Posted on 04/02/2007 4:16:16 PM PDT by fanfan
A new twist on an old scam is targeting students trying to sublet their apartments as the school year winds down.
Officials with Libro Financial Group, the region’s largest credit union, say they have warned about six to eight members in recent weeks and stopped them from falling prey to the scheme.
“It’s troubling because it’s a plausible scheme and it’s going after a vulnerable population,” said Harry Joosten, Libro’s vice-president of member relations.
The scamster, claiming to be a foreign student from Africa, sends an e-mail offering to sublet an apartment and quickly sends a US money order by courier for an amount far more than the advertised rent.
Sometimes the money is sent from Britain or another country where the foreign student’s parent are supposed to live.
The scamster then quickly contacts the subletting student, explaining they accidentally sent too much money. They ask the student to cash the money order and return the difference.
The money order, which can take over a week to clear the financial institution, later turns out to be bogus.
Joosten said the scam seems to be widespread, judging by the number of incidents Libro has seen in recent weeks. One of the scam e-mails was received by the son of the firm’s chief financial officer.
Jan Delaney of the Better Business Bureau of Western Ontario said variations of the bouncing cheque/money order scam have been around for several years.
Sometimes the victim is selling a car in the classified ads or an item on eBay. Others are told they have won a lottery or vacation but have to return a “registration fee.”
She said consumers should be wary and wait until the cheque/money order clears before sending back any money.
“If they send you too much money and ask for some of the money back, that’s when you should look out,” said Delaney
My favorite was the letter I received from Suha Arafat who needed my help in retrieving the millions of dollars tied up by her late husband’s government!
Please send me a FReepmail to get on or off this Canada ping list.
If it's bogus it will never clear.
I really feel sorry for all these rich Nigerians that can’t access their money.
It’s sad really.
That won’t stop people from accepting them as legal tender.
;-)
Send me $100 and I’ll explain how these types of scams can be avoided.
Will you take a money order?
How much truth will you sell me for 10 bucks?
We have to nip it in the bud, Bud.
easy enough: develop a knee-jerk, and anti-PC, reply to all such unsolicited mailings. The amount of abuse to be used for seasoning is to your taste.
My favorite story about a money order scam was told by a computer store that had received a suspicious order from Nigeria (paid by money-order). They told the “customer” that they needed some extra payment to ship the good through customs, and suggested that the order could be expedited by wiring payment. The scammers, wanting to ensure the order would ship before the money order could bouce, wired the money which the store then pocketed (sure enough, the money order did bounce right on cue).
Wrong addy. Ask Klesko!
Ten days later, I got a cashiers check in the mail, sent from England. I opened the envelope and found a cashiers check for $38,000. I notified the USPS Fraud Department and my local police department. That was the last I heard from those weasels. The cashiers check is still sitting in my desk, unclaimed.
This lady sells horses for a living and has dealt with this type scam for a long time. Very inventive and funny.
http://www.bustedupcowgirl.com
I wouldnt be dumb enough to rent a room to anyone I hadnt met personally in the first place.
Suppose you rented the room and Fat Rosie O Donnell or a clone of her showed up.
The article said — “She said consumers should be wary and wait until the cheque/money order clears before sending back any money.”
That doesn’t work. Even if you confirm that “it has cleared”, it can still be returned weeks later, even if you get confirmation from the bank — and you can still be out the money.
I get this information from reading reports from others who have been scammed like this. And waiting for it to clear, and even confirming with your own bank that it has cleared — will not help (per many examples from other people).
Some had suggested calling the issuing bank and getting a confirmation that it’s a valid M.O. or Cashier’s Check. Even that doesn’t work. So, far, I’ve only seen *one way* to absolutely make sure. And that was to not just call the issuing bank — but — to actually call the *particular branch* — itself, and get direct confirmation that they *actually* issued that particular check (because they’ll have the first-hand records right there). And then, they will either confirm it or not.
That is the *only way* to ever make sure that the check does not come back to you. And we’re talking about bank-issued money orders and cashier’s checks, here. As far as things which were issued on a personal checking account — that’s a whole different matter.
It just doesn’t pay to take money by any form of check. Take cash only. If it’s not workable by cash only, then forget about what you’re trying to do.
Regards,
Star Traveler
You said — “If it’s bogus it will never clear.”
Well, it depends on what you mean by “clear”. The bank will tell you that it did “clear”. It may have passed the amount of time that they “tell you” that they allow for it to clear. And yet, it can come back and “hit you” a month later, anyway — even after they’ve told you it cleared (at the bank).
So, it *can appear* that it has cleared and you can also get the bank to tell you that it’s cleared — and it can still come back on you.
Regards,
Star Traveler
Yeah, under no conditions ever give money back for some transaction, like a money order or cashier’s check. In fact, I don’t know how you can do that kind of transaction — short of going directly to the issuing bank with the buyer in tow (i.e., “his bank”) and getting it cashed right on the spot.
And make him cash it, not you. Then you take the cash and then you do the deal. That’s about the only foolproof way.
Regards,
Star Traveler
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