I would like America (since it applies to anyone with internet access and an ounce of trust) to be aware of supposed online companies who are willing to pay you a percentage of a cashier’s check just for cashing them. They will require your name, address, and phone number and will give a legitimate sounding deal in many cases. I was almost a victim of one such scammer, and I am royally ticked off.
I was approached in a chat room by a gentleman who recommended a way to make some extra money doing “offshore representing” for a company he worked for in the UK. He said that they sold textile products online and that they sold world wide. The payments that they received from their US customers could not be cashed in the UK. Evidently a lot of customers were paying with WalMart Money Gram money orders. If I would cash their checks for them and Western Union them their money, then I was to keep 10% of the check for my trouble. They were very convincing!
I assumed that since I did not have to give them any banking information or my social security number that I would be safe. I turned in my “resume” to the company that the young gentleman suggested and I heard back from them the next day. I corresponded with the company a few times and thought that they weren’t going to send me anything, but to my surprise I received 6 WalMart money grams in my name for $495.35 each via USPS a couple of weeks later. The sender’s address was from the US and so I assumed that it was a customer of the company that I was working for. I rushed to WalMart to cash the checks and was told that the money orders would have to be made out to WalMart in order to be cashed. I emailed the company with this information and they told me to use my bank account instead. After the checks cleared I was instructed to Western Union the funds to the address they provided (less my %10, of course).
Later that evening after I had calmed down from the initial excitement of holding $3000 worth of money orders, I took a closer look at them and discovered that they appeared crooked. The ink was faded in some areas as well. That’s when I thanked God that I was unable to cash them. I did some research online to see if others had fallen for the same scam as I nearly did. It turns out that many have, one woman had to go to jail because of a false lottery check. Evidently the FBI is not trying to catch anyone doing this because I called them myself. I have the scam artist’s email address and I am currently corresponding with them (I am waiting to see what they say tomorrow, the last email I sent explained how my bank has a 45 day holding period on money grams). The Birmingham, AL FBI office representative that I spoke to told me to shred the checks (wouldn’t they want these for evidence?) and to not contact them anymore. I assumed that this would be dangerous on my part because they know where I live-remember that they requested my address in my resume. This is such a large problem that the FBI apparently has given up the pursuit of these con artists. The worst part is that the only one who is getting hurt is the poor victim who cashes these checks.
