Scammer
 

This may be a stupid question but I have looked around and not found the answer yet. A person contacted me on Yahoo today asking me to cash a check for them and then send them the cash to South Africa. It sounded so much like a scam. I could have just cut them off to begin with but I was curious to see how far he would take his explanation. He never answered any of my questions satisfactorily. Which I had expected. My question is this. Is there a way to report this person at least to Yahoo?? I know Yahoo is quite annonymous and so tracing them would be nearly impossible. Yet there's always that possibility that he could be at least slowed down from continuing this scam. Would it be worth it even. I'm not sure if I can include the nickname here but I'm tempted to. If it's ok please let me know. I'd love to give him a hard time. He got cranky and defensive when I started asking pointed questions. Any comments?

Since I have been flooded lately with 'Phishing' (note the uberleet ph) for bank card numbers on hotmail and yahoo lately, I don't think they would do much with something like this. At best they would ban the email address like junk mail.

It's the old bounced check ruse - An overseas check can take a number of days to clear - meanwhile you send the cash (thinking you have the check in your bank - and perhaps taking a handsome cut of your own). Later, when the bank realise that the check will bounce, your account is readjusted, and you are normally charged a small fee. Of course, the guy is receiving your cash and is very happy indeed.

Yes it is a scam.

If you report him, he will have to get a new email address - it wont stop him, but it might slow him down. If you get as much information as you can about him, you might be able to report him to the South African police.

It's a scam. I get those email practically every day, I have no idea how they found my address, or if they just send them out randomly.

If you google a long text string from the email, you'll find several scam sites where the email was reported by other people. Chances are Yahoo is already fully aware of that particular scam.

I swear I get these every day, and they can be very imaginative. Here's one that just came in this morning:

I never answer these, although sometimes I google them to see how widespread they are.

You have fallen for a series of traps here:

1. Never respond to spam. You have verified to that person that you have a valid and working e-mail address, and therefore this spammer can now sell that information (even for a few pennies) to another spam e-mail list. Please be prepared to get more spam. Alot more.

2. Why would you ask questions from a Phisher? When bank account information is solicited, all the person is doing is playing the law of Large Numbers. If there are 10 million e-mail accounts, and 1 person in a million is a fucking idiot, then the Phisher will sucessfully retrieve 10 people's account information.

3. The U.S. government is trying to crack down on internet fraud, and also trying to track down the offenders and convict them. How sucessful do you think they will be in trying someone in South Africa? not very.

Rest assured, all you (or anyone) can do is to inform themselves (and their loved ones) on internet crime and to avoid dangerous activities as much as possible!

I would not walk in a dangerous neighbourhood with a fist full of twenties.
I would not tease a dangerous looking dog on a flimsy leash.
I would not ignore warning signs posted.

and I would never respond to spam. Ever.

Talk to your local (provincial/state/regional/district/national) political representative and voice your concerns.

I have a check from one of them that wanted to buy my DVD media storage cabinet. :) It was fun to email back and forth with him. Even threatened to report me to the FBI for not depositing his check without double checking funds from originating bank.

This wasn't an e-mail - it was on chat.

I did manage to get an address in South Africa - it could be just as bogus but they have to give a point of contact somewhere. I haven't just cut him off yet. I don't intend to go through with it but I am stringing him along and letting him think that I will. If nothing comes of this fine but I'm curious to see how far he'll take it.

Who would I contact to report this? Yahoo has forms for reporting almost anything else but I don't see something for this.

from my email with the con...

hmmm, interesting.

Did he really send you a check? And you really tried to cash it?

yes he sent me a check but...

ummm no.. why would i try to cash a check that I KNOW is fraudulent?

so that I can pay the bank $30 bounced check fee?

Am I allowed to post the scammer's yahoo nickname her?? I thought maybe some of you would have fun giving him a hard time. Dunno - just a thought I had.

it would be an honour to give this freak a hard time. could you send it to me in private message raeanna? im not sure if u can or cant post in here, but i dont see why it wouldnt be allowed or why it would be illegal. i guess u can try to post, and if the moderators think its inappropriate, they can always just remove it.

hmmm..I've never had to pay a fee if a check written to me and was deposited and then bounced...does your bank do that to you?

Yahoo is rampant with scammers right now, I have another friend who almost got scammed by one of these guys, it went as far as her agreeing to cash some money orders for him. Fortunately for her, the bank teller recognized them as forgeries.

Have you considered making a fake check and sending THAT to them? :D

Back before moving last winter, I lost my wallet and had to get replacement credit cards with new account numbers because of the possibility of theft. I found my wallet last month, and I've held onto the old useless cards for one simple reason, I provide the complete information off of those cards to any and all phishers who eMail me. They get the bad info and pass it along to whomever hired them, who tries to scam someone in a CNP (card not present, the most common credit-card fraud) or CP (card present, "safe") transaction. The card comes back as "stolen" and the fraudster is busted, later his "associates" look up the phisher and do bad things to him. http://instagiber.net/smiliesdotcom/...ssbonesgif.gif

These are among the things you learn when you deal with delivery drivers all day.

yes, anything I deposit and it bounces, I get charged a fee. this has been all major banks I've been with in the past 2 decades. I can sometimes get it waived if I talk fast to the bank manager, but usually not.

PLEASE DO NOT POST IT HERE. THANK YOU.

welcome to the wonderful world of the nigerian love letter. it's a scam that can cost you anywhere from nothing to your life savings, depending on how trusting you are in someone you've never met.

Here is a website of people who fight back against these scammers the only way they can; by humiliating and berating them: http://www.419eater.com/ I wouldn't recommend doing this, but perhaps you could send this yahoo contact their way, I'm sure they would love to help this guy cash his check :)

thats just wild, I've been with the same major bank for 16 years and they've never done that to me :confused:

In my business, we deposit checks from customers, and there is always a fee (to us) if one bounces.

Are you sure you have actually made a deposit that bounced? :)

oh yes, Im quite sure in fact the last time it happened right after christmas with a check a friend wrote for some shopping I'd done....it bounced pretty as you please...no charges on my end

ofer to send him computes because you need cash and you will give him computers at discount prices. then convince him to pay shipping.

then send him 800 lbs of rocks or bricks...LOL

And hopefully also customs! :lol: