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Author Topic:  Scam of the week???
Bobby Duncan

 

From:
Pensacola, FL, USA (these days)
Post  Posted 20 Jul 2004 2:11 pm    
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Found this on that website. The routing number matches the one on the check I got.
BD

SA-3-2003
January 24, 2003
TO: CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER (also of interest to Security Officer)
SUBJECT: Counterfeit Cashier's Checks
Summary: Counterfeit cashier's checks drawn on State Bank of Kimball, St. Cloud, MN, are in circulation.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has learned that counterfeit cashier's checks drawn on State Bank of Kimball, St. Cloud, Minnesota, are currently in circulation. The counterfeit items bear the routing number 091908179 and note that they were originated by the Saint Augusta Branch. Most of the counterfeit instruments are similar in appearance to the bank's cashier's checks; however, none of the counterfeit checks includes the "lock" symbol on the right-hand side of the word "DOLLARS" on the amount line. Attached is an example of the bank's genuine cashier's check (voided).

Any information you have about this matter should be brought to the attention of:
Ms. TyLynn Theis
Assistant Cashier
State Bank of Kimball
P.O. Box 70
Kimball, Minnesota
Telephone: (320) 398-3500; FAX: (320) 398-2122 Information about these instruments also may be forwarded to the FDIC's Special Activities Section, 550 17th Street, NW, Room F-4040, Washington, DC 20429 or transmitted electronically to alert@fdic.gov.

For your reference, FDIC Special Alerts may be accessed from the FDIC's Web site at www.fdic.gov/news/news/Special Alert/2003/index.html. To learn how to automatically receive FDIC Special Alerts, Financial Institution Letters and other announcements through e-mail, please visit www.fdic.gov/news/news/announcements/index.html.

Michael J. Zamorski
Director
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Duncan Hodge


From:
DeLand, FL USA
Post  Posted 20 Jul 2004 4:03 pm    
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Hey Guys,
I don't know if this is a scam, but someone sent me this today wanting to buy my guitar. The only thing is I don't even have one for sale. I really believe that someone is taking our email addresses off the forum and selling them to spammers. I recently opened up an account with a new ISP and only gave out my new email address to a few trusted friends, and the forum, which I also consider a trusted friend. Within 24 hours of giving out my email address to the forum I had received about 50 spams and the following message

________________________________

Greetings,My name is mr john,I hail from UKRAINE and i am
highly interested in buying your {guitar}
from you ,I will like you to give me the ASKING price
and also scan the pics for me for proper verifycation . As for the
shipping,I have a liable shipper that takes goods care of all my
shipping .Cashiers check is the payment method.
So pls email me back so that we can
conclude about it. and i will like you to feed me out
of this info...
Name...
Address...
City...
State...
Country...
Phone#
I await ur this info so that i can fax it down to my client that will
send u the cashiers check.hope this is acceptable
email me ASAP....... pls
REGARDS mr johnmike
--
_______________________________________________
Get your free email from http://www.uymail.com

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___________________________

The only way that I feel my email could have been gotten was from the Forum. This spam and these scams are ruining the internet.
Duncan
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Farris Currie

 

From:
Ona, Florida, USA, R.I.P.
Post  Posted 20 Jul 2004 5:36 pm    
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I bid on a steel ebay 329.00, playing around,
Been contacted email 3 times today,got a bunch of those same steels 1250.00 send EMAIL
Back and will tell me where to send Money
order.they pay all shipping ins. everything.
BE CARFUL OF ALL OFFERS
FARRIS CURRIE
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Wiz Feinberg


From:
Mid-Michigan, USA
Post  Posted 21 Jul 2004 6:39 am    
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Has anybody read a word that I have typed in this thread?

I warned that having your email addresses publicly available was inviting scammers and spammers, both of whom are usually the same group, to harvest said addresses. Now it is happening en-masse.

You can turn off the displaying of your email address, and any links to it, by logging in to your Profile, scroll down to the radio select boxes for "Keep your email address viewable to other users when you post notes?" and select NO. Then tell interested buyers to Post their replies to the Forum. If you find serious buyers you can obtain a free, throwaway email account on hotmail, or yahoo. If you are on AOL you can create several email accounts. When you have concluded deals, simply delete these accounts. Use numbers and letters, not your name. Make it difficult for the scammers to get to you.

I also warned you about counterfit checks in the wild. Don't act so surprised that you are getting some in the mail. But, do call your State AG, and the local FBI and ask if they are interested in having a look at them. They can be used as hard evidence in Internet Fraud and InterPol investigations. Any counterfit checks issued, or mailed in the USA are violating US Federal Statutes, including Postal Fraud. This could help track the Perps down and lock them up.

If the authorities aren't interested in seeing these check, I am sure that your fellow Forumite will be. Photograph them, in high definition, and post them in this thread, as 70% quality, or better, jpg files.

Wiz
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Bill Bosler


From:
Schwenksville, Pennsylvania, USA
Post  Posted 21 Jul 2004 7:11 am    
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Hey b0b;

Might I suggest we do the same thing some ham radio websites and forums do and make the email addresses unclickable. You have to write it down and insert it manually into the email. I know that's a pain in the a$$, but it might eliminate a lot of this crap.

[This message was edited by Bill Bosler on 21 July 2004 at 08:12 AM.]

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b0b


From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
Post  Posted 21 Jul 2004 11:56 am    
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That wouldn't make any difference, Bill. These aren't automated offers that people are getting. It's as easy for a scammer to type your email address as it is for a Forum member.

We're working on a much better solution.

