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.
Send me $100 and I’ll explain how these types of scams can be avoided.
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!
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
I tried selling a car once on cars.com and had the same thing happen - this guy in UAE claimed he was sending a check - I said “OK” knowing about the scam (and with no intention of transferring title to this guy unless the check happened to be legit, which I knew it wouldn’t) so I could get something to turn the bastard in on, but the check never came.