Help, please! I think I've been scammed :(

I am gullible...and I think I fell for a scam.

A person by the name of Cole Smith sent me a message to the email my college issued me. Here's the first message he sent me from the email "[email protected]":

"work with us at the comfort of your home or school and make
$300/ week at your free time,get back to us if you are interested in
this opportunity for more Info.

rapidformations Inc."

I asked for more information, and from an email called "[email protected]" he sent me this:

"Hello ,

Thanks for getting back to us with your interest about the job,We are
UK based company that offer incorporation services to our clients all
over the globe, We have 14 Agents in United State that are currently
working for the company, these agents need materials like envelopes,
files,stamps and other stationary items to do their daily job and we
need you to work as a middle man to help the agents in getting their
respective supplies. They will email you whenever they need materials
and also state type of materials and the quantity they need, It is now
your duty to contact the supplier through email to make orders for the
materials and also state the quantity that should be mailed out to the
agent address through post.. Each agent will only order for materials
once a week depending on the task he or she is to have completed for
that week, we are employing you just to reduce the workload for us,
our supplier and for the agents and also to keep record of materials
that are being ordered weekly by agents.It is an online pay job where
agents will only contact you for materials during the weekdays and you
can have your own part of the work completed at your leisure time in
school or at home

Salary/Wages payment: $300 weekly.

We will always email you guidelines and instructions to follow in
getting your job done perfectly when you start working.If you still
care to proceed with the job, Get back to us with the information
listed below so we can process your application as to consider it
valid to commence working with us.




NAME:
CONTACT ADDRESS (NOT PO BOX):
CITY:
STATE:
ZIPCODE:
MOBILE:
ALTERNATIVE EMAIL:




The person holding this position is relocating out of the US and won't
be able to do the job any more that's why we are looking for more
hands to help us in the job, work commences as soon as possible
depending on you, make sure you check your email box at-least twice
daily and also respond to the email and reply us as soon as you read
from us.We hope you enjoy working with us."

I was a complete and total idiot and sent him the information he requested. He has yet to reply, and I am just now seeing that I have potentially made a huge mistake. I really need to think before I act! However, while I gave out my email, address, and cell #, I did not sent out any bank info, nor will I.

Any feedback would be highly appreciated. Will I be charged money somehow, or will something bad be sent to my home/phone/email? I'm kinda scared.

Thanks!!

Sincerely,

a professional gullible idiot

Welcome to Scamwarners tentoedtiger.

DON'T PANIC

You haven't got yourself in any trouble and the worst that'll happen is that you'll get plenty of similar offers to your mailbox (maybe you could ask for a fresh one) and strange phone calls from irritating people.

He will either want you to bank and cash counterfeit checks or use your bank account to launder stolen money and he can't do anything with the information you've given him except annoy you, and he there's no money in him wasting time doing that for long.

THANK YOU! I am very relieved. I rarely repeat stupid mistakes, so it's good I got this one over with early. I can live with annoying messages for a while. Thank you very much for your feedback.

Welcome to Scamwarners!

The scammer is in Africa (it is obvious from the way he writes) and has no way to pull money from your account or impersonate you. He gets money by using false identities. He's not going to leave Africa, as that would require declaring his real identity to airlines and customs people.

If you do get a fake check, turn it in to the USPIS or the police, shred it, or fakemark it and frame it. Just don't cash or deposit it.

If you get any more emails from the scammer, or if he tries to call you, ignore him.

As Terrance and VX have said, its not likely that this scammer is sophisticated enough to use the little bit of information you have given to IT so that IT can hurt you. Annoy you, yes, and be expecting that in phone calls.

I would recommend you just don't answer calls from strange #'s for at least the next 2 weeks or month ( I personally NEVER answer calls from #'s I don't know. They can leave a message if its important).

If you receive a fake check in the USPS mail system, call the Postal Inspectors office, make copies for yourself, then take the originals to them. You can find your local Postal Inspector's office here : http://locator.uspis.gov/locator/

If you are really worried about your personal information, set up alerts here : https://www.google.com/alerts
put the information contained in quotes ( ergo "123 Main St" , not 123 Main St ), and make separate alerts for your name, address, and whatever other information you gave that you are concerned about. Its also a good way to find out what web sites have information about you, that you can probably get it out of the publics eye with a simple request to be removed.

Thank you all very much. I hopefully will never succumb to a scam ever again, and will be sure to ignore strange phone calls.

Help Me Please
I think I've been scammed too. I mistakenly deposited that check without suspicion. Then later they told me to send the money to 2 people on money gram, who they told the suppliers. I have done that, too. But the next day, I realize this check might be fake, so I called money gram to canceled the transaction. Unfortunately, they could cancel one of them, the other one has received the money. I feel really panic now. I don't know what to do. I intend to deposited back the money I take back from money gram, and tell the bank to release the fake check. Please help me more. Thank you very much.

Hello - I'm so sorry that you were caught in the scam. You need to contact your bank's fraud department as soon as possible to report that you're a victim of a scam.

You also need to go to your local police to report this, showing them the emails and make sure they understand you are a victim, too.

You will be held liable for money that will be owed to the bank, but you need to report it before they come looking for you.

posting.php?mode=reply&f=34&t=87501#
I just want to say that this scam is still alive and well. The current user is posting on craigslist and using the name Jack Giggs, Email address: [email protected]
Here are copies of thee first email I received from this individual:

Thanks for getting back to us with your interest about the job,We are Europe based company that offer incorporation services to our clients all over the globe, We have 14 Agents in United State that are currently working for the company, these agents need materials like envelopes,files,stamps and other stationary items to do their daily job and we need you to work as a middle man to help the agents in getting their respective supplies. They will email you whenever they need materials and also state type of materials and the quantity they need, It is now your duty to contact the supplier through email to make orders for the materials and also state the quantity that should be mailed out to the agent address through post.. Each agent will only order for materials once a week depending on the task he or she is to have completed for that week, we are employing you just to reduce the workload for us, on Our supplier and for the agents and also to keep record of materials that are being ordered weekly by agents.It is an online pay job where agents will only contact you for materials during the weekdays and you can have your own part of the work completed at your leisure time in school or at home Salary/Wages payment: $800 weekly.

I responded by asking which company he was with and other pertinent information, like address, telephone number. To which he responded in this manner.

We will always email you guidelines and instructions to follow in getting your job done perfectly when you start working.If you still
care to proceed with the job, Get back to us with the information listed below so we can process your application as to consider it
valid to commence working with us.

NAME:
CONTACT ADDRESS ( Home Address or P O BOX):
CITY:
STATE:
ZIPCODE:
MOBILE:
EMAIL:

The person holding this position is relocating out of the US and won't be able to do the job any more that's why we are looking for more
hands to help us in the job, work commences as soon as possible depending on you, make sure you check your email box at-least twice
daily and also respond to the email and reply us as soon as you read from us.We hope you enjoy working with us

Optiway INC.

I did not respond because he did not respond to my pointed questions in an acceptable manner and came looking for anything similar on google and stumbled across this webpage. I am naturally suspicious but also in need of work therefore, I took the initial bait, but was unconvinced of the authenticity of the position. The real issue is that I have done similar work for legitimate companies in the past and therefore thought there might be some veracity to his claim, Unfortunately, it is all false.

Thank you everyone.

This email, like the previous one, was written by an African, not a European. It's a scam.