[TheForge] Interesting scam

[Ries Niemi]

On Wednesday, October 20, 2004, at 09:51 AM, PlumDon at aol.com wrote:

> A friend of mine, not on theforge, is trying to sell a nice drophammer 
> for
> $2000 and other equipment. He advertises on e-bay. He has got 
> approximately the
>  following response from several different sources over the last year.
>
> Anyone know what the details of the scheme are? How does it work.
>
>
> Hello,
>
> this is a very straight forward deal, and not bad  transaction, is 
> just that
> as i have said in my previouse mail that i have an  associate in the 
> states
> that is oweing me a sum of $6,500,and he as agreed to  pay me back in 
> that term
> of cheque so all what i will like you to do is to have  the trust on 
> me that i
> will instruct him to issue you a certified cheque of  $6,500 on my 
> behalf and
> send it to your  location  as soon as cheque  arrives,i will like you 
> to take
> the cheque to the nearest cashing store for the  fast payment of your
> money,at the cashing store all you need to do is you will  be 
> requested to pay for
> some charges in other to get the cheque cashed, so after  that you 
> have to make
> use of the western union money transfer in your location  to get the 
> balance
> of $4,300 wired to them so that the pick up can easily be  made asap.
>
>


This is a very common scam- the cashiers checks are forged. But your 
bank will credit your account, then call you two or three weeks later 
and tell you they are taking the money back. Often times the "buyer" 
never even attempts to get the item- its all about the "extra money" 
they are having you wire western union back to them.

dont go near it with a ten foot pole.

ries