Internet Scammers

Anonymous Poster · Jun 5, 2003

What do you want to bet that the use of AT&T deaf translator helps shield the location of the origin of the call (i.e. no caller ID). Other possibilities are that the people doing the scam have access to a terminal and are using it without the owners knowlege, or that they are actually deaf. I have heard that some of the bogus certified checks that show up are extremely high quality forgeries--the banks can't tell they aren't real until they try to transfer the funds from the certifying bank. Interesting that the people say that they are sending a check and never send it. It appears that something you say/do breaks the scam. The scammers then hang up and move on to the next ad.

Anonymous Poster · Jun 5, 2003

I looked up the AT&T service. It is free and available "nationwide". You need a web cam, and a high speed connection. The interpreter then interprets the sign language that they get over the video and talks to the person on the other end. It appears that the originator would have to know sign langauge and have high speed internet access. By doing this, they now have an anonymous voice connection that is almost untraceable. Bet they are using high speed access that doesn't keep a constant IP address (many DSL services change your IP address daily where cable modems keep the same IP address). So now, even if AT&T writes down the IP address source (which they probably don't), the provider then has to figure out which account had that IP address at that particular time. Seems like almost unbreakable cover and then they get the pity factor for dealing with a deaf individual. Then they send the bogus check and have you wire the excess funds overseas. Almost no way to trace anything. The only risk to them is the cost associated with the forged check. Not too hard to do with todays computer technology.

buppy69 · Jun 5, 2003

I just got one a minute ago from S. Africa. The guy said he was the president of a bank and a depositor just died and left $26,000,000 without a will or next of kin. He wanted to share the money with me because him being the banker he couldn't touch it and wanted me to claim the money for him. What a trip!

Eugene

rbeitz · Jun 5, 2003

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I just got one a minute ago from S. Africa. The guy said he was the president of a bank and a depositor just died and left $26,000,000 without a will or next of kin. He wanted to share the money with me because him being the banker he couldn't touch it and wanted me to claim the money for him. What a trip!

Eugene )</font>

I get these emails often. Another variation is a high ranking diplomat was exiled from his country but not before he was able to hide huge sums of money and he needs your bank account to wire transfer the money out of his country. He is willing to give 20-40% just for parking his money for a few days...LOL
Hard to believe it but there are actually some people out there that fall for these scams...

Anonymous Poster · Jun 5, 2003

I guess the number of people who have been contacted shows this scam is common. Someone new to the internet or selling the occasional implement will be less likely to have heard of the scam or have been previously contacted. The buyer who says that they will write one check so you pay the shipper is the most workable scam. The seller of the equipment probably has only used certified checks a few times in his life (i.e. when buying a house). So they assume the check is the same as cash and wire the money to the "shipper" and the scam is done.

normde2001 · Jun 8, 2003

Posted by Elhaji Kamal on Saturday, June 07, 2003:
In Reply to: Yanmar 2010 4wd shaft posted by Joey on Friday, June 06, 2003:

Hello,
My name is kamali saw your ad Yanmar 2010 4wd shaft.when i was browsing through.I'm really interested in buying Yanmar 2010 4wd shaft for how much,and my method of payment is a certified cashier's check that is drawn from a united states.
I'll also like to know if you do shipping to the Republic of South africa,and if you can't I will contact a shipping agent of mine that will handle that as soon as the transaction is deal,he arranges for my shipping arrangement. I'll be expecting your mail soonest.if really you are very interested.You can send the pics if available.
Looking forward to your reply positively..
Best of Regards
Dr Kamal

Here is a post that just appeared on this forum, if anyone would care to respond.

Anonymous Poster · Jun 8, 2003

Sounds like the scam we've been talking about. Doesn't yet include the request that you pay someone else. I would bet that there would be a deadline to ship right after the check arrived (there you lose your tractor for a bogus check), deadline to send money back (i.e. you end up giving them money to either pay for shipping or as an overpayment), or a request for your account information.

I guess that one final thing to be aware of is that some scammers buy a cashier's check and them either modify the amount or forge a new check with the original check's identifying information. Therefor, you get the check and ask your bank to verify that it is a valid check. They call the bank that issued it and find out that the number is valid, but they don't verify the amount. Your bank tells you that the check is valid. You send money back. You actually got a check for $5 and then refunded $2000 or paid for $2000 "shipping".

Finally, they might be just trying to get your bank acct info to wire all the money out of your acct.

Inspector507 · Jun 8, 2003

Maybe the guy needs to sell him the shaft. What good is a 4WD shaft that has a clicking sound?? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Anonymous Poster · Jun 8, 2003

One last thing--Most people on e-bay will only ship to the country in which they reside--i.e. only to the US. The reason for this is that the US authorities cannot go after people in other countries. Credit card scammers often scam from countries that do not enforce fraud as we do in this country. This is just a credit card scam where they pay or appear to pay you by credit card, you ship your merchandise. Your account is creditted, but later debitted because the card was stolen (i.e. the merchant loses). Your goods are already gone and shipped to a country which does nothing with your complaint of fraud. Ship only to the US. If you find you are so enchanted with one of these offers, set up a separate account just for the transaction (preferably at a different bank from your usual one), and immediately on getting funds in the account, transfer them out to your regular bank. Still has risks even if you do this (i.e. if the bank gets stuck due to creditting a bogus check) they may attempt to have you charged as some sort of accomplice/ participant.

Anonymous Poster · Jun 9, 2003

Just about 2 weeks ago the local tv news had woman who had been advertising a car for sell. someone came and gave her a certified check for it . It was something around 6-7 thousnd dollars. She deposited the check in her checking account and thenwrote some checks on the account for around $2000 to pay some bills. About a week later she got a notice that she was over drawn and the certified check was no good. It was drawn on a forigen bank. The bank wanted thier mony back and she had lost the car which had been picked up by the person with the certified check . I would not take a chance on it.
Ralph /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif