[DeTomaso] Scam alert # 18

[Garth Rodericks]

<<<  When I received the $81,000.00 check - note- the check was sent through the 
  regular mail, not FedEx or next day air or even registered mail!  I took the check to my 
  bank and requested a full check of it's authenticity.  IT WAS WORTHLESS !!! >>>
   
  Perhaps banks' ability to verify the authenticity of checks has improved in recent 
  years, but when I worked in banking a few years back, there was a variation of this 
  scam. The crook would send a "cashier's check" (good as cash, right? - wrong!) 
  drawn on a foreign bank. The actual process to clear the check took quite some time. 
  So if you're a good customer of your bank, they would give you immediate credit in 
  your account, you're happy, so you go ahead and let the shipper pick up the car and 
  take it away. A week or so later you get a call (if you're lucky) from your bank that 
  your account has been debited for the full amount of the deposit because the check 
  was forged/stolen/fake/etc.  There's no money, and your car is gone too. Sellers 
  beware, expecially if your dealing with someone overseas or an agent for a buyer. If 
  the transaction smells funny, run away from it.
   
  <<<  Maybe a good approach would be to somehow get their email address into as 
  many junk mail lists as possible?  Or maybe send a reply with a 10 MB attachement 
  with a title they would be interested in? >>>
   
  My approach to these email scams has been to send them a virus - remember those 
  '.pif' viruses that were running around last year? I saved one of the messages for just 
  such a purpose. I renamed the file to something like "bank acct info" and sent it 
  back to every Nigerian scammer offering me $$$ to help him get unclaimed millions 
  out of their ministry of whatever fund. Funny thing is I stopped getting their emails 
  within a couple of months.  :o)
   
  Cheers!
  Garth
  #4033 
   

		
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