Lesson Seekers: Craigslist Cashier Check Scam

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Lesson Seekers: Craigslist Cashier Check Scam

by wpdus Sun Feb 15, 2009 2:44 pm
I posted a cooking class lesson on craigslist. These are a series of emails I received over a two day period. I was not scammed, but I did give out my name and telephone number. What are the possible consequences of giving out my name and telephone number to these scammers? What should I be on look out for now?

This is the first time this has append to me, I don't have any experience with these matters. I posted this on the near miss scam section of the board already, I don't mean to be annoying :oops:, but this is the first time anything like this had happened to me and I just want some answers.

Thanks in advance for any information.
____________________________________________________________________
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Date: Sat, 14 Feb 2009 11:48:30 +0100
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Subject: Cuisine Class: So Long, Bagged White Bread (Memphis)
From: Dan Tergiee <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
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** CRAIGSLIST ADVISORY --- AVOID SCAMS BY DEALING LOCALLY
** Avoid: wiring money, cross-border deals, work-at-home
** Beware: cashier checks, money orders, escrow, shipping
** More Info: http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams.html

--
Hello,
l will like to know if you are available to teach my son and i will like
you to get back to me with your charges?


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this message was remailed to you via: [email protected]
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<html> <span style="background-color: #ffff99; font-family: courier; font-weight: bold">** CRAIGSLIST ADVISORY --- AVOID SCAMS BY DEALING LOCALLY<br>** Avoid: <font color="red">wiring money, cross-border deals, work-at-home</font><br>** Beware: <font color="red">cashier checks, money orders, escrow, shipping</font><br>** More Info: <a href="http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams.html">http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams.html</a><br></span><br><br>
<br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Hello,<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;l will like to know if you are available to teach my son and i will like you to get back to me with your charges?
<br>
<hr>this message was remailed to you via: [email protected]<hr>
--000e0cd6adaab9fe180462deb1df--
____________________________________________________________________
The short and direct mention of his son duped me into believing he was interested in the lesson. I replied using my main email address, my full name, and area code and telephone number. Here is what he sent in reply.
____________________________________________________________________

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In-Reply-To: <[email protected]>
References: <[email protected]>
<[email protected]>
<[email protected]>
Date: Sun, 15 Feb 2009 13:56:33 +0100
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Cuisine Class: So Long, Bagged White Bread (Memphis)
From: Dan Tergiee <[email protected]>
To: Sergio Mosqueda <[MY EMAIL]@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
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Hello........Thank you for the email, My son is 16 years old I could
have love to meet you in person before starting the lesson but i have
just been transfer from work to Australia that is the more reason why i will
not bee able to meet you and my son will come down to your location
for the lesson because i have already make arrangement with a nanny
that will be taking care of him for his period of tutoring I have make
contacts with my son concerning the arrangement of the tutoring
which he told me he's ok with him and i want you to know that i am
going to pay for one and half month and i will be paying through a
cashier check
.i want you to know that the rest of the money will be used to get
accommodation and other arrangement for the lesson All you have to do
is to get back tome with your full name and physical home
address,zip code and your cell phone number so that i can mail ou the
check to you asap..

NOTE:The check would clear before the lesson will start ..

Best wishes...


--

Hello,
l will like to know if you are available to teach my son and mail
back with your charges?

____________________________________________________________________
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Re: Lesson Seekers: Craigslist Cashier Check Scam

by George Fox Sun Feb 15, 2009 4:25 pm
My view? No risk. He hasn't got your bank details so he can't get at your money. And he's not planning on visiting you. He may not even be in the USA.

All he wanted was for you to cash the check he sends (which will be fake), and which will be bigger than your fees to allow for the "accommodation and other arrangements" that he mentions. He would then ask you to send him the additional money over and above your fees by Western Union or MoneyGram. You present the check to your bank, it appears to clear and you send him the balance - which is what he's really after.

Then your bank finds out that the check is fake, they ask for the money back, you may get questioned by LEO's about passing fake checks and you're out of pocket for the full amount.

Needless to say the "son" never turns up (and probably doesn't exist).

If he contacts you again, just ignore him - he'll eventually give up.

If a check arrives then DO NOT CASH IT. Take it to your bank or the police, along with copies of the emails and explain that you think it's a fake check. Let them handle it (but they probably won't catch the lad). Then, if the lad contacts you about the check he sent, tell him you took it to your bank and they told you it was a fake. Then ignore him.

Unfortunately, as he's using Gmail, we can't find out where his IP is.

Above all, don't worry.

Hope this helps.

Probably on a PC.

Re: Lesson Seekers: Craigslist Cashier Check Scam

by Ralph Mon Feb 16, 2009 2:04 am
Just to keep all of the replies in one place to make it much easier on us all, I will reply in the other thread and ask that any other questions or comments are posted there as well

The other thread is here http://scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic. ... 7422#p7422

@George, I hope you dont mind but I will copy your response over there as well to keep it all together, I dont really want to do any research only to find you have already done it :wink:

Re: Lesson Seekers: Craigslist Cashier Check Scam

by Rhi1234 Mon Feb 16, 2009 9:24 pm
DAN TERGIEE did the same thing to me!! Watch out!!


Hello,
l will like to know if you are available to teach my son and i will like you to get back to me with your charges?





Hello........Thank you for the email, My son is 16 years old I could
have love to meet you in person before starting the lesson but i have
just been transfer from work to Australia that is the more reason why i will
not bee able to meet you and my son will come down to your location
for the lesson because i have already make arrangement with a nanny
that will be taking care of him for his period of tutoring I have make
contacts with my son concerning the arrangement of the tutoring
which he told me he's ok with him and i want you to know that i am
going to pay for one and half month and i will be paying through a
cashier check ..i want you to know that the rest of the money will be
used to get
accommodation and other arrangement for the lesson All you have to do
is to get back tome with your full name and physical home
address,zip code and your cell phone number so that i can mail ou the
check to you asap..

NOTE:The check would clear before the lesson will start ..
Best wishes...

Re: Lesson Seekers: Craigslist Cashier Check Scam

by Ev105 Sun Mar 15, 2009 9:42 am
Yeah, this idiot has contacted me regarding my guitar/bass guitar/piano teaching. I teach in my hometown in SC as well as Denver and Austin when music takes me there for extended periods. I think the best way to deal with them is to make them think you're fooled. I'm going to let him, as I've done others, go to the trouble to mail the check, tell him it arrived, wait for his instructions, tell him I deposited the check and then run him around with phony West'Un. "Money Transfer Control Number"s for about a week. Then I tell them I knew it was a scam all along.


His message is in bold, below:


Hello,
l will like to know if you are available to teach my son and mail
back with your charges?Larry is with his Gurdian in USA learning swiming lesson but he his
through with lesson, So i will try and make an arrangement on how
james and his guardian will come down to your location to get
accommodation \
And will want you to know james his only 15years old and he never
had any experience about this field before, so i will want you to come
down to his level so that he could comprehen things easily.I know i
will be signing some contract paper , but his gurdian will be
responsible for that as soon as they arrive at your location . To wire
the funds to you via money gram would have been the best but i am not
having up to that amount with me here, so i will want you to get back
to me with your full name and address state ,city,zipcode,and also a
telephone number so that i can inform my accountant to mail out the
payment to you in time so that you can have the payment in time and as
soon as you have the payment they can come over to start the lesson
and the rest money will be use for accomadation and some other things
they will need.
Below are the days of the lesson.
Mondays and thursdays for an hour

Will be waiting to read back from you with all the infomation
requested to mail out the payment.
Best regard to you and your family members.

--

Re: Lesson Seekers: Craigslist Cashier Check Scam

by Ev105 Sun Mar 15, 2009 9:53 am
Regarding teenagers needing Nannies, I have had one legit music lessons client wherein the student was living here in the US with an Au pair. The family were Caucasian Britons while the Au Pair was a 30-something India/UK citizen. I made the mistake of thinking it was going to be a scam, too, because they delegated finding a guitar teacher to the Au Pair and her typed English was questionable. But then she emailed a local phone number and forwarded my info to the parents in the UK who called and assured that I would be paid in cash. I met the teen and Au pair at a local music store for the first guitar lesson and then we met at the home for 4 or 5 months.

When you advertise for service-offered, be prepared for legit responders for whom English is not their 1st language.

My Primary Care plan has me seeing a Nigerian doctor. Very professional gentleman, but when his receptionist calls, also Nigerian and a relative, I always think it's a 419er until they mention my appointments or med's.

Re: Lesson Seekers: Craigslist Cashier Check Scam

by Ralph Mon Mar 16, 2009 6:21 am
Hi EV

You are of course completely right on a number of points,

Not every person on the internet is a scammer and certainly only a very small minority of Nigerians are scammers, it is estimated that only 2% of Nigerians scam, with a population as large as Nigeria it equates to lots of them being scammers, but a very large proportion are decent and honest people, it truely is a shame that such a small percentage of people can do so much harm for the rest.

Scams normally follow patterns which in most cases can be detected if you know what to look for, it is not very often that the evidence is not there but a healthy sceptism is always a good idea and if there is ever the slightest doubt, we are always happy to advise

Edited to fix tpypos
Last edited by Ralph on Mon Mar 16, 2009 8:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Re: Lesson Seekers:Timothy Yalamanchili

by Ev105 Mon Mar 16, 2009 7:12 pm
I am a guitar/bass guitar/piano teacher, I've been hit by a new scammer name. Timothy Yalamanchili.

I googled his name plus the word "Scam" nada. Yalamanchili only yields a number of Indian or Pakistani business/tech-geek/medical professionals.

His spew includes:

So I want you to know that i am going to pay for a month lesson which is $300 like you said and i want you to know that my client who is in US will be sending you my salary payment..Also i want you to know that the rest of the money will be used to get accommodation beside your location and any other arrangement for the lesson..


So as soon as you get the check payment,you will cash it and deduct your cost of tutoring of the lesson for a month and send/forward remaining balance to my Son's NANNY Via Money Gram.

Re: Lesson Seekers: Craigslist Cashier Check Scam

by Dan Jones Mon Mar 16, 2009 7:35 pm
Sounds like a very standard cheque scam. Thanks for posting, searching his name will now come up with scamwarners.

Re: Lesson Seekers: Craigslist Cashier Check/Cheque Good News.

by Ev105 Wed Mar 25, 2009 8:28 am
Hey,

It seems UPS/DHL/FedEx have upped their game, that, or the scammers are having a problem getting their checks out. Here are two drag/pastes from my lads "Dan" and "Timothy":


Dan Writes:
Hi ,
Im so sorry for your late payment ,it was not my fault i just
contacted Fedex and they really apologise to me and they told me that
they are having some difficulties and i have went there to receive my
package and sent to you via UPS so i will get back to you with the
tracking number of the package...im also trying here to make
everything possible,but there is a cross on the way,My granddad
died,and

Tim writes:


How are you doing today ? I hope cool and lovely...I hope all is fine with you over there ? ..I wan to bring to your notice that Marx has been on sick bed for days now and that is what has delayed him from coming down to the States because i had to take good care of him..

Now he is getting better and with no delay he should be in the states on or before Wednesday 03/25/2009...So that the lesson can begin fully by 03/27/2009 ok..

As regards the payment,i guess my financial associate told me he was having some lil problem with UPS and that is what has delayed it from being delivered, but he assured me that you will be getting it either next Tuesday or Wednesday



I only hope these "Deaths"/"Illnesses" mean the shippers are getting wise. I once baited a "piano lessons" scammer and was informed by FedEx, who delivered the check, that the scammer had for the umpteenth time paid them with an unauthorized credit card and that they have to repay this money when the charge is disputed. So in a way, baiting these idiots contributes to fraud while diverting them from victimizing other cooking/music/academic tutors/teachers.

He contacted me too!

by morwen Fri Mar 27, 2009 7:33 pm
These are his emails to me:

"Hi ,


Thanks for getting back to me and for your commitment..Just to introduce myself to you...I am Timothy Yalamanchili and am a Mechanical Engineer...I was born and raised in Brooklyn,New York but am currently based in Northampton,United Kingdom with my wife and children.


My Son will be coming for an holiday in the States,and i want him to be busy with something gainful and productive.Therefore, i just want to know if he can always come to you and teach him great things on Violin every afternoon..If this is possible,i will want you to get back to me with the cost of you teaching him for a month which can start as soon as he arrives..


He will be in the states in very soon and will be coming to your Place for 1 hour each morning/afternoon/evening..I do have someone that will always drive him down to your Place,i mean a Nanny or perhaps you can as well come to him..


My Son's name is Marx,he is 14 years old and he is just a beginner in Violin. I will want you to calculate 1 hour per day for Monday,Wednesday,Friday or you can as well set 3 days that suites your availability for a MONTH,and get back to me so that we can arrange on payment.Kindly get back to me with..
Thanks and waiting to read from you soon.



Timothy"


"Hello ,


Thank you for the email and really appreciate your consistency..Well Marx is still new to this so you just have to start with him ok,so if there is any hand book needed for the lesson just let me know with the charges for it ok.


Am glad the way you have kept me posted on the lesson arrangements and more so I have accepted your offer and its ok by me,I have make contacts with my Son concerning the arrangement of the tutoring which he told me is ok by him and that he will like to come as soon as possible for the lesson to commence.


So I want you to know that i am going to pay for a month lesson which is $300 like you said and i want you to know that my client who is in US will be sending you my salary payment..Also i want you to know that the rest of the money will be used to get accommodation beside your location and any other arrangement for the lesson..


So as soon as you get the check payment,you will cash it and deduct your cost of tutoring of the lesson for a month and send/forward remaining balance to my Son's NANNY Via Money Gram.


Regarding this kindly get back to me with your full information to receive the check so that payment can be able to made out in time.

Your full name .........................................................
Your full address,apt # with zip code.................................
Your phone number for contact................................

I have instructed Marx to get some of his picture for me so i can mail them to you for recognition ok.

Thanks you in the anticipation of your understanding and waiting to read from you soon.

Regards

Timothy"
"


--
Hello,

I hope you are doing fine today..Can you pls let me know if you are able to give lessons my son and how much it will cost for a minimum time of 3hrs per week.

Pls get back to me asap so as to proceed with the arrangement.

Thanks

Timothy"


I knew something was wrong when his English was so terrible! "Raised in New York, live in the Uk now"...my ass!

Re: Lesson Seekers: Craigslist Cashier Check Scam

by The Enchantress Sat Mar 28, 2009 5:26 am
Welcome to Scamwarners morwen.

Your post will enable others to realise this is indeed a scam.

Thank you for that. Well done on spotting the red flags in the scam mails.

So as soon as you get the check payment,you will cash it and deduct your cost of tutoring of the lesson for a month and send/forward remaining balance to my Son's NANNY Via Money Gram.


The above is always a red flag to me. Any mention of Moneygram or Western Union and cheques, which will be almost certainly counterfeit, are clearly scams, and it is wise to simply delete and ignore them.

Photos - are scammers using yours? click here
Are you falling for a love scammer? click here
Never send money by Western Union/Moneygram.
Never give personal information.
Online anyone can claim to be anyone, any age and from anywhere.

Re: Lesson Seekers: Craigslist Cashier Check Scam

by Ev105 Sun Apr 05, 2009 9:42 am
Hey Dan Tergiee is back and has apparently sent his check out finally.

This idiot can't even speak enough English to support his "Business man from Houston/New York" story.

Thanks for the trust worthy ...As soon as the you get the check on Monday l would like you to go straight to any Money Gram Walmart around you there and make the money sent Mary which is the Guidiance and get back to me with the money gram details as requested from her so that i can get the information sent to her by 09:00am in the Morning and they will get to your place by 12:00pm .Yes he has metronome and a music book , and my son Name is James Tergiee,Thanks so much and God will bless you ..

And WTF is a "Guidance"?

Re: Lesson Seekers: Craigslist Cashier Check Scam

by The Enchantress Sun Apr 05, 2009 12:56 pm
Thank you for posting this new information Ev105.

Note this site here;

http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-206-984-0840/3

Including this comment among others;

I got two emails this morning. One from this guy again and another from the address "[email protected]". I think it's the same guy because it's written in the same manner as the other emails.

Photos - are scammers using yours? click here
Are you falling for a love scammer? click here
Never send money by Western Union/Moneygram.
Never give personal information.
Online anyone can claim to be anyone, any age and from anywhere.
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