Catching Scammers!!

zincoxide

As we all know, through mediums such as Ebay, the friday ads etc, scammera operate to rip-off sellers.

One of the most common scams is to send a bankers draft of say £3000 to pay for an item worth £100 and ask the seller to return the £2900 difference. The bank will credit your account but eventually will realise the check is a forgery and take the money back , leaving you £000's out of pocket.

To the point - I work within a large international company, I provide consultancy and management for security/fraud & loss prevention issues. Recently, a member of the public was involved in the scam above and the forged cheque was in the name of the company I work for. She contacted us and I took the case on myself.

The member of the public sent the Cheque to me without telling the alleged 'buyer', I was able to confirm it was a forgery and we set up a nice sting operation with the police.

She told the scammer that he could pop round and pick up the goods he bought and his money, strangely, when he got there, plain clothes officers were waiting and he was arrested. I cannot explain what else happened but it was certainly a very good arrest.

The purpose of this thread is to ask all people who think something is too good to be true, to contact the police or trading standards, or if you receive a cheque in a companies name, contact them to verify it's authenticity.

This will enable numerous companies & forces to work together to apprehend these individuals & stop other crimes they may be committing.

Although the member of the public was not out of pocket in any way, she was sent a £100 voucher as way of thanks. Not everyong will get a reward, but you'll have the satisfaction knowing you were able to assist in the arrest of a scammer!!

NB. NEVER EVER put yourself at risk and try to be a hero, always inform the police. DO NOT allow people to call at your home if you have any suspicions.

Paul_Varjak

Nice to see your post.

I got the following e-mail today, and I have no doubt it is the type of scam you are talking about.

But the e-mail came from outside the UK and they will ask me to send the excess money via Western Union or MoneyGram to Nigeria - so not much chance in catching them!

Just because a Bankers Draft is 'cleared', this does not mean that the validity of the draft has been authenticated. It can take some time to receive 'value' for the draft. Only once 'value' has been received (which could be days - or even weeks, I understand) would any fund credited to your account truly be your own.

Anyway, I have e-mailed this scammer as I do hope to catch him - but it is hardly likely that he will come to collect the goods! I don't suppose he has a phone number or address either!



"how are you today fine i presume i was fortunate to come accross
the advert of the sale of your car on the net,i would like to know if
it is still available for sale and i would like to signify my
interest in the car as it is the exact match i had always wanted
secondly i would like the transaction to be as fast as possible as i
aim purchasing the car for my wife's 34th birthday which would come
up soon ,so i would not want any delay as i still have to ship the
car down as iam an international buyer ,i would like you to get back
to me with the present conditions of the car and pics if possible as
regards the payment i would be willing to pay via a cheque, banker
draft drawn out of a uk bank which i wouldnt mind
to wait till it gets cleared before having the keys to the car i
would also want you to know that iam ok with the price of £3500 and i could as well part with £100 extra for you to put
the car
in good shape prior to the pickup please get me updated as soon as
possible.
Looking forward to doing business with you have a wonderful day
ahead of you
best regard"