Someone’s trying to scam David Undlin. What should he do?
Posted on January 8th, 2009 – 11:39 AMBy James Shiffer
Today, Whistleblower wants your help in solving a dilemma in Apple Valley, and maybe take a bite out of Internet fraud in the process.
Last month, David Undlin wanted to sell some rims from his Acura, so he put an ad on Craigslist. Undlin quickly got an email from someone saying he would pay the $200 asking price. Then things got weird.
The guy said he would pay by check, and add an extra $30, presumably in gratitude for accepting a check. Undlin provided his mailing address in Apple Valley. On Dec. 27, the deal took an unexpected twist. “There is something i think i must bring to your notice,” the buyer wrote. “After a reconciliation of my account, i discovered that somehow my partner must have over paid you.The payment that was meant for another transaction was sent to you and the one meant for you was sent to another,however i want to believe i wont have a problem with you.” The email then instructed Undlin to deposit the money and immediately wire everything over $200 to a third party.
Now Undlin, who’s 65 and retired from the pharmaceuticals industry, wasn’t fooled. “I saw this coming. This is a typical scam,” he told me. Still, he played along. A few days later, a UPS package, sent from Harold, Kentucky and containing two MoneyGram money orders for $875 each, arrived at his home. He got another email telling him to send the balance ($1,520) to someone in Heath, Ohio, although the buyer neglected to provide a street address.
Undlin decided to do some detective work. He learned that the MoneyGram money orders were cashed back in November and then forged with new amounts. But he found that the Apple Valley police, MoneyGram and the bank the money order is payable through all had the same reaction: so what? Nobody has been the victim of any crime, since he hasn’t tried to cash the money orders and he still has the rims.
“99 percent of the people aren’t going to get stung by people like this. What bothers me.” Undlin said, is that all of the institutions he contacted “don’t seem to give a damn.” Last week, the buyer sent another email with the message line: “I AM REALLY WORRIED,” and pressuring Undlin to follow through with the transaction.
Should he continue in his role as citizen investigator? What should he do?
42 Responses to “Someone’s trying to scam David Undlin. What should he do?”
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January 8th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
I would think that the postal investigators would be intersted. This would quilfiy as mail fraud. At a minimul there is conspricy to comit a crime.
January 8th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
The FBI might be a good place to continue. I think they deal with identity theft and might be able to address this type of cross state attempt at fraud (I assume the person was out of state).
January 8th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
That’s a good idea, Dave S. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is often the one that ulitmately gets the goods.
January 8th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
You can report fraud and attempts of fraud here….
http://www.fraud.org/info/contactnfic.htm
You must also have someone to report this to, not a
regular police officer bust someone who investigates
these things. I think the FBI is responsible for investigations
involving fraud. Shoot them an e-mail asking how you should apporach
this.
January 8th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
same thing happen to me. I was selling an air conditioner and the buyer wanted to send me a check for over the amount and send him back the difference. I knew right away that it was a scama and asked the buyer to please cease any contact with me. I think it should be reported and investigated. These people should not be allowed to continue to scam the general public.
January 8th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
Play along. Stall. Tell him you sent to the money. A week later, tell him it cam back return to sender. In the meantime, get as much info as possible. Frustrate the jerk to no end, but always let him believe he is close to cashing in. Start a blog, and have fun!
January 8th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
You must be kidding. Do a quick search of the Internet and you will find that this is one of the oldest scams around. List something on Craigslist or sometimes eBay and you will get at least one e-mail from someone wanting to pay you by certified check sight unseen. I just got an e-mail from someone last week doing the same thing listed in this article. Literally this scam is attempted thousands of times per day and the e-mails are sometimes generated by e-mail bots. Does this make it right? Of course not, but with the volume there is nothing you can do. What would you have the police do with such a volume of scam attempts. If the Tribune wants a story then they should follow a scam themselves. I’d be happy to help them bait one, it is as easy as listing something on Craigslist. I know it is hard but just let it go, I had to. The police can’t (and won’t) help, the FBI already has enough to do, and no, the postal inspector will not investigate. And you won’t “frustrate” anyone other than yourself, you are just communicating with a computer program much of the time (although, some of the scammers have phone numbers that you can call and they will even talk to you).
January 8th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
This is a type of fraud is very common on Craigslist. I’m
I’m glad he didn’t fall for it and the post office would ppr
probably be the best place to start. But I would second the s
suggestion to play along- there are some great ideas here:
http://www.419eater.com/
Different type of scam but they are all cut from the same
cloth.
January 8th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
No doubt they will want you to wire money via western union. Play dumb. Make them explain everything, in vivid detail. Then ask them to repeat. Ask any other dumb questions you can think of. You will need a ten digit number known as a money transfer control number, or MTCN. Make it up (I prefer 4815162342 – the cursed numbers from Lost). They will go to western union to collect… and be unsuccessful. Play dumb. Say their computer was down, you forgot to sign something, any dumb excuse. Repeat this over and over. They may call you, and will likely use a service for the deaf to do so. Speak gibberish and nonsense. Refuse to understand. They will go to western union multiple times before giving up, and their communication will reflect their frustrations. Make them think you are the dumbest SOB to ever set foot on the earth.
January 8th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
This happened to me also. I went along with it and
soon I got a packet from DHL with looked like a legit
check made out to me for $4200. I called the bank and
sent them a fax of the check. They told the account did
not exist. I then e-mailed back the scammer and told him
to save his $10 next time and quit sending fake checks.
The best advice I can give is to never do a deal unless i
its through Paypal or another preferred site where the
money is transferred safely.