Another scam! - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

t walgamuth · #1 11-10-2007, 07:50 AM

So I have a small house for rent behind where I live. I get a polite email from a fellow who claims to be from England coming over to be affiliated with Purdue working in some endeavor related to the UN. Seemed plausible. Said he was coming over right away and needed a place to live and my little house was just perfect, etc. He even called me one day and talked on the phone. He didn't sound british but could have been South African and there are plenty of folks in England who came from other places so that didn't raise a red flag either.

So he said he was going to have his company send me a deposit check to hold it til he got here. I agreed to hold the house for one week for a non refundable deposit of 500.

So after a few emails back and forth I eventually get a ups delivery from Atlanta with a check for $1,837.50 drawn on a bank In Witchita. I think WTF? It seemed plausible that his company had screwed up, so I email him and say I got this check which I was going to deposit and if he did not take the house I would refund the difference after I was sure the check was good.

But next day I get an email saying I was supposed to send a check to his travel agent, so now it obviously is a scam. So I email back not to waste my time, the check is no good and I am not going to deposit anything.

So the question is is there anything to do? Should I bother taking the check to the authorities? If so who would have any interest or ability to do anything about it.

I checked back and he has communicated with me through three different email addresses.

Tom W

#2 11-10-2007, 08:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by t walgamuth

I get a polite email from a fellow who claims to be from England coming over to be affiliated with Purdue working in some endeavor related to the UN. Seemed plausible.
...
I agreed to hold the house for one week for a non refundable deposit of 500.
...
I eventually get a ups delivery from Atlanta with a check for $1,837.50
...
I would refund the difference
...
But next day I get an email saying I was supposed to send a check to his travel agent, so now it obviously is a scam...

Seemed plausible? That should have been a gigantic red neon flashing bell-ringing flag from the first line.

Take the check to the FBI so they can freeze the bank account.

G-Benz · #3 11-10-2007, 08:16 AM

Cut him a break!

The thread title is "Another Scam" so the rest of us already have the benefit of having our "scam radars" on alert!

At least he was wary enough to detect a fraud in process as the rest of the incidents unfolded.

We all tend to think we can smell a scam a mile away, but it's easy to fall prey to a few of the tactics under the right set of circumstances.

I'm pretty good at spotting phishing tactics myself, but I years ago I got nailed because of a phish involving signing on to AOL's "Youve Got Pictures". The e-mail arrived at exactly the same time a friend informed me that he had posted pictures on the same site.

The ONLY way to can be truly aware of scams is to not trust anyone first...then go from there.

dynalow · #4 11-10-2007, 08:18 AM

Tom,

Just curious,

Where did you list the house for rent on the Web.
I think the story line would have raised my eyebrows a little, but I probably would have strung him along as you did. Aftere all, you are/were no worse off with his check in your hand than if you had dusted him off at the start.
Does that bank exist? (google check?)

t walgamuth · #5 11-10-2007, 08:30 AM

The story about the affiliatoin with Purdue did not seem that far out. I had not heard of the exact thing he described but there are a lot of things going on over there.

My ad was on apartments.com.

There was really no solid reason to be suspicious until the wrong check showed up.

I would not waste my time stringing anybody along who did not seem real. I was trying to rent the house. I would not hold it unless I had a known good check in hand.

I rent to a lot of folks from Purdue....grad students, faculty too. A lot of internationals. I rent several apartments each year from people who have never seen them. I post a lot of pictures for them to look at and talk to them, etc. This is the first scam attempt I have experienced.

You think the FBI would be interested?

Tom W

kerry · #6 11-10-2007, 10:00 AM

This is a pretty common landlord scam, typically associated with apartments listed for rent on Craigslist. A landlord posted about a similar attempt on the MrLandlord discussion board a couple of days ago. I've had one occurrence myself with a Craigslist posting. I'm guessing the FBI is inundated with reports.

Hatterasguy · #7 11-10-2007, 11:04 AM

I love these guys. I posted a wanted add on the local craigs list looking for a VW wheel, and I get guys in Africa trying to buy it from me.

Skid Row Joe · #8 11-10-2007, 01:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hatterasguy

I love these guys. I posted a wanted add on the local craigs list looking for a VW wheel, and I get guys in Africa trying to buy it from me.

You would think they'd of figured out that they need to change continents, to freshen up their scams.......however, there may be a shortage of VW wheels in Africa.

rickg · #9 11-10-2007, 02:22 PM

I got a new and different scam a couple weeks ago. Wish I'd saved it to cut-n-paste here. It came from what looked like an actual email adress from an actual relative. Said she was on a trip in Spain, had her hotel room broken into, and all her money stolen. Needed $2000 quick, sent to Western Union, blah, blah, blah. It actually made me stop and re-read it several times. I finally realized the spelling and grammer sucked, so it couldn't be my cuz. Got an email from her later that night, saying her computer had been hacked into, and she had to change her email address, ISP account, and all.
These guys are getting a little smarter, although they need to learn better english to make it work.

aklim · #10 11-10-2007, 02:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by t walgamuth

So after a few emails back and forth I eventually get a ups delivery from Atlanta with a check for $1,837.50 drawn on a bank In Witchita. I think WTF? It seemed plausible that his company had screwed up, so I email him and say I got this check which I was going to deposit and if he did not take the house I would refund the difference after I was sure the check was good.

So the question is is there anything to do? Should I bother taking the check to the authorities? If so who would have any interest or ability to do anything about it.

Did you call the bank first? I would have done that so I am 100% sure. After that, blame UPS for having delived it wet. The bank won't take it. Have him resend it. that is what I did. Got the clown to Next Day it via Fedex twice from Nigeria. Tracked it too.

Flush it down the toilet or take it to someone. Nobody cares.

t walgamuth · #11 11-10-2007, 04:20 PM

wet?

tom w

aklim · #12 11-10-2007, 04:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by t walgamuth

wet?

tom w

Told them that Fedex delivered it and left it at my door. Rain came and wet the check. Took it to the bank but they won't touch it because some of the ink smudged.

t walgamuth · #13 11-10-2007, 05:47 PM

LOL i thought it was code!

tom w

jasonkec01 · #14 11-11-2007, 02:38 AM

that is funny,always is. it seems like enough people have fallen for it though,because they[ ????] keep doing it or at least trying. i posted two bed,bath and beyond gift cards that totalled $100.00 and i was selling them for 50 bucks[ i got no other use and who[ man wise] would'nt rather buy something from home depot or mercedesshop as opposed to B.B.&B ????,[ ha-ha] anyway, 15 minutes later i get a response from a guy in like paupa new guinea wanting the gift cards and he would gladly send me a cashiers check at his utmost expediency.........first question always should be, why would this person want this thing...... yeah,some of those things are a hoot...since generally they do it from other countries the feds are'nt too interested because of the amount of manpower involved to track it all down.....

t walgamuth · #15 11-11-2007, 08:35 AM

Yeah, when they are so obvious I don't even think about it. Someone from England coming here seemed pretty normal what with Purdue having something like 30% international students and all.

Tom W