Possible scam!

well persoanlly im paying a hell of alot in taxes already and i see alot of crap that should be done and it aint ... but the FBI and CIA have headquaters all over in various countries and if u think they dont then ur foolish ... but back to the point yes i want to see then send someone over and stop this cause i recieved an insurance check and thats fraud which in turn causes my insurance to go up due to fraud on insurance companies how do you think they recoupe their losses , just like when the governtment spends to much money they raise taxes for us to fix their screw ups i mean u wanna talk realistic lets hit this where it needs to be hit costs of insurance goes up every year due to lawsuits and fraud so why not nip some of it in the bud i mean considering this episode seems to be alot bigger then just 1 person this seems to be a group of people ... well i say find em and fry em cause im tired of my taxes and costs to pay for stuff constantly going up every year dont know bout the rest of ya

Hi,
I came across this on a dog breeders sight, and thought I remembered seeing something about it on the BOI. It sound a lot like what happened to some of you.

http://www.puppydogweb.com/beware.htm

You may have to copy and paste the address.

Lindsay Haskins

Hey everyone!!! New Scam! Same as other Nigerian scams. Person responded that she was an Australian Vet based in West Africa. Wanted my adult Dunn's and Macklot's. Said she was in charge of "A Project on Animals". That threw up warnings!! rather vague don't you think! Anyway she would have someone that owed her money in the states send me a cashiers check for 5,800.00 deduct my fees for the animals and the export. Foward the balance by Western Union to her. No questions on the fees or CITES or length of time it would take to send and complete the order. WATCH OUT!!!! Thanks Ray Goushaw Herpetological Breeding Research

I RECEIVED THE EXACT SAME E-MAIL----EVERY WORD WAS THE SAME EXCEPT FOR THE AMOUNT (WHICH WAS TO BE $2100) SENT TO ME FOR 11 MALE LEOPARD GECKOS WITH ABOUT $1500 RETURNED TO HIM VIA WESTERN UNION MONEY ORDERS.

FORTUNATELY, I NEVER RECEIVED A CHECK---YET.

THANKS FOR GIVING ME THE HEADS-UP RICHARD!

RODNEY MALMQUIST

I am not sure if this is the same scam but it sounds like it to me.I am would like to know what everyone thinks.
Here is the email i got from "John Smith" <animalshop88@yahoo.com>

I am an animal-pet trader from U.K.with clients all over Europe .I have offices in most Europian Cities.I am intrested in your pet and would want to know the firm price and mode of payment.In respect of shipping i have a reputable Shipping company with offices in the U.S that takes care of my shipping. Awaiting your urgent response.

Thanks,
Smith

Hi everyone,

Yes HARRY JAMES / MARTINS / FRED MARK is a scam artist.
He contacted me on 04/18/2003 about my male Suriname I had for sale. He proposed that a client of his in the U.S. owed him $2100, and he would like that client to send the money to me, I was to keep the money for the snake, and send the balance to him. He told me I should wait for the check to clear. It sounded fishy to me, so I checked out the board of inquiry and found out more about his scam. I decided to play along with him to see if there was something I could do to stop him. I asked him to send payment, and he sent a forged check from a bank in the U.S. I contacted the bank and forwarded the check to them, as they are working with the secret service to try and stop him. However, they stated that because it was an international fraud, there is not enough money to send someone over there to investigate this. I also contacted the FBI, who gave me the same response. They are basically just collecting info, in case this person is ever caught, in order to prosecute a case against him. I was hoping that I could do more, but apparently this type of thing is very widespread, and hard to stop.

Here are all the e-mails from him & my e-mail to him.

harry james <harryjames_ent@yahoo.com> Friday, April 18, 2003 6:51 PM

HELLO.

Am a dealer in africa who buy snakes and artiques for sale. Am interested in your "Spot" Male Suriname Boa, Born 1/98 3 ft long. I will want to know the price quotation. In respect of shipping, i have a reputable shipper in the u.s who takes care of my shipping. Pls mail me asap to arrange payment. Thanks.

M.MARTINS

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

McCarthy Boas <mccarthyboas@attbi.com> wrote:

Hi M Martins,

I will need the shipping address to get you a price on shipping the male Suriname "Spot" for you. I don't have a importer / exporter license so will your shipper be able to take care of all the paper work for shipping the Suriname to you?

The Suriname is tame, healthy and eats 1 medium frozen thawed rat every 14 to 18 days.
Here are some recent pictures of him.
<img src="http://www.mccarthyboas.com/Spot03_11_2003_02.JPG">

<img src="http://www.mccarthyboas.com/08_11_2002InCage01.JPG">

To help you get a idea on his size I am 6' 2" tall and 260 lbs. in this picture.

<img src="http://www.mccarthyboas.com/09200200Spot02.JPG">

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

harry james <harryjames_ent@yahoo.com> Sunday, April 20, 2003 10:00 AM

HELLO.
Thanks for the mail. As for the shipping, my shipper will take care of both the paper work and the shippment so you should not worry about the shipping. All yoou have to do is to furnish me the price quotation. Hope to hear from you. Thanks.
M.MARTINS.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
harry james <harryjames_ent@yahoo.com> Monday, April 21, 2003 9:33 AM

HELLO.

Thanks for the mail. In respect of payment. I have a client in the u.s who is oweing me $2,100 all i will do is to instruct him to issue a cashiers check on your name and when it clears in your bank you can deduct your money and help send my balance via u.b.a. money gram transfer to my secetary, he will use it to pay a prepay shipping cost to the shipping company so that they can instruct thier office in the u.s to come to your location and pick it for shippment. I will like to know if i can trust you to help send my balance. Am doing this to make the payment easier and faster.

Furnish me with your name, address and phone number so that i can forward it to my client who will be sending the check for payment. Thanks.

M.MARTINS.

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

McCarthy Boas <mccarthyboas@attbi.com> wrote:

Hi M Martins,

I will need the shipping address of your shipper in the USA to get you a price on shipping the male Suriname "Spot" to him.

I have shipped reptiles to NYC for $65.00 and Seattle Washington for over $80.00.
So I need his address to get the right price for shipping.

I am firm on the price of $450.00 US. for the male Suriname.

Thanks
Tom McCarthy
www.McCarthyBoas.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

McCarthy Boas <mccarthyboas@attbi.com> wrote:
Hi M. Martins

To be honest, I'm a little uncomfortable with this transaction. My main concern is for the well-being of Spot and shipping him all the way to Africa. If, for any reason, the package gets held up at the airport or in customs, etc., I don't think he will make it alive. I appreciate your interest, but I think I'm going to pass on this sale. I apologize for any inconvenience.

Thank you,
Tom
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
harry james <harryjames_ent@yahoo.com> Tuesday, April 22, 2003 6:26 AM

HELLO.
Thanks for the mail. I can assure you that the shippment will be o.k. This is not the first time am dealing with boas. I have been into this business for the past ten years and also i have been dealing with my shipper for the past seven years. The shipping will be o.k. All i want to know is if i can trust you with my balance. As for the shipping, don't worry. Hope to hear from you. Thanks.
M.MARTINS.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
McCarthy Boas <mccarthyboas@attbi.com> wrote:
Hi M. Martins,

I am an honest person, you can trust me with the balance, that's not the problem. I'm just concerned about the shipping. Will your shipper use an overnight service like UPS or FedEx, or do they ship the animals themselves? If it's overnight, GUARANTEED by early the next day, I'll agree to it.

Thanks,

Tom McCarthy
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Porter, Indiana 46304

I took out my address so it is not public info.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
harry james <harryjames_ent@yahoo.com>
Tuesday, April 22, 2003 5:33 PM

HELLO.
Thanks for the mail. Yea it's overnight. Since you said i can trust you to send my balance via u.b.a money gram, then i have already forwarded your address to my client and he as assure me that the check will soon get to you. So you should be expecting it soonest. If it's get to you, don't hesitate to mail me. Thanks.
M.MARTINS.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
harry james <harryjames_ent@yahoo.com>
Monday, May 05, 2003 2:25 PM

HELLO.

Thanks for the mail. I hope the check muct have gotten to you by now, cos my client told me that he as sent it four days ago. I will want you to get my balance sent via moneygram transfer to my secetary for him to forward it to the shipping company, for the shipping company to instruct their office in the u.s to come to your location and pick it for shippment. So therefore i will want you to get it ready for shippment. I will want you to go to any moneygram outlet where you can send my balance.



The information that you need to send my balance via moneygram is as follows.

name- FRED MARK.

address- 50 MAINLAND STREET, LAGOS ISLAND,

LAGOS- NIG.

I will need the following moneygram transfer information from you after the money as been sent.

(1) SENDERS NAME AND ADDRESS.

(2) AMOUNT SENT.

(3) TEXT QUESTION AND ANSWER.

(4) THE CONTROL NUMBER.

I will want to her from you as soon as possible. Thanks.

M.MARTINS.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
harry james <harryjames_ent@yahoo.com>
Wednesday, May 07, 2003 10:45 AM

HELLO.
I have not hear from you since the check got to you. I will want you to mail me and also i will want to have your phone number. Hope to hear from you. Thanks.
MARTINS.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

McCarthy Boas <mccarthyboas@attbi.com> wrote:

Hello

I'm sorry I haven't had a chance to get back to you, work has been very busy. I will try to make arrangements for your money transfer tomorrow. I'll email you with all the info as soon as I have it.

Thank you,
Tom
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
harry james <harryjames_ent@yahoo.com>
Wednesday, May 07, 2003 1:02 PM

HELLO.
Thanks for the mail. I will want you to go to any moneygram outlet where you can wire my balance. Here is the information you need to wire my balance via money gram once again
name- FRED MARK.

address- 50 MAINLAND STREET, LAGOS ISLAND,

LAGOS- NIG.

