Scammers: Don’t Let Them Scheme YOU!
I’ve received much feedback from other watchdogs out there sharing their scam stories. I wanted to post a few of them here and let people know of a few Web sites where they can check out scams, frauds and other tricks:
Mark from Oklahoma City shared this scheme with me. Hopefully this info will help others not fall for the same swindle:
I was trying to sell my daughter’s 1995 Thunderbird through a free car listing on Craigslist. The price of the car was $2000. Within a few hours, I was getting proposals from people that were stating they were interested in buying the car and would pay excess funds if I would take checks to the bank, keep $2000 and then Western Union the balance to them. Sometimes the balance was $3-5,000 over the price of the car.
After a few weeks of constant emails back and forth, these scammers quit when I told them I had contacted a special unit at the FBI and they were looking into it. I did in fact call the FBI, but they said unless it was a very large amount they were not interested and referred me to the Oklahoma Attorney General.
Another gentleman also shared a similar scam he encountered on Craigslist. Seems like the schemers love the Internet and it’s anonymity:
I advertised a group of Angus bulls on Craigslist. Got an inquiry from jameslee on the bulls. He purchased a bull for $2000 and sent a check for $4000 by FedEx. Before receiving the check, I got an e-mail saying the check was written for the wrong amount by his accountant. He requested that the check to be cashed and wire $2000 back to him through Western Union I received several e-mails and phone calls from him about the $2000. The check was written by Country Wide Homes on a Citibank account and was no good. Of course, I never sent him $2000. Also received two more checks in the amounts of $2000 each. One from Basset Furniture and the other from a company in California.
Like Kathy King said in this story, many of the scammers are crossing their fingers that someone won’t have the moxie to research whether their spiel is a ploy. So let information be your protection!
The Oklahoman’s Watchdog Team: Looking out for you. Visit NewsOK.com/watchdog.
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I received a letter from Canada yesterday with a check for $4,980.00 on Wells Fargo Bank. The letter had no return address but a fax # 1-619-639-8005, an email address: extracash-partime@live.com, a telephone # 1-905-598-0615.
I was supposed to cash the check, send a money gram to a “relative” named Cecilia McGraw in Winnipeg Manitoba, Canada. Images of stores such as Walmart, McDonald’s, Gap, Pepsi were at the bottom of the letter.
It had the name Barry Newton, Human Resource Manager at the bottom but was signed by Rhonda.