------------------
               Bobby Lee
-b0b-   quasar@b0b.com
 System Administrator
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Charles Turpin

 

From:
Mexico, Missouri, USA
Post  Posted 21 Jul 2004 1:20 pm    
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I know a lot of people do business with there banks and credit cards on the internet. But me i never do such a thing. Me i always order things through the snail mail by check. But I always look for a 10 day wait while the check clears the bank. To me that is what people should do. I have even waited up to 30 days before for the bank to clear the check. But Bob i feel this forum is a great idea and should not be abused by scammers. If they do that to the buy and sell things. I would like to see the buy and sell closed to members that have at least been on the forum for 6 months. Specially on large sells like steel guitars. I have waited up to a year to have one built. I could wait 6 months or even just 10 days for a check to clear.If not then you should have a rule where that anyone caught scamming like this Kicked off of the forum for good. I am kind of interested to see what conclusions the other members would have in solving this

------------------
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Wiz Feinberg


From:
Mid-Michigan, USA
Post  Posted 21 Jul 2004 2:42 pm    
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Charles, I agree, this World is moving way too fast:

* Faster Horses
* Younger Women
* Older Whiskey
* And, MORE MONEY!

We'll stop these guys, but everybody here needs to keeps eyes open!

It reminds me of something Mr. Chekov said on Star Trek (about the devious Klingons): "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me!" Let's not give these guys their second chance.

Later, Wiz

[This message was edited by Wiz Feinberg on 21 July 2004 at 03:43 PM.]

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Duncan Hodge


From:
DeLand, FL USA
Post  Posted 21 Jul 2004 5:28 pm    
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I did a test and opened up a second email account with my current ISP. I sent only a few trusted friends the email address, and did not give it to the Forum. I have not received any spam back. When I gave it out as my new email address for the Forum within 12 hours I had 20+ spam mails. My conclusion is that someone copies our addresses from our postings and sells them.

Duncan

[This message was edited by Duncan Hodge on 21 July 2004 at 07:27 PM.]

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Bob Simmons

 

From:
Trafford, Alabama, USA
Post  Posted 21 Jul 2004 7:09 pm    
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This is getting serious bOB, I just got the nigerian $3500 fed ex scam, called himself a pastor, din't take the bait
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Tom Olson

 

From:
Spokane, WA
Post  Posted 21 Jul 2004 8:10 pm    
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Quote:
As an added measure do not accept payment methods other than PayPal, from verified Paypal members only, with verified addresses that match their profile


Paypal informed me that they strongly recommend against accepting a PayPal payment from someone outside the U.S. for goods shipped outside the U.S., and that they will not back up any such transactions. However, that was a year or so ago, and it may have changed by now.

Also, anyone care to address my earlier question:

quote:
Wouldn't this issue be benefitted by making members email addresses available only to other members? Maybe it's not technically feasible (would cost too much or be too complicated). But, it seems like the only people who would want to email members would be either:
1) other members; or,
2) scammers.


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Tom Olson

 

From:
Spokane, WA
Post  Posted 21 Jul 2004 8:33 pm    
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quote:
quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Regarding the issue generally, wouldn't the only reasonable answer be to wait until any funds clear before completing any type of deal?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This might take up to two weeks, or even longer, to ensure that a check wasn't a forgery. These Nigerian crooks are part of a World-Wide Counterfit Check rings, and their checks and money orders look like the real thing. Even Postal Money Orders have been forged by them!



Regardless of how long it takes for a check to clear, or whether the check is possibly a forgery or not, I restate my position: wouldn't the only reasonable answer to selling to an overseas buyer be to wait until the check clears before shipping the goods? Especially when the check is drawn on a foreign bank or issued by an African governmental agency? Checks drawn on American banks can now be cleared electronically in a matter of days or less due to new banking rules. That means you won't have to wait as long in some cases as you used to have to wait for a check to clear. But checks drawn on foreign banks are a different story. They usually have to be physically sent all the way back to the bank on which they were drawn -- that is if the check is indeed legitimate -- before the banking transaction is complete.


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Mike McBride


From:
Indiana
Post  Posted 23 Jul 2004 5:03 pm    
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I just received this e-mail after posting my tenor guitar for sale on the Forum. The sender's name wa : redface@outgun.com

"hello

i will like to buy from you.Tell me how much u will like to sell it and get back ur full name,ads including ur phone number.looking forward to read from you soon.

Regards"
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Wiz Feinberg


From:
Mid-Michigan, USA
Post  Posted 23 Jul 2004 8:37 pm    
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Delete all suspicious emails that are obviously not from Forumites, and which contain obvious misuse of the English language. Be aware that there are Forum members in other countries, where English is not the primary language, so lookup the responder to see if he is a member, with a listed profile. Members usually identify themselves when responding to seller's posts.

There are ways and means to track down the country of origin for most emails. I track down the country of origin by using either www.dnsstuff.com, or http://samspade.org/, or my account at Spamcop.net, by pasting any IP addresses I find in the headers of emails (and weblogs), into the input field for IP Whois Lookups and hitting the Enter Key. IP addresses are usually listed as four groups of decimal numbers, separated by periods, such as 192.168.0.91 (ficticious LAN example). There may be only a few IP addresses, or several, depending on how the message was routed. The last one down is usually the closest to the actual sender's IP, altho spammers often forge some of the data in the headers. Spamcop has a high degree of success in tracking the source of spam and scam emails, for Reporting members.

If you find that the suspicious email seems to have come from a wireless ISP customer in Somalia or Nigeria, delete it without further ado. This person has no intention of buying your item (with legitimate funds), but does intend to try to rip you off. If it quacks and paddles its feet to propel itself through the water, has duck-like feathers and a big beak, and looks like a duck, it probably is a duck.

Knowledge is your best armour.

Wiz

[This message was edited by Wiz Feinberg on 23 July 2004 at 09:39 PM.]

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