fake money orders

[Mike Arman]

Fake money orders coming from overseas . . .


Problem with following up on this through the postal authorities is that
there's very little jurisdiction internationally, and unfortunately, the
amounts are "small".

If this were happening inside the US, the Postal Inspectors would have him
in jail in a heartbeat, but they are not going to go to Dublin (or Nigeria)
over a few thousand bucks.

Worst Uncle Sam will do to him is eventually close the mails to him. There
was a guy based in London selling $1,000 a year listings in a worldwide
business directory which somehow never actually got published, but he
ALWAYS took the money, each and every year, too - he calls himself ITT or
ATT as the mood strikes him, so it looks legit - it took 20 years for the
UK postal authorities to shut him down, and it took a full-page expose' in
a London newspaper to get them off their dead butts to go do it.
Subsequently, he just moved to Czeckoslovakia and is back in business at
the same scam. When people refused to pay, he turned them in to local
collection agencies, and evidently collected often enough to make it worth
his while. Since he also has a new return address, and a new mail drop
point, his mail is getting through again.

Our buddy in Dublin (or Lagos) will still be able to communicate by e-mail,
and send his bogus certified checks by Fedex, so not having the mail
available to him isn't a problem.

Suggest you contact the local authorities, Scotland Yard (?), perhaps
Interpol. They *may* move on him, but I don't know how quickly.

Other country coverage isn't much better: In conversation with the local
FBI guy regarding a (mere) half million dollar attempted Russian-based wire
transfer sting against a local bank, he told me that they have exactly ONE
agent working out of Moscow and he also covers St. Petersburg, about every
eight months. That's like saying we have one agent in New York, and he sees
Chicago every eight months or so. He said if nobody was dead, and the
amount wasn't in the high seven figures, preferably more, they simply
didn't have time for it.


Remember that deals that are too good to be true are too good to be true.
Unfortunately, this one is also a scam.


So - bank checks may or may not be valid (and an "official" check means
exactly nothing - it is simply the bank's "personal" check and can be
forged, stopped or may even bounce just like anyone else's check),
Certified checks may or may not be forged or stolen (I've seen a few of
these), and guess what - wire transfers can be reversed!!! (Ask me how I
know.)

Caveat Emptor needs to have Caveat Vendor added to it - lotta scams out there!



Best Regards,

Mike Arman