of my customers (62) of ten years has all types of BIG problems because his "financial backer" has been waiting for a BIG check from overseas to clear, but HOMELAND SECURITY has been investigating the source of the funds. The value of this transfer started at $10Million and yesterday was $38Million. I think I first heard of this big money 6-7 months ago.

I had him in court (the real state court) for my money 6 weeks ago and of course, I was in his eyes, the reason he was in debt to me. The judge was concerned for this guy's health (like stroke, heart attack) during a really short court session (judge's tone and words, as I do this 5-6X a year).

Now, in the last two weeks, the funds were released (you know, by Homeland Security) to his "financial backer's" bank account and my customer was going to get money WIRED into his bank account in just a day or two. And how much exactly did I need to set his account straight? 10 days after this started (Friday at 5:30PM), my customer requested my bank account deposit slip, after "as money was wired into his (my customer's account), but since it was after 4PM - wouldn't show/be available til Monday to just wired the money to me". I had a "drop dead" deadline of that day. I told him I would extend that deadline, for $XXX per day, as he was not getting my bank slip. Now Tues PM, guess what "wire" still isn't recorded in whose account?

He just doesn't get it. I have education, corporate experience, and years of life experience - if you have the resources to get $10Million, you have Lawyers and Big Banker support on both sides. And the jump to $38Million in the last days, just more of the "hook".

My first thought was a Nigerian scam. Past 2 months, I have changed my opinion to be more of "Beautiful Mind" on the "financial backer's" part and idiot on my customer's part. The asking for a deposit slip - scam is gaining ground. After spending Monday and Tuesday with an every 90 minute phone calls during banking hours (I am owed this money personally), the "financial backer" isn't returning my customer's phone calls. My customer feels the "financial backer" is just "too busy" moving his "released" money around.

I expect more "scamming" as more and more people get financially distressed due to lack of money/gas/heat/food. Protect your financial info, watch your mail (get a P O Box), use 2 checking accounts in different banks (major money, public bills/ATM/gifts), and run regular credit reports - you get one free each year from each of the three majors, just run one every 4 months.

AwayWeGo said:

Craig's List has warnings all over the place against accepting bogus cashier's checks & advising against sending money via Western Union --



Unfortunately, not everybody gets the message, or pays attention. A friend's daughter had an ad on Craig's List offering a room for rent. She got a nice reply back from a lady who said she'd take it. The nice lady followed up by sending a cashier's check covering (a) 1 month's rent in advance, (b) a security deposit, & (c) $3,600 extra to pay the movers who will be bringing in the nice lady's furniture & belongings. The nice lady included instructions on wiring the $3,600 to the movers, who were out of town -- naturally, along with the nice lady's things.

So our friend's daughter cashed the cashier's check down at the bank, deposited the rent payment & security deposit, & wired $3,600 to the "movers."

After a few days, the bank notified our friend's daughter that the cashier's check was bogus & told her she is immediately responsible for repaying the bank the full amount of the fake check. Unfortunately, it's a familiar story I'm sure you've heard before, with minor variations.

What's really wicked is that the same scammer sent a similar response to The Chief Of Staff regarding a 3BR suite The Chief Of Staff is offering for rent via Craig's List...



The Chief Of Staff read that over the phone to our friend's daughter after hearing about what happened from the scam victim's mom. "That's from the same person," she said. "That bit about five seven & straight is the giveaway. Only my scammer said she's in Nevada, not North Dakota. And mine speaks French instead of German."

The Chief Of Staff had already decided not to respond to the inquiry because it just sounded too stilted & fishy. In any case, The Chief Of Staff requires an applicant's SSAN for credit check purposes, plus criminal check, plus payment of 1st month's rent & security deposit in person by cash. The scammers have to get up pretty early in the morning to put 1 over on The Chief Of Staff.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

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I just received the same email on Craigs List from lucyokuyade1@aol.com Please be aware this person is still scamming people. The message I received tonight the 5th of May below.
Good day,


How are you? I contact you regarding to your posting i saw on craigslist today......I hope the room is still available presently for rent.........
Am Lucy Okuyade by name,am interested in the room,i will like to know more about the place,environment,and the utilities surrounded.......

My job--- Am a medical humanitarian nurse,have been doing this for the past 8 years back,our work is to take care of motherless babies,homeless one and all of that,am still kind of young,i just clock 27 years old... Am originally from Finland,i can speak Finnish,swedish very well,and as well as English,i love to live in clean environment,to live with clean people,caring ,responsible,and neat type.... I don't smoke or drink alcoholic drink,but i can live with people that do smoke or drink,that is not a problem for me.... And as well,i don't have a pet,but i can live with a pet that is not a problem for me........If there is any form am going to fill,you can send it for me to view,if am ok with it i will let you know,so when i arrive i will fill it in person....

I will be happy to read from you,i will want to move by the ending of May,depending on the availability of the room....... I will tell you more about me if the room is still available ...

Hope to read from you...

Thanks

My Mother is looking for an individual to rent a single room where she lives. We went on Craig's List and posted the room up for Rent. She got an email from a woman who was from North Dakota, who wanted to rent the room without looking at it. She was going to Finland to look over her uncle who was very ill. She also said that she was a nurse whom heard about our location (city) from her uncle whom said it was a nice place. She wanted it right away and she sent an email talking about herself a bit more...It seemed really far fetched. Who in their right mind would want to rent a room without even looking at it, so a friend and I went on google and searched (Online Scams, Finland, Room for Rent) and sure enough this thread came up with almost the exact example email that was sent to my Mother. It was pretty much word for word. We also received another spam email from a lady in France, with pretty much the exact same email as the other persons.

All I can say is that I knew something didn't feel right with this woman. Also thank you very much for posting this, for who knows what would have happened if we didn't see this thread.

Here is something to include in your advertisements. It will cut down significantly on the scammers and flakes.