Forgive my memory lapse on the name of the fictional company in this tale of criminal deception, but I do remember certain details which are all you need to know to avoid this scam. And please forgive me if I say anything that offends any reader who may have actually been taken by these crooks; it was a believable con.

Now, at times in my life I've been called gullible by some of my best friends and I'm a sucker for animal causes, especially when the ads include Sarah McLaughlin singing about angels, but thanks to the mountains of information available on the internet I investigate every offer that comes my way, and there are tons of offers, as you know. Some are so laughable to me that they require no investigation, like the widow from Nigeria who needs a "friend" to take the billions of dollars left by her husband off her hands (Once again, sorry to any reader who may have fallen for this sob story). But the one that nearly trapped me into a world of . . . problems was quite astounding in many ways.

Having been unemployed for some time I'd applied for many jobs online and in desperation I even applied to some of the online ads for "secret shoppers." For all I know some of them may have been legitimate, but PLEASE investigate them all. So when I received a letter in the mail from the XYZ Co. (I honestly cannot remember the name of the company.) asking me if I wanted to be a "secret shopper" I read on, thinking, "Oh, yeah, I guess I did apply to one of these places." The letter looked quite legit; it didn't seem to have any typographical errors; appeared to be on "official" XYZ letterhead stationary which included phone and fax numbers. Also inside the envelope was a check for nearly $4,000.00, which also looked incredibly legit. It was drawn on the Wells Fargo Bank in Van Wert, Ohio, had my name printed on the 'pay to' line, and even included information that the money was coming from a company with which I was familiar--Jostens in Minnesota. The instructions (in the letter) were as follows: I was to deposit the check into my own checking account within 7 days, make purchases from a variety of well-known stores (Target and Sears were listed as I recall), but the XYZ company was particularly interested in testing the customer friendliness of Moneygram International. I was to go to the nearest Moneygram location and wire the bulk of the money back to the XYZ company. I could keep my purchases from the stores and upon wiring $3,000.00 of the $4,000.00 I was to call a Jim Smith at the number listed on the letter.

It was an extremely tempting offer since my checking account balance was at an all-time low, but before I ran to the bank I decided to call Mr. Smith and request a bit more information. The area code of the phone number placed this guy somewhere in Toronto, so now this offer is all over the North American map. Before I continue, I want to apologize if I offend anyone with a common American name, but whose second language is English. I mean no offense and I admire ANYONE who moves to a country foriegn to them, learns the language and survives; I'm not sure that I could make such an adjustment, but "JIm Smith" spoke English so poorly that I had to ask him to repeat the answers to my questions at least three times, and even then I didn't always understand him. The one statement he seemed to have pretty-well memorized was something like, "Instead of questioning this opportunity, why not believe this is your lucky day?" Bzzzzzzz!! I then thanked him, told him I'd get right on it and called the FBI and Wells Fargo in Van Wert.

The bank told me that the account number printed on the check didn't exist and that Jostens had no account with them. The FBI told me to shred the check and forget about it. I told the agent I could do that but that I wanted to understand the scam. Here's the deal in case you don't already know: Your bank (or most banks) are only required to hold on to a deposited check for a few days before they release the funds to you as usable. So I was to wait until my bank released the funds, do my 'secret shopping,' and wire most of the money back to the XYZ company. A few days later I would have been notified by my bank that the check was returned because the Josten account didn't exist and I'd be on the hook for the money given to me by my bank. Had I not returned the money to my bank I would have been prosecuted. When I asked the FBI agent if they would be tracking down these scammers I was informed that scams of this nature had become so common that they only went after crooks whose scheme involved an amount over $50,000.00!  

So that's the story and the following is a list compiled by a Sean Mattingly which may also prove helpful to those you who may be as gullible as I am--sometimes.

OTHER SOURCES OF SCAM EDUCATION...

(1) Consumer Guide To Avoiding eBay Fraud, Escrow Internet Fraud, Check Fraud, Auto Fraud, and Nigerian Scams at http://www.carbuyingtips.com/fraud.htm(2) Scambusters.org helps protect from clever scams online and offline at http://www.scambusters.org(3) Hemmings Motor News has tips at http://www.hemmings.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/resources.tips (4) Nigerian scams detailed by the BBC at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3887493.stm (5) An online community that finds thieves and makes them look goofy http://www.thescambaiter.com (6) How a legitimate car seller can get scammed, showing a real example http://www.swapmeetdave.com/Scam/index.htm

Sean Mattingly (Sean@UltimateGTO.com) at The Ultimate GTO Picture Site located at http://UltimateGTO.com