(This article contains 866 words.)

He gets the credit but as near as I can tell P.T. Barnum never said, "There's a sucker born every minute."

What he did say, however, according to The Quotations Page is "Every crowd has a silver lining."

That's just as good in the minds of scammers always looking for ways to make a quick and dishonest buck.

Having said that, I will now tell you about the story of my wife and me.

My wife received a letter from Intercontinental Trust & Corp. of Kirkland, Washington signed by Mike Livingston in early October of 2008.

The letter reeked of fraud. As a former certified public accountant and a former certified fraud examiner, I wanted to pursue the matter. It was in my blood.

The letter stated she had been confirmed as a winner of $250,000 having something to do with Sydney Australia Sweepstake. With the letter came a check from Unitrin Direct Property & Casualty Compan - not Company but Compan - for the amount of $3,980.00. The letter stated that in order to get her winnings, she must send $2,930.00 to cover an insurance fee and a processing fee.

The word "Compan" raised a red flag, for sure. The fact she was to pay before receiving the loot was, of course, a red flag as well. If the whole thing was legitimate, the payer could have sent my wife $247,070 ($250,000 less $2930.00).

My wife called Mr. Livingston at the number stated in the letter, (800) 230-3397. He asked her to send a $2,930.00 MoneyGram to Daniel R. Carter at 1121 Main Street in Seattle, Washington. Then, once the money was received by Mr. Carter, my wife would receive the quarter of a million dollars either by wire transfer or a check delivered by Federal Express. She asked for the wire transfer.

Instead of a MoneyGram, my wife got Wells Fargo personal money orders totaling $2,930.00 and sent them off to Mr. Carter.

There was only a small risk of proceeding. Unlike MoneyGrams, bank money orders can be stopped from payment before the payee receives the money. Too, there is a trail that will reveal information about the person cashing the bank money order but not so with MoneyGrams. Besides, we had timing on our side.

My wife deposited the $3,980.00 check in our checking account and stopped payment on the money orders because the fortune wasn't transferred to our bank account the next day as we expected. The $3,980.00 check was returned a day or so later as we also expected.

My wife called Mr. Livingston a few times for an explanation. She left messages but he didn't call back for several days. When he finally called, he never mentioned the stopped payments but said the returned check was only on hold until her money orders clear. Then, he would, "Get it started."

He mentioned that he would have preferred a MoneyGram. Another red flag.

For us, the story ended for all the transactions were dead.

Had it not been for stopping payment on the money orders, we would have lost $2,930.00 if this Carter guy even had the gall to cash them.

I doubt that he would have though because of the ease of finding those presenting themselves for payment of bank personal money orders compared to the difficulty of finding those presenting themselves for payment of MoneyGrams.

Daniel R. Carter is, I suspect, an assumed name anyway. The same with Mike Livingston.

By the way, my online research of Unitrin Direct Property and Casualty Company - not Unitrin Direct Property and Casualty Compan - is a respectable company licensed in Texas and located in Vista, California according to the Texas Department of Insurance.

Another by the way: At December 31, 2008 the president of Unitrin Direct Property and Casualty Company as reported by the Texas Department of Insurance is (are you ready for this?) Scott Carter.

It makes me think of Daniel Carter.

The scammer did make a few attempts to create the appearance of authenticity but jeepers.

Here is an interesting excerpt from the Fraud Aid website:

I wired money by Western Union or Moneygram. Can I get it back?

No, I am afraid you cannot get your money back. This is true for 3 reasons.

1. Once the funds are sent through Western Union and picked up at the other end, there is no trail to follow.

2. You don't really know where you are sending the money or who is going to pick it up. The funds you wired can be picked up at any Western Union office anywhere in the world, and they can be picked up by anyone who furnishes the specified identification, which is often false.

3. The criminals do not put the money in a savings account. It is spent immediately. The money goes to fund further scam operations, amusement, opening and maintaining drug routes, and funding terrorism.

If this topic is somewhat new to you, go to the Fraud Aid website. You'll be surprised. Maybe even alarmed.

There's a scammer born every minute.

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