Max
06-03-2003, 03:56 PM
Internet latest site of plunder for swindlers
By JOE MAHR
BLADE STAFF WRITER
Mary Vogel thought two months ago that she'd finally snagged a buyer for a bulky wheelchair ramp sitting in her Sylvania garage.
After posting it on the Internet, an overseas buyer agreed to pay the $350 price, but not the traditional way. He said an American client of his would send Ms. Vogel a cashier's check for $4,000.
Don't worry, the buyer told Ms. Vogel. He trusted her to wire him the difference.
She didn't take the bait. But many people do.
Consumer advocates warn of an emerging con through Internet sales rooms. Overseas buyers send bogus cashier's checks to American sellers for amounts thousands of dollars higher than the sales prices. The "buyers" get Americans to cash the checks and wire the difference to overseas accounts.
American banks don't discover the checks are fakes until a couple weeks after they're cashed. The banks then want all the money returned, and the sellers are stuck making up the difference.
"It's unbelievable," said Richard Eppstein of the local Better Business Bureau.
Consumer advocates say it's the latest con from the African hotbed of fraud - Nigeria.
The country's con artists are infamous for sending letters, and now e-mails, to Americans promising them thousands of dollars for their help in transferring money out of Africa. Americans are told to wire a few thousand dollars to help with the transfer, and then they never see a dime.
In the latest fraud, con artists comb the Internet looking for people selling items. In Ms. Vogel's case, her disabled son hadn't used the ramp for two years, so she posted it for sale on the Ability Center of Greater Toledo's web site.
A month later she got a response from "Terry Bond."
He said he wanted to buy the ramp and donate it to a disability center in Africa. And in a series of phone calls and e-mails over a month, he tried to get Ms. Vogel to agree to accept a $4,000 cashier's check from his "client" and wire him the difference.
Sensing a scam, she refused. But he still sent her the check from Nigeria. When it arrived, Ms. Vogel alerted the Better Business Bureau, which confirmed the check was a forgery.
A month later, she still hasn't sold the ramp. But at least, she said, she hasn't lost money.
"I can't afford to be out $4,000," she said, "and I don't know many other people who could afford it."
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030601/NEWS08/106010101
By JOE MAHR
BLADE STAFF WRITER
Mary Vogel thought two months ago that she'd finally snagged a buyer for a bulky wheelchair ramp sitting in her Sylvania garage.
After posting it on the Internet, an overseas buyer agreed to pay the $350 price, but not the traditional way. He said an American client of his would send Ms. Vogel a cashier's check for $4,000.
Don't worry, the buyer told Ms. Vogel. He trusted her to wire him the difference.
She didn't take the bait. But many people do.
Consumer advocates warn of an emerging con through Internet sales rooms. Overseas buyers send bogus cashier's checks to American sellers for amounts thousands of dollars higher than the sales prices. The "buyers" get Americans to cash the checks and wire the difference to overseas accounts.
American banks don't discover the checks are fakes until a couple weeks after they're cashed. The banks then want all the money returned, and the sellers are stuck making up the difference.
"It's unbelievable," said Richard Eppstein of the local Better Business Bureau.
Consumer advocates say it's the latest con from the African hotbed of fraud - Nigeria.
The country's con artists are infamous for sending letters, and now e-mails, to Americans promising them thousands of dollars for their help in transferring money out of Africa. Americans are told to wire a few thousand dollars to help with the transfer, and then they never see a dime.
In the latest fraud, con artists comb the Internet looking for people selling items. In Ms. Vogel's case, her disabled son hadn't used the ramp for two years, so she posted it for sale on the Ability Center of Greater Toledo's web site.
A month later she got a response from "Terry Bond."
He said he wanted to buy the ramp and donate it to a disability center in Africa. And in a series of phone calls and e-mails over a month, he tried to get Ms. Vogel to agree to accept a $4,000 cashier's check from his "client" and wire him the difference.
Sensing a scam, she refused. But he still sent her the check from Nigeria. When it arrived, Ms. Vogel alerted the Better Business Bureau, which confirmed the check was a forgery.
A month later, she still hasn't sold the ramp. But at least, she said, she hasn't lost money.
"I can't afford to be out $4,000," she said, "and I don't know many other people who could afford it."
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030601/NEWS08/106010101