Fraud- Please Help Me!

Parent Cafe
1

<p>Hi,</p>

<p>I have been a lurker for a while and noticed this part of the forum has some experts in different fields. I am in a serious dilemma right now.</p>

<p>I might as well give you the story. Note, I was very naiive and had no idea what I am about to tell you would lead to.</p>

<p>I am a student and have had a bank account for a while. I also tutor. So I saw an advertisement on Craigslist to tutor algebra for this guy’s daughter. I inquired. He seemed very friendly and might I say, legit. He asked me how much I would charge, I tell him $540, he sends me a $950 MoneyGram which did not go through with my bank. Then he sends me a $3500 check asking me to send the rest of the $2960 to a different person via Western union. Stupidly, I did it. Now he said he wanted to increase the duration of tuition so he sends me another cashier’s check for $3500 asking me to send the rest to someone. It did not go through with the bank, then he emails me asking me to send $800 of my money to that person. BTW, I haven’t even tutored his daughter yet. </p>

<p>Yesterday I found out that my bank froze my account, and is considering dropping me as a customer. And, the first $3500 check that went through was eventually a bad check even though it was a cashier’s check of the same bank (a fake I guess). So I am officially overdrawn $3300. What am I supposed to do? They told me this guy was obviously using me, but how can I get this off my record and get off the hook with this money?</p>

<p>I filed a police report today and have a report number which I am hoping to give to the review committee (which is closed on weekends!). Please give me advice on where to go and how to get out of this chaos.</p>

<p>I realize i should have picked up on it, but like I said, I had no idea that people would use tutoring as a medium for fraud. i understand lottery, but algebra?</p>

2

<p>I hate to tell you this, but there is nothing you can do. The police will not catch the person and the bank will want to be made whole on the $3,300. Once you sent the money via Western Union it was the same as giving someone on the street cash and watching them drive away. </p>

<p>The bank will close your account and come after you for the money. Until you pay them your account will be flagged and it will be almost impossible to open another account at a bank and your credit rating will be impacted as well. </p>

<p>You fell for the widely known Advance Fee Scam. Never accept a check or money order for more than the amount of the goods or service and send the difference. Even though the check may clear at first it will always be rejected after a couple weeks once it makes it’s way through the banking system. Tutoring, car, boat - it makes no difference. These guys know how the banking systems work and just want to get you to rebate money. The fraudster will be no where near the location to which you wired the money so the police cannot help. You sent cash and it is gone. </p>

<p>You are legally responsible for depositing a bad check and must repay the bank. All you can do is come up with the money and chaulk it up to a very expensive lesson learned. I work in the banking risk management industry and see this every day. </p>

<p>Sorry!</p>

3

<p>I think you should get your parents or someone older to help you out. In my opinion you should have asked for their help from day one. I get emails from Nigeria all the time about wiring me mil$$. We used to own a shoe store, someone from one of those countries contacted us about buying shoes then asked us if we would mind buying some cell phones for them on their behalf. Of course I did some research on the internet and found out it is illegal to ship cell phones or computers to some of those countries.</p>

4

<p>You also need to sit down with your bank, with all the information you have, and see if you can negotiate something. If you are over 18, you should contact your local Legal Aid group and see if they can assign an attorney to go with you.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

5

<p>OP - Sorry for your problem. As for what to do about it, I think the previous posters have provided a good range of options. I’d suggest using this episode as a learning experience. File the police report and check back with the police a couple of times. Go to legal aid and explain your situation. You will learn much from these efforts. As for r-e-s-o-l-u-t-i-o-n, go to the bank to see if you can find a sympathetic ear. At the very least you should be able to get another account opened at that bank if you agree to pay off what you owe a hundred bucks each month. And of course you should resolve to treat business dealings with a little more respect in the future.</p>

6

<p>Iron Maiden has given you some refreshingly straightforward advice, with which I disagree on just one point. I think it is possible that the police will catch the scammer. Given that the scammer has acquired a great deal of information about you, I suggest you do the following:</p>

<p>1) If you have other bank accounts and/or credit accounts, notify those financial institutions and request that they place a fraud alert on your account(s). </p>

<p>2) Notify Craigslist. (You cannot hold Craigslist responsible for being scammed, but you can increase the likelihood of the scammer being caught by reporting the scam.)</p>

<p>3) Notify the three major credit reporting agencies (Equifax, TransUnion and Experian) that you have been defrauded. Explain the situation. Request copies of your credit report.</p>

<p>4) Notify Western Union (and any other wire services involved).</p>

<p>5) Notify the FTC. </p>

<p>6) Notify the Internet Crime Complaint Center (which works in partnership with the FBI).</p>

<p>7) Notify the US Postal Inspection Service (if the US Mail was involved at any point).</p>

<p>8) Notify your email service provider, and the scammer’s email service provider.</p>

<p>9) Notify your ISP, and the scammer’s ISP.</p>

<p>10) Notify your telephone service provider, and the scammer’s telephone service provider (if applicable).</p>

<p>11) Notify your school. (You might be among a number of students scammed by the same person.)</p>

<p>12) Notify your family members, because their privacy (and banking/credit security) is at risk, too. It is astoundingly easy to use online resources to research an individual’s background. Believe me–if the scammer knows your name, then he can easily determine the names and residential/business addresses and phone numbers of your parents, siblings, and other relatives.</p>

