Couple catches con game before losing thousands
Published 12:45 pm Thursday, December 11, 2008
By Dennis Box
The Courier-Herald
A Bonney Lake couple, Darold and Karin James, foiled an Internet scam to steal $3,500 from them using counterfeit U.S. postal money orders.
The couple operates a scrap-metal recycling and towing business, Hulk Away, from their residence in Cedarview.
The scheme began Dec. 8 when Karin placed an ad on an Internet message board trying to sell a 1995 Ford Taurus. The car does not run and they were hoping to get around $500.
The couple received a call Dec. 10 from a man seeking to buy the car.
"He had a foreign accent and there was a lot of static on the line, like he was far away" Darold said. "He said he was from the U.K. (United Kingdom) and he wanted to buy the car because old cars are tough to get over there. He didn't care if we had a title or not. The man said he would pay us $1,500. I heard all sorts of people talking in the background."
The man explained to James he would send $5,000 in money orders. He instructed James to deposit the money orders in his bank account. James was told to send $3,500 to the man's "shipper" to pay for shipping the car overseas. James could keep the $1,500 balance as payment for the car.
On Dec. 14 five U.S. postal money orders, $1,000 each, were delivered by United Parcel Service overnight mail to the couple's home. The envelope had been shipped from Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.
At 7 a.m. the next morning, James received a call from the man asking if he had sent the money.
"I knew something was wrong," James said. "I told him the banks weren't even open. I called the port authority and they said I would need a letter saying it was OK to ship the car. I called the FBI and was told to take the money orders to the postmaster."
James and his wife took the money orders to Sumner Postmaster Rick Hewster Thursday and they were informed the money orders were fakes.
On Saturday, the James receive a threatening e-mail.
"James,
I dont want to understand what you are trying to say. Just make sure you send the money to my shipper or I’ll come after you. Just make sure you do it today. You cant play over my intelligent. Wire the cash to my shipper or we’ll come after you.
Thank you.
Dinnah Peters"
James stated he intended to call the Bonney Lake police to report the threatening message.
Postal Inspector Jeff Scobba said this is a common scam originating from crime rings based in Nigeria.
"Other gangs have picked it up,' Scobba said. "But the Nigerian gangs like this scheme and it works for them."
Scobba noted the hoax is often directed at the elderly using a lottery hook.
The scam, Scobba said, can go like this: an elderly woman is told she has won the lottery in Canada and she owes the government taxes before she can collect her winnings. The woman is told not to worry, a check will arrive to help pay the fees with some cash left over for her trouble. She is instructed to deposit the money in her account, wire part of the money to an address and her winnings will be sent to her.
"A week later the checks comes back as bad and the elderly person owes the bank money," Scobba said.
The Internet and computers have moved the art of counterfeiting into the hands of young, technically adept criminals.
"Most of them are under 35 and they have grown up with computers," Scobba said. "Certified checks and money orders mean nothing. It's all done with computers. These people are constantly on the move. They use disposable cell phones and the Internet. It's like the wild west."
Mail fraud committed across borders is investigated by U.S. postal inspectors and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
"We're always playing catch up," Scobba said. "We get them eventually, but it takes time."
The James were fortunate not to fall for the deception, but it's thought that counts.
"Pulling a scam in the middle the holiday season is not right," James said, who is celebrating Hanukkah with his wife. "To us, that was lot of money."
Dennis Box can be reached at dbox@cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/courierherald.
