The Spam and Scam Superthread- Merged

[Yrys]

He would have had to have the money in his account, before he wrote the cheque, correct?

In French reports about those scams, the victims and the banks first think the fraudulent check is legit.
So the victim send a check from his account, with the "money" from the scammers (supposedly) in his account.
When the fraudulent check rebound, the banks take the money from the account, but not everybody
has the same amount of money in their account that they sent to the scammers. Thus need of the banks
to talk with employers ...

The scammers usually fake checks from others countries, that take a LLONNG time to be check...

 

[PMedMoe]

Why would someone write a cheque, send it to mister Nigeria Scammer, then have his pay garnished.
He would have had to have the money in his account, before he wrote the cheque, correct?
If he borrowed the money from the bank, to cover the amount, I would think the bank would ask questions about why he was borrowing the money.
I am going with CDN Aviator, as this sounds a bit wonky to me.

Tess,

This is what was posted:

I currently work in one of the largest banks in Canada and have had the chance to observe first hand one of these scams take over $130 000.00 worth of a military member and bank customers' money....a "scam" cheque was sent to Mr. X, in turn he deposited the cheque to his account, it was held for a month(due to the amount and being in usd). The cheque cleared.....the kicker was the cheque was from a well know US technology company but the payable to has be "washed" and made payable to "Mr. X". The fraudulent part was only found out after the issuer (technology company) got their cashed cheque back but the proper payable to company didn't recieve their funds. Mr. X had then after a month cabled the money to "scammer" and then found out the "intercepted" cheque he received was fraudulent. At this point the bank is dealing with DND to recover funds from him.
Because of this and similar situations our institution has severe and strict guidelines that are in place to hopefully stop this from ever happening again.

IIRC, the scam says they will send you a check as they can't cash it and you send them a money order or whatever back for a percentage of their inheritance.

So:

Mr. X (military member) received a check from Mr. Y (the scammers).  The check they sent him was a check from a well known US tech company which the scammers intercepted and doctored (or copied?) to be made payable to Mr X.  He got the cash after a month and sent the money to Mr. Y.  He didn't find out the original check was fake until the company it was actually payable to notified the US tech company that they hadn't received the money.  The US tech company obviously had the (re-doctored?) cashed check which I'm sure they traced (considering the amount it was for) and found that Mr. X had cashed it.  Now, this money is recovered and Mr. X is out however much he sent to Mr. Y.  At this point, the bank is probably going through DND to get the money back from Mr. X.  Not to mention, the bank in question now has better guidelines in place to avoid this sort of thing, as I'm sure they're not too happy about it either.

Make sense?

 

[geo]

You have to understand that the scammer would have worked on the "mark's" greed... here is a cheque for 100K.. cash it, let it clear the banks & return to me the sum of 80K.  He'll say that he can't deposit it cause he moonlights & his bank accounts are "tagged" for garnishee (or some other vague reason).

Mark cashes the cheque, gets the 100K... waits a month & sends a bank draft to scammer for 80K... good money ???

 

[FastEddy]

You have to understand that the scammer would have worked on the "mark's" greed... here is a cheque for 100K.. cash it, let it clear the banks & return to me the sum of 80K.  He'll say that he can't deposit it cause he moonlights & his bank accounts are "tagged" for garnishee (or some other vague reason).

Mark cashes the cheque, gets the 100K... waits a month & sends a bank draft to scammer for 80K... good money ???

Just a thought, the Bogus Cheque clears, the Mark receives 100K cash, opens a separate Cheqing account with only ten dollars in it. Sends a cheque on this account for 80K to the Scammer. Deposits original 100K in High Yield Venture or Off Shore Account.

Mark negotiates and guarantees Bank & Insurance Co., full restitution within 12 months on condition of interest free on principal, immunity for all other recourse,

Results:    Bank gets their !00K back.

                Insurance Co. doesn't have claim or payout.

                Mark net's tidy profit from Off Shore Account.

                Scammer (hopefully) is arrested for Bank Fraud, or at least pays hefty NSF charges on 80K   
                cheque and stands there, thinking, how could anyone be so mean to do this.  :

Cheers.

 

[Michael OLeary]

And a new example here in Canada:

Ontario man bilked of $150,000 in email scam

22-year-old strung along with promises of $12.8M inheritance
Last Updated: Wednesday, January 14, 2009 | 10:16 PM ET
CBC News

A southern Ontario man says he now owes his friends and family $150,000 after international email scam artists bilked him of the funds by convincing him he was about to inherit a fortune.

John Rempel, who is unemployed, lives with his Mennonite parents in a simple wartime home in Leamington, about 50 kilometres southeast of Windsor.

Rempel told CBC News the scheme started in 2007, when he opened an email and thought he was set for life.

The email told the 22-year-old a distant relative had died in a bomb attack in London, England, and left behind $12.8 million.

He said the email was from someone claiming to be an attorney named Matthew Spencer, who said he represented the relative and was looking for someone to claim the fortune.

Spencer was a world away, but convinced Rempel they shared a faith in God, he said.

"He always said, 'God bless you,'" Rempel said.

"Every Sunday he was in church. All that stuff made me believe it, right?"

So when Rempel was told he needed to pay fees for documents, he did.

"At first it was a little bit, some fees about $2,500, and I thought that was it," he said.

"After that … it never stopped. They were like, 'Just this bit yet and then it's going to happen.'"

When he was told he needed to fly to England to meet some men personally and pay more fees, he did.

"I met them behind the motel, I handed them over $10,000 in cash," he said. "I was happy. I was like, 'Oh wow, this is real, because I met them and everything.'"

When the emails asked for more money, he borrowed it from his parents, his family and his friends.

Then two weeks ago, Rempel waited at a New York airport for the men and his money to arrive, but they never came. He then contacted the police.

"This is a bunch of money," he said. "It's like a mortgage, a big house mortgage people work for 25 years."
Tracing scam artists 'almost impossible': police

Leamington police Const. Kevin O'Neil said there's not much investigators can do.

"There's no doubt that they're probably not even using proper names, so to try to track these people down would be almost impossible," O'Neil told CBC News.

So now Rempel finds himself having to pay everyone back.

"Got them broke, got myself broke, got my family broke, and I can't believe how those kind of people, how they can do that to people," he said.

In spite of everything, Rempel said his faith in God is strong and he still believes anything is possible — even a way out of this debt.

 

[PMedMoe]

I feel bad for the people who fall for these scams but I find it difficult to fathom, that with all the news, warnings, etc that are out regarding this kind of thing, why people are still falling for it.  Even if you didn't hear or read any of the warnings, how many times would you keep sending someone money without seeing any kind of return?

Meeting people behind a hotel and giving them cash?  This didn't seem a bit "shady"?  Unbelievable. 
If it were truly an inheritance, you would think one would expect to meet in an office and hand over a cashier's check or something.

 

[Bzzliteyr]

How about all the people that fall for legit investment schemes?  I mean, I have seen people give money to an investment broker on numerous occasions with the "the stock is coming, any day now..." story.  Then there happens to be "more stocks released if you want to buy more" and more money leaves their pockets.  Still no returns. 

So I can see how some people fall for these things as not everyone knows the "procedure" for claiming an inheritance and has to trust their (incorrect) judgement.

 

[PMedMoe]

So I can see how some people fall for these things as not everyone knows the "procedure" for claiming an inheritance and has to trust their (incorrect) judgement.

That's true, Bzzliteyr.  I guess due to my naturally cynical (and suspicious) nature, I'm protected.  ;D

 

[Bzzliteyr]

Yeah, same here.  Whenever I get any emails forwarded from friends or family, I hit them back with a Snopes.com response cause in most cases they have fallen prey to one of those emails.  If they pass those ones on, who says they woun't fall victim to Nigerian type stuff?

Side note: my buddy a very smart IT guy, recently had a spat cause his wife responded to one the email scams and got scammed!! I guess he thought the house was "protected" but hadn't educated the rest of the family in these things!

 

[Journeyman]

..... due to my naturally cynical (and suspicious) nature, I'm protected.   