<p>I also suggest that you research the scammer on your own. Use online resources to cross-reference information you have about the scammer, as well as information you have about the “different person” to whom the scammer directed you to forward money. If you should determine the scammer’s real name and location, turn this information over to the police, and let them take it from there.</p>

<p>As Iron Maiden pointed out, people get defrauded “every day.” You responded to a seemingly legitimate offer of employment, and as a result, you are now embroiled in a $3,300 mess. You must fulfill your legal and financial obligations to your bank, but you must also make an effort to see that the person who defrauded you is identified, arrested, and prosecuted. </p>

<p>Best Wishes.</p>

7

<p>For what it is worth, you are in a very long line of people who have experience an almost identical scam, usually through craigslist.</p>

8

<p>I have used Craigslist in looking for real estate and it served its purpose well. Others that I know of use it routinely without any problems. It’s essentially what the Want-Advertiser was many years ago. Fraud was possible there too.</p>

<p>That said, I read Slashdot daily and it’s a good place to keep up on internet and other technological crime. If you know what’s happening on the internet, the level of vulnerability of hardware and software and communications pieces, it can be a scary world. But you have to live in it so it’s just a good idea to have a healthy distrust of any financial transaction, public wireless service, website, download, etc.</p>

9

<p>This is another thread that LTS would have had some really pithy observations and concrete suggestions. I miss her.</p>

10

<p>Your school might provide legal services for its students. Check it out. They may be able to help you minimize the damage.</p>

<p>Lesson learned . . . never accept funds from anyone for services you haven’t rendered (even if they don’t require you to pass some of the money along). If something sounds too good to be true, it is. Run in the other direction!!</p>

<p>Sorry this happened to you. It’s an expensive lesson, but a good one.</p>

11

<p>Craigslist is a great idea, but there are a lot of scammers ■■■■■■■■ there. I put up an ad , attempting to sell something and got about ten scammer replies for every legit one. It doesn’t really matter what you are trying to sell - the scammers use the same techniques on everyone - and may target folks who seem relatively inexperienced.
You are , indeed, almost certainly required to pay the bank for the check(s) you wrote, however, if you contact your bank and the other agencies , things will probably improve.
I only hope lots of CCers read this and learn. I would strongly suggest that any high school and/or college kids always check with parents or other adults they trust before buying into anything that costs much money.</p>

12

<p>I thank you for all the advice, and things do look rather grim right now.</p>

<p>I deposited checks that were written out to me. Actual Cashier’s Checks from the bank. </p>

<p>Anyway, I contacted Western Union and they will release video footage to the authorities of the funds recipients. I also looked up UPS and FedEx tracking numbers and two originate from Chicago, IL. I have his UPS account number as well. Do you think any of this will help?</p>

13

<p>It cannot hurt. The more information available to track the perpetrators, the greater the chances for prosecution. </p>

<p>Please, please be careful and read security/scam info lnks on Craigslist and similar sites BEFORE you transact. </p>

<p>Good luck to you.</p>

14

<p>It is, unfortunately, possible that the UPS account number is stolen too, but if not, that should definitely be helpful in tracking down the criminals. Here in my city they tracked sown an similar fraud scheme to a local pawn shop. Godd luck!. Sorry this happened to you.</p>

15

<p>I am just curious, shouldn’t the bank be on the hook too? Shouldn’t they have made sure the fund has cleared before they made it available? If they couldn’t tell their own cashier’s check was forged, how did they expect OP to know?</p>

16

<p>To the OP (regarding Post #12): Yes, every piece of information you can provide to the authorities will help. Add UPS and FedEx to your list of companies to contact regarding this matter. Also contact the bank (if different from your own bank) which issued the fraudulent cashier’s checks.</p>

17

<p>oldfort, technology has made duplication and forgery a fairly easy task. One of the reasons we are seeing major changes in the US paper currency. </p>

<p>One of the safest ways if you have to transact online (PLEASE don’t ship your goods until the buyer allows you to cash the document; a legitimate buyer will normally grant this privilege. If not, find another buyer) might well be USPS money orders. They have an online verification system, and are payable at any US post office. If it is a fraudulent mo, you are alreadt at the facility where you can immediately turn over the process to the right authorities, who will initiate a federal mail fraud investigation.</p>

18

<p>Reply to oldfort- exactly. I would rather they take their time and not give me the money than make it seem legit, and have a turnaround void of the check.</p>

<p>I am giving them all the information I can. I even reported this to IC3 the Internet Crime Complaint Center who may hand over the investigation to the FBI. I just want the bank to realize this is a full scale crime, I am not at fault (maybe for being so careless) and that they can still catch the criminals.</p>

<p>I do not want to ask my father to get me out of this. My parents know the whole situation, but after paying my tuition and my two brothers, I could not face him if I caused him this loss. I would however end up working it off, paying him back.</p>

19

<p>I use Paypal for all monetary transactions. I have a relative that would even bounce my kids birthday checks. A 50 check would cause me 30 check fee, so now I just ask him to send it to me via Paypal.</p>

20

<p>I have thought about it for a long time, and I keep seeing this weakness- why did they take the fake check? I thought that since the check went through it must be legit, the guy must be legit and I lowered my guard. </p>

<p>This has to be my main argument when I go to the manager tomorrow. I don’t care if they want to provide next day service and trust me with my check, who do they not verify it first? What kind of policy is that?</p>