On fraud...

Many of us, including artists, are becoming more familiar with the Nigerian and other foreign country money scams. I played with one of them until I actually got sent a check! A clear forgery of course, but it shows a level of sophistication one would not think is there.Most of these scams have you cash a check with more money than needed, and then wire that money on. By the time the bank (I'll get to them later) figures out is fraud, your money is gone and so is your product or service, etc. and there's not much to do about it.

Here's my case to illustrate this, I hope it helps for those who are looking into these things and getting offers on websites or through email for sales:

-The original message was simple enough, it came through in email from the account linked on my site, here it is:
"Hello and gooday i would like to purchase your artwork because i am really interested in your works so please i need the following informations
1)would you accept a cashiers check drawn in us funds as means of payment alternatively it would be so nice if you could accept a mastercard or visa card charge directly other than paypal because i have tried paypal before and they do not have an account with my region
2)How much would shipping cost to Lagos Nigeria 3)what is your shipment method because i would prefer DHL so thanks a lot and look forward to hearing from you soonest
regards
danny (davison)"

ok. Sure, Danny wants to buy my photos, why not. So I email him, strictly saying I will accept only paypal or other upfront and legit money. This turns into a huge debate, him getting angry with me for not trusting him...really! Eventually, he places an order, and also wants me to get 5 razor phones for him and his family. right... so I play along. Send me the check, he says its on its way. Somehow, two months later, the check actually arrives, seen here, with the envelope it came in and the US address label on the back tracking it to Fitchburg Massachussetts with a name of Deschene which is cut off in my scan:

This looks real at first, but it is printed on thin paper and the watermark is nowhere near authentic. However, given the complete incompetence I encountered at PNC Bank when asking them if it was fraudulent...went something like this: After I had gone to Bank of America, my bank, they agreed, said it was most likely fake, take it to PNC right next door, the Corcoran branch, this is right across from the Treasury building. I go to PNC and say, "Hi, I want to see if this check is fraudulent, it was made out to me, I am not attempting to cash it." Teller: "What do you mean by fraudulent?" Ummm....yes ladies and gentlemen, she was serious, she, a bank teller, did not know what the word fraudulent meant! I had to define it for her, fake, false, forgery, etc. Unbelievable! So, the fiasco ensued, they had no clue what to do, PNC does not have a fraud team, they are a worthless institution if you ask me. Anyway, I left disgruntled and took them a copy back the next day. From what I have seen so far, the Secret Service is the only watchdog group or govt agency with their act together on fraud, so I will send them the original check and emails and all to see if it helps.

Anyway, this should be a lesson for any of us with things on the web. If someone wants to buy something from a foreign country, especially Nigeria, and the email fits the format of being poorly spelled, all caps, or the like, with an offer to pay by check or cashier's check, be extremely cautious. Delete it, or, for fun, as many people have, play with the person and keep telling them you sent the items to different post offices so they have to go find them. Waste their time and lead them on, they deserve it. The good news is I didn't get scammed and lose money, but many people do and the banks and such are not paying attention!
For more on this, and similar stories, etc.:
http://www.fraudaid.com/ScamSpeak/Nigerian/counterfeit_check_fraud/ (not sure about this org, but has info on it.
http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=009KXI&tag=
photo.net thread on this subject
http://artdc.org/forum/index.php?topic=1978.0
artdc.org thread