You're not suggesting your personality is a form of birth-control, are you?

  [ :warstory:  duck and cover  ]

 

[PMedMoe]

Yeah, same here.  Whenever I get any emails forwarded from friends or family, I hit them back with a Snopes.com response cause in most cases they have fallen prey to one of those emails.  If they pass those ones on, who says they woun't fall victim to Nigerian type stuff?

I do the same thing!!  Also, when I send an email to more than one person, I blind CC everyone so that no email addresses show up.  When I forward an email, I remove all other addresses.  I love it when someone sends me something that has been forwarded numerous times with about 20 email addresses each time it's forwarded.  If I was a spammer, I'd be having a field day!

You're not suggesting your personality is a form of birth-control, are you?

Nope, it's SPAM control!!  Doesn't seem to work on you, though..... 

 

[geo]

Really & truly.... This Rempel person is completely clueless AND will probably be a runner up for the Darwin Awards.

When the emails asked for more money, he borrowed it from his parents, his family and his friends.

COME ON FOLKS.... his parents are alive (he mooched $$$ from them) and this long lost relative skips over the parents to leave HIM a load of cash ?  Doesn't pass the smell test - even at this distance.

 

[FastEddy]

[quote author=
[/quote]


Hi Folks, here's a new twist, beware as usual.


I have a new email address!

You can now email me at: browwal@rocketmail.com

Hello,


This is for your attention.

- We wish to notify you again that you were listed as a beneficiary to the total sum of £4,600,000.00GBP (Four million Six hundred thousand British Pounds Sterling) in the intent of the deceased (names now witheld since this is our second letter to you). We contacted you because you bear the surname identity and therefore can present you as the beneficiary to the inheritance since there is no written will. Our legal services aim to provide our private clients with acomplete service. We are happy to prepare wills, set-up and administer Trusts, carry out the administration of estates and prepare and administer powers of attorney.All the papers will be processed in your acceptance. In your acceptance of this deal, we request that you kindly forward to us your letter of acceptance, your current telephone and fax numbers and a forwarding address to enable us file necessary documents at our High court probate division for the release of this sum of money.Yours faithfully. Walter Brown [/color

Cheers.

P.S. I was never contacted in the first instance.


|

 

[chris_log]

Not a Nigerian Scam, but has anyone else been getting phone calls (I got them on my cell phone, as did my girlfriend) telling you your car warranty is up and to renew it right away?

I googled the area code and it's from Nevada. I called back and all I got was a machine asking if I wanted to be removed from their list to 'dial 1'.

 

[IntlBr]

I got that too actually Piper, and I went ballistic on the person who answered when I "pressed zero for operator assistance" - I have NO idea how these clowns got my phone number, and it pisses me off to no-end that my information is that insecure.  Of course, the man who answered refused to disclose how they got my number  :

 

[dapaterson]

There are companies buying the "do not call" list from the government, then calling everyone on the list - as it's all current, valid numbers.  Of course, the companies that do it are in the US, and thus immune to the CRTC.  (Anyone else get the ship tooting in their ear every second or third call?)

Turn about is fair play though; for years the US has complained about the Canadian telephone fraud artists who take advantage of Americans (many "call centre job offers" in the Montreal Gazette are for boiler room staff to work such scams; someone I knew from High School is currently behind bars for orchestrating such a scam).

 

[kincanucks]

I got that too actually Piper, and I went ballistic on the person who answered when I "pressed zero for operator assistance" - I have NO idea how these clowns got my phone number, and it pisses me off to no-end that my information is that insecure.  Of course, the man who answered refused to disclose how they got my number  :

It is a scam as they try to get you to enter your credit card information

 

[chris_log]

It is a scam as they try to get you to enter your credit card information

I figured it was, I just wanted to know if anyone else was a target of it.

 

[aesop081]

I figured it was, I just wanted to know if anyone else was a target of it.

i keep getting the "this is your final chance to contact us, press 1 now to reduce your interest rate" phone call.......its always a different name on the automated greeting.

 

[Nfld Sapper]

lol haven't gotten anything since I signed up for the Do Not Call list .......