Scamming via Homeschool Classifieds

[OnTheBrink]

I have a few things listed on HSC. I got an email about a book, woman said she wanted it, asked for where to send the $$. I emailed her back, gave her my address and she said she'd sent the $$ via money order. Fine, no problem.

 

Then today, I get another email from her, saying she's sent the money via FedEX and includes a tracking number. The book was only $8. THEN, UPS shows up with an overnight envelope. I open it up and there's a check made out to me for over $1,000. Check is "drawn" from a bank in OH. UPS envelope is from CA. My eyes narrow in suspicion. So, I called the bank the check is "drawn" from and am told the check is no good. (SHOCKED! I'm shocked, I tell you). Feeling these two situations may be tied, I go back to my email and look up the woman's email address. Where's it from? INDIA. Her shipping address is Atlanta, but her email is from a site in India? Yeah. Right. I'm calling BS on this.

 

So, I have a bogus check (and that really bites, because I could use the money right now), an envelope from UPS. Who do I call and report this to? UPS? Some governmental agency?

 

Oh, and beware any emails from people you don't know from @rediff.com.

 

And something else that tipped me off about the check itself: You know how checks have that little number at the top, buy the actual check number? Like 75-874 or something? There is no such number on this check.

[kfeusse]

about 2 weeks ago I get a cashiers check out of the blue from somebody I don't know for over $5000. I called the bank from where it was issued and they said it was a scam too. What I can't figure out is why someone would do that...there is nothing for them in this kind of scam...I wouldn't be able to cash the check because the bank would double check first, the person who sent it can't get any banking info from me or my bank...it just seems sort of pointless and yet my bank says they see this sort of thing all of the time.

 

But I have never had it attatched to someone using HSC...how weird.

[OnTheBrink]

Yeah, I don't get how this works, either. How would the scammer get any of my banking info? All the woman at the bank would tell me is that it was not a good check, but wouldn't give me any other info.

[Guest ME-Mommy]

about 2 weeks ago I get a cashiers check out of the blue from somebody I don't know for over $5000. I called the bank from where it was issued and they said it was a scam too. What I can't figure out is why someone would do that...there is nothing for them in this kind of scam...I wouldn't be able to cash the check because the bank would double check first, the person who sent it can't get any banking info from me or my bank...it just seems sort of pointless and yet my bank says they see this sort of thing all of the time.

 

But I have never had it attatched to someone using HSC...how weird.

 

There have been several posts here about situations like this...

 

I received a bank check for over $5,000 for a $20 book. I turned the check, envelope it came in, and all email over to the Postmaster. He was going to forward it to the Postal Inspector.

[mommybee]

I've just heard that some banks don't catch it right away so you cash it and send the money off to the scammer and then when it ends up a bad check you are out the money.

[amey311]

DH had something similar attempted and the premise was that the buyer would send a check for more than the purchase price, asking that you wire the "change" to another address. There used to be a presumption that if you were sent a bank check (not a personal check) that it was guaranteed to be legit, so you'd deposit (or cash) the check, take out what you were owed, and wire the difference. By the time you found out the bank check was fraudulent (which could take a couple of days), you would've already wired the other funds away.

 

So:

I'm selling a book for $50

Buyer sends me a check for $200, says he owes Other Guy $150 and for me to just wire (western union or whatever) that $150 to OG.

I deposit check and wire funds to OG (who is Friend of Buyer/Scammer) and send book to Buyer/Scammer.

Scammer now has $150, I am overdrawn at the bank and out the book.

 

When it first happened with us it was pretty glaringly a scam. The buyer used TTY to call (because apparently that's free for long distance calls? we assumed the buyer was not deaf and just further scamming the system), and said he wanted to buy DH's motorcycle and have it shipped to NJ. DH was concerned about how the bike was going to get from AZ to NJ, buyer was only concerned about this whole check/wire transfer thing.

 

DH got handy with the google and found it listed as a scam somewhere, but he'd already decided to say "no" because who wants to deal with coordinating the shipping of a motorcycle (and it wasn't a rare model or anything that might attract the attention of collectors and make the shipping more understandable).

[pjboysmom]

I just received one today for over $1500. Had visions of a new kitchen floor dancing through my head, and then I got a grip and looked at the check's address vs. the return address. Gotta laugh when the return address used is for a SuperFund radiation/chemical cleanup site in California!

 

Same thing as earlier poster - had a response to homeschoolclassifieds ad, asking for address to mail payment to. Email address ended in rediffmail.com

[OleanderRain]

Unfortunately this is VERY common. I used to sell alot on the internet. I'd get about 5-10 emails daily from people trying to scam me. I can tell before I even open an email if it's a scam, that's how often I'd get them.

[dripdripsplat]

Wow, that's a first. Using homeschoolers to traffic money?

 

I've used HSC for years and never had a problem, but I guess that just means I should get ready for it.

