SCAMPATROL

[M_Pehrsson]

My father got contacted by a man wanting to buy a thing from him, all seemed ok at the beginning but I start to think he's trying to scam him. Posting a couple of the mails from him. My father isn't so good on english so he asked me to help translating.

Thanks for the mail, the cheque will be send in your favour today so i will like you to understand that you will recieve it in some days time, well immedoately you recieve the cheque, i will not want you to entertain any delay as regard of sending the remiaining funds to the shipping company via western union cos i will like us to get the transaction completed latest next week.
Looking forward to read from you soonest.
Thanks and God Bless,
Tommy Tailor..

After this I sent him a mail telling him that the bank proberbly would deny the cheque and it would take atleast a month to get it cleared from england.

His next mail some hours after I mailed him

Hello Mikael,
How is everything going on at your end? Guess okay?
It's being a while since i heard from you so i decided to update you as regard of the payment, i will like you to understand that the cheque has already been send and you will recieve it today or probably tomorrow so i will like you to email me immediately you recieve it so that we can get the transaction completed.
I will look forward to read from you soonest.
Thanks and God Bless,
Tommy Tailor..

How was your day? Guess okay?

I'm so happy to know that you've recieve the cheque, not to further entertain any delay as regard of the shipment, i will like you to go ahead and get the shipper funds transfer to them via western union on monday morning cos i will like them to come for the pick up latest by wednesday. so i will like you to prepare my good down for shippement and make all necessary arrangement so that they wont encouter much stress when they come for the pick up.

I have get in contact with them and they told me that you are to split the money into two equal halves and here is the information to be use in transfering the funds.

Your are to transfer the first halve to the company accountance via:

Name: Mr Micheal Williams
Address: 30 Lethbridge Close
Lewisham Road
Se13 7ql
London.

And the second halve is to be transfer to the company chief accountance via:

Name: Mr Charles Cole
Address: 30 Lethbridge Close
Lewisham Road
Se13 7ql
London.

After you must have gotten the funds transfer to them, i will like you to get back to me with all the necessary western union transfer details such as:

MTCN CONTROL NUMBER ( 10 DIGIT NUMBER )
SENDER'S NAME AND ADDRESS
TOTAL AMOUNT SENT AFTER WESTERN UNION CHARGES
TEXT QUESTION AND ANSWER.

I will like you to understand that the text question should be "something not nessessary to tell here" and the answer must be "the same goes here".

I will like you to expedite the transaction and get back to me via email with all the necessary details.

Looking forward to have a successfull business with you and also wishing you a fulfill weekend.

Thanks and God Bless,
Tommy Tailor...

Some mails back and forth I got him to understand that my father wouldn't send anything to him in a near future because he demanded the money before sending it and then I got this message:

Hello Mikael,
Thanks for the prompt response, i will like you to understand that your father's name has already being written on the cheque so it will be difficult for me to ask him to return it but i will like you to send it to what ever bank you want to send it to in england and let me know when exactly the cheque will clear.
But there is one special help i will like you to do for me, i will like you to understand that the shipping company has alot of things to do at this time so to hold my shippment with them, i will like you to kindly assist me by sending 1000 euro to them today so as to hold the shippment, even if you can afford up to that amount, i will just like you to send what ever amount you have with you so that they will know i'm serious about this.
I'm counting on you to do this for me and will be looking forward to read from you soonest.
Thanks and God Bless,
Tommy Tailor...

It smells scam along way but I don't want to acuse anyone before I know for sure
We did ofc not agree to that but suggested to let our bank destroy the cheque and asked him to transfer the money directly to my fathers bank account. The answer is here:

Hello Mikael,
Thanks for the mail, it will be very difficult for me to transfer the money down to your father's account, just take it to the bank and let them send it to any bank they want to send it to and let me know the clearance date...

I still don't really trust him and my father has no interest in paying the fee to the bank for sending the cheque to England.

Anyone has any suggestion?

[jez]

It's a very common scam, unfortunately, and you were right to be cautious.

The obvious warning signs are the buyer apparently overpaying (why can't he write a cheque for the correct amount?), and asking for the "remaining funds" to be sent somewhere else by Western Union. Real businesses will give you a choice of how to pay but Western Union is always used by scammers because payments leave no "paper trail" and cannot be traced.

The cheque will be fake or stolen, and it will bounce. If your father pays it into his account he will then be liable for any money drawn on it, and even if he doesn't withdraw the money right away he will probably be charged for a returned cheque and the bank could freeze his account. There have even been cases of banks prosecuting their customers for attempting to defraud them, even though it's the customer who's the victim.

Tell your father to stop all communication with this scammer. If he has given the scammer his bank account information, he should tell his bank immediately.

Hope this helps.

[M_Pehrsson]

Thanks alot for the info, lucily he didn't send any bank info but we still have the cheque so I suppose we will deposit that on the nearest local police station so he can claim it there if he wants it back