I am sorry Terry for taking so long, no the kids were not in the bath for that long but I had to tend to an ebay problem, if you have ever tried to get sense from ebay in regards to fraud you would understand.
I would have preferred if teeth were being extracted, anyway, enough of my problems and onto yours
Firstly, while searching on some of the terms you mentioned I found this
http://www.payontime.co.uk/collect/coll ... aring.htmlIt explains the cheque clearing cycle, and from what I have seen of it, it is fairly accurate although I find it a little misleading in their comments that most fake cheques are discovered as being fake (I am sure that is technically correct but many fake cheques do get through the initial clearance, otherwise scammers wouldn't be bothering
I posted an ad in Craigslist for article writing work. I got a response from someone in Malaysia, asking me if I'd like to spend 3 hours a day printing out checks for their suppliers in the US.
Craiglist and bay are both very popular for scammers to operate from, also note that just because the person says they are from Malaysia, that is not necessarily true.
Address phone number and email address will allow them easy access to attempt other scams later on, beware of any offer you recieve by any means and ask here if you have doubts
The minute I hear about the need for somebody to print and post cheques I know that its a scam, legitimate companies do not emlpoy strangers to handle their financial affairs, tather they have an accounts payable section who deal with that part of their business
This happened to me yesterday. I discussed the job with the man via yahoo messenger.
Again, legitimate companies would be talking on the phone if not in person and certainly not by yahoo messanger
They won't pay *me* by check - *I* have to get paid by money order, Western Union, or paypal.
Cheque printers and mules are a valuable resource for a scammer, if you were paid by cheque and found that your payment didn't go though, you would find ou much sooner that something was amiss
I admit it, I've bought a printer and check paper online - not through them but through VersaInk (the magnetic ink people) but I'm really beginning to think I've fallen for a scam. Malaysia wouldn't be buying material from the US!
See if you can return it, perhaps they will be so kind if you explain the circumstances, I would also have little faith in a company who would sell you those goods without having some checks in place (no pun intended)
But, how can they make money? They had me fill out a form - so they've got my address, phone and email, but I haven't, and won't, give them driver's license, social security, or any other ID, or my bank details.
The article I posted briefly explains but simply put;
Scammers tells check victim that he has a payment by cheque coming for goods or services rendered by the scammer
Scammer often, (not always but almost) arranges for a cheque to be sent for more than the value of the goods or service, possibly to pay for shipping or other fee
Scammer contacts cheque mule and asks mule to send cheque for X value to the victim (note that the envelope will suggest a location that the cheque wa posted from which will look more legitimate than a Nigerian post mark for instance
Scammer tells victim that the cheque is on route and suggests that the victim needs to act fast and tries to encourage victim to send money to courier, original scammer or other person (the same original scammer / scam group in disguise)
The victim recieves the cheque and dutifully deposits it the next day as told to many times by the scammer
The victim may wait for clearance or may not, either way, victim sends money to scammer by western union or moneygram after provisional clearance.
Some time after the 5 days (potentially months later) the cheque is found to be fraudulent by the sorting house
The bank removes any money from your account to cover the value of the cheque
The bank may then contact the police
The person who has cashed the cheque will be investigated for depositing the cheque and may be prosecuted (some cheque vics go to jail for cashing scammers cheques)
The police will further investigate the source of the cheque and following postmark trails, andcombined with information from suppliers of cheque making equipment or by investigating the original scammer may then come to your door.
Being in possession of a fraudulent financial instrument is illegal in most parts of the world and obviously so is producing them.
Police investigate you
You tell the police that you are printing cheques for work and tell them who work is
Police realise that they can not find or prosecute the scammer so decide to prosecute you instead
Scammer has his money and continues to hide under the cover of internet cafes on the other side of the world and begins to find his next cheque mule
So the cycle continues
I know of cases where the scammers have recieved Hundreds of thousands of dollars from cheque scams that have operated in a similiar manner to what i descibed
They also gave me their UPS account number, wanting me to order envelopes, but the account was cancelled, so the guy I was Yahoo-messengering with said he would order the supplies and have them sent to me.
UPS account, most likely paid for with stolen funds or fake cheques
He also doesn't want me talking to anyone else about this, and his email is from yahoo, not from the company he represents. (You know, that should have been a flag right there. Now I'm feeling pretty stupid.)
Of course they dont want you to tell, the person you tell may know about this scam and tell you.
Dont feel stupid however, these are professional thieves preying on people's vulnerabilities
I'd really like $400 a week for printing and sending checks, so can someone here convince me this isn't a scam? Would a T-shirt company have to send out 70 checks a day to suppliers? Different suppliers?
Only if you want me to lie to you, even then I wouldn't do it
It is definately a scam
The more I go over this, the more I think I've been really stupid.
Dont feel stupid, feel educated, you found us before losing any money to the scammer and now you know lots about these scams, spread the world and tell others how smart you are and you may prevent others from being scammed
If you could also please post any details of the person who has contacted you, the more details you can provide the better.
Many potential victims after getting suspoicious do some searches, if they find your post they will know it is a scam, if they dont find what you know they may continue through the process and end up in very deep (trouble)
Please ask if you have any more questions