 

But the commonality seems to be the email address, so I'm not too worried. I just won't be responding to any emails that end in rediffmail.com.

 

Thanks for the heads up!

[OnTheBrink]

I just received one today for over $1500. Had visions of a new kitchen floor dancing through my head, and then I got a grip and looked at the check's address vs. the return address. Gotta laugh when the return address used is for a SuperFund radiation/chemical cleanup site in California!

 

Same thing as earlier poster - had a response to homeschoolclassifieds ad, asking for address to mail payment to. Email address ended in rediffmail.com

 

Was the "buyer" Joanne Boatright? That's who my "buyer" was.

 

And, the odd thing is, no one asked me about sending more and wiring the difference. So, it's all a bit confusing.

[jamnkats]

I go back to my email and look up the woman's email address. Where's it from? INDIA. Her shipping address is Atlanta, but her email is from a site in India? Yeah. Right. I'm calling BS on this.

 

I just wanted to throw this out to you all - not everyone with a physical presence in one country yet a mailing address in another is scamming. Mail simply Does Not Arrive here in Mexico and furthermore the US govn't requires a legal US address. We live in Mexico but all our mail is sent to South Dakota, to a business dedicated to accepting and forwarding mail to those without fixed addresses (mainly RVers but also expats like us). So my ISP might say CANCUN but anything I order from HSC goes to South Dakota.

[pjboysmom]

Was the "buyer" Joanne Boatright? That's who my "buyer" was.

 

And, the odd thing is, no one asked me about sending more and wiring the difference. So, it's all a bit confusing.

Yep - same buyer. No additional requests were included in mine either.

[OnTheBrink]

What did she order?

[pjboysmom]

What did she order?

 

She responded to an ad for an extra set of Lials PreCalculus that I have. I did think it was odd that she didn't ask any questions about the materials (editions, dvds, etc), and the wording of her email was very abrupt.

[OnTheBrink]

She responded to an ad for an extra set of Lials PreCalculus that I have. I did think it was odd that she didn't ask any questions about the materials (editions, dvds, etc), and the wording of her email was very abrupt.

 

Yeah, same here. She was ordering a Latin book. She asked no questions, just asked for an address to mail payment.

[mominbc]

I had a similiar thing happen to me a few years ago. I was selling a Sonlight set, and what tipped me off is whe she said she would take 3 of them.:rofl: :confused:

[gaillardia]

We received a generous-sized $ money order in the mail, addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Our last name. It was sent anonymously. I thought I knew who it might have been from and felt sure it wasn't anything questionable.

It seemed to have been bought locally so I took it to the local store I thought it was from. They didn't have "that much cash" in the store to put it toward a money order. Yeah, right.

I went to a gas station where you can buy money orders but they wouldn't cash it.

I went to a check cashing/money order place to cash it but they wanted me to open an account with my bank account number, but I wasn't going to do that. I was starting to feel like I was playing some criminal mischief.

So finally I went to my son's bank, (I'm 20 miles from our bank). They would not cash it unless I knew absolutely that it was from a reliable source. Huh! So I called someone I thought might know about this anonymous gift and he verified that it was from someone or people that we both knew and it wasn't going to crash my bank account if I cashed it.

 

There wasn't enough information on the order, like who it was from, for one.

[dm379]

I put up my first listong on HSC today and already got a scammer. My evil side thought about giving her the address of somebody I don't like but I resisted the temptation. :)

[mjpeter]

I was going to put a few things up on HSC this week for the first time, so it sounds like I'll have to keep an eye out for these scams.

 

Is it really that common? I mean, most of the time, there aren't issues, right?

[Audrey]

I have a few things listed on HSC. I got an email about a book, woman said she wanted it, asked for where to send the $$. I emailed her back, gave her my address and she said she'd sent the $$ via money order. Fine, no problem.

 

Then today, I get another email from her, saying she's sent the money via FedEX and includes a tracking number. The book was only $8. THEN, UPS shows up with an overnight envelope. I open it up and there's a check made out to me for over $1,000. Check is "drawn" from a bank in OH. UPS envelope is from CA. My eyes narrow in suspicion. So, I called the bank the check is "drawn" from and am told the check is no good. (SHOCKED! I'm shocked, I tell you). Feeling these two situations may be tied, I go back to my email and look up the woman's email address. Where's it from? INDIA. Her shipping address is Atlanta, but her email is from a site in India? Yeah. Right. I'm calling BS on this.

 

So, I have a bogus check (and that really bites, because I could use the money right now), an envelope from UPS. Who do I call and report this to? UPS? Some governmental agency?

 

Oh, and beware any emails from people you don't know from @rediff.com.

 

And something else that tipped me off about the check itself: You know how checks have that little number at the top, buy the actual check number? Like 75-874 or something? There is no such number on this check.

 

 

Sorry that happened to you. There seems to be a little epidemic of this kind of junk. :glare: