I just wanted to warn everyone about this. I ALMOST fell for it...thanks to the lady at Western Union I found out about it before it was too late! We could have lost thousands!!!
The name of this "buyer" was D. Martins his email address is
d_martins30@fastermail.com
If your situation seems simillar to the following info, you may want to contact the IFCC, and your bank. It can take up to 30 days for the bank to realize the cashiers check is a fake!!! By then it is too late and YOU will owe the bank...while this jerk has YOUR money!
I was given the following info from the Internet fraud complaint center and the Federal Bureau of Investigation at at
http://www.ifccfbi.gov/index.asp.
INTELLIGENCE NOTE
11/04/2003
Prepared by the
Internet Fraud Complaint Center
The Internet Fraud Complaint Center (IFCC), a cooperative effort of the FBI and the
National White Collar Crime Center, is alerting citizens to scams involving the use of counterfeit
cashier’s checks.
The scheme targets individuals that use Internet classified ads to sell merchandise.
Typically, an interested party located outside the United States contacts a seller. The seller is
told that the buyer has an associate in the United States that owes him money. As such, he will
have the associate send the seller a cashier's check for the amount owed to the buyer. This
amount will be thousands of dollars more than the price of the merchandise, and the seller is told
the excess amount will be used to pay the shipping costs associated with getting the merchandise
to his location. The seller is instructed to deposit the check, and as soon as it clears, to wire
(Western Union) the excess funds back to the buyer, or to another associate identified as a
shipping agent. In most instances, the money is sent to locations in West Africa (Nigeria).
Because a cashier's check is used, a bank will typically release the funds immediately, or after a
one or two day hold. Falsely believing the check has cleared, the seller wires the money as
instructed. In some cases, the buyer is able to convince the seller that some circumstance has
arisen that necessitates the cancellation of the sale, and is successful in conning the victim into
sending the remainder of the money. Shortly thereafter, their bank notifies the victim that the
check was fraudulent, and the bank is holding the victim responsible for the full amount of the
check.
The IFCC is cautioning citizens to be wary of any purchasers proposing to conduct
transactions in this manner, and to take the steps necessary to ensure that a check has fully
cleared before doing anything with those funds.
Anyone who thinks they might have fallen victim to this or any other type of Internet
scam can notify the IFCC through its web site at
www.ifccfbi.gov.
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