I will need the following moneygram transfer information from you after the money as been sent.

(1) SENDERS NAME AND ADDRESS.

(2) AMOUNT SENT.

(3) TEXT QUESTION AND ANSWER.

(4) THE REFERENCE NUMBER.

I will want to also have your phone number. I will be expecting your mail tommorow. Thanks.

M.MARTINS.

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

harry james <harryjames_ent@yahoo.com>

Thursday, May 08, 2003 7:20 AM

HELLO.
I will want to let you know that am waiting to have the moneygram informations after my balance has been sent. Hope to hear from you soon. Thanks.
MARTINS.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

harry james <harryjames_ent@yahoo.com>
Friday, May 09, 2003 5:57 PM

HELLO.
Thanks for the mail. My secetary said he has not seen the moneygram info yet. am still expecting the info. Mope to hear from you. Thanks.
MARTINS.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As of 06/18/2003 I have not received any more e-mails from Harry / MARTINS I guess he has given up on me sending him his money. LOL Funny how he never asked how the Suriname was doing.

Take care,
Tom McCarthy

Hello everyone,
You can add me to the list of people who some fine folks from Nigeria have tried to scam. I had no idea this thread existed until about an hour ago when I did a BIO search on Nigeria. On my earlier searches and inquiries I had been using the name(s) that the scammers had been using with no hits. I had never gotten any of these e-mails from Nigeria until a couple of weeks ago, so this whole thing has been a learning experience for me. Luckily, it's been a learning experience that has cost me nothing but my time. The following thread will tell of a similar tale to some of those posted here:

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...threadid=15685

Thanks for all the good reading and three cheers for PayPal,
Phil Frost
ZNJ Exotics

My sincerest apologies. I didn't mean to take you back to the begining of this thread. Here is the correct thread:

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...threadid=20294

It's getting late and I obviously need to go to bed.

Sorry about the mix-up,
Phil Frost
ZNJ Exotics

Originally posted by TheVipersHouse
well personally if it seems to be a legit cashiers check to protect yourself i would take it somewhere that cashes them and not to your bank to cash it cause unless you deposit it once its cashed it cannont fall back on you unless like i said u deposit it into your account .. if u just plain cash it and then it turns out to be fraud then the only people that will be held responsible is the bank it was drawn from and the account it is registered to to get the funds ...think of it as protection advice pay a few bucks and cash it at a check cashing facility that way it cannot come back to you cause if you deposit it and they add the funds to your account then it turns out bad and u spend the money they have the right to take the money back , but if u cash it away from your account only accountable people are the bank it was issued from and the person who requested the cashiers check from the start and if it is bogus then the bank that issued it has insurance coverage to take care of the probelm but you will have to choose your own path ...

I feel a need to address this. This advice is very wrong and will only bring a lot of trouble to the person following. Cashing the check away from your bank will in no way protect you from any liability. If the check comes back as fraud, the check cashing company has many avenues of recourse to re-coop their loss. They WILL sue you in civil court, they WILL send it to collections, they WILL add it to your credit report.

Originally posted by dragonfire
That was kinda my thought, but when I contacted the authorities they said that I first needed to show the check was not real, but the bank of issue believes their security measures are so great that it must be real. It's got a valid acct # and all
So I'm going to go for it, I don't see why not. Hell, at the very least, if they can't prosecute these guys in another country, maybe these people will get sick of the expense of sending all these bogus checks out, and not getting their $, they'll stop. I know it's asking alot, but ya gotta do what you can

Allison Brunner

You're playing with fire here. If you had cashed this check and kept the money, you could have been prosecuted for forgery and bank fraud. You knew or had reason to know the check was bad. This thread is all the evidence needed to show you should have known the check was a forgery. Think about this, what would a "Reasonable Person" do in this situation. Now, I read you did the checking with the bank but honestly, never trust customer service reps from banks. I work with the banks on a daily basis. They have absolutely no way of telling you if ANY check is a forgery. You have to talk with their fraud investigators to really determine if a check is legitimate or not. Cashiers checks, certified checks, ANY check, have been and are still being counterfeited all the time. Nothing is guaranteed safe or legetimate.

Originally posted by Spilotes
You won't "bury" anyone - they are immune to repercussions (effectively anyway). You don't have to wonder if maybe, just maybe, the check is good and the deal legit - it ain't. And it isn't "a guy", it's a company of sorts. Read the State Dept's info on these various scams.

I'm not sure what the bank will say if you do cash it and spend the money. I wonder if there is a limit on the amount of time they can ask you to re-pay them?

Joe Monahan

Actually they are not immune. The US Secret Service has a Nigerian Fraud Task Force with Agents stationed in Nigeria, working with the Nigerian Government actively pursueing and prosecuting these individuals. Alot of times, these individuals are here in the US and they are caught and prosecuted. The problem is, there are some many of them doing it. They are literally in a one room shack in the middle of the jungle some where with a PC doing nothing but sending out as many e-mails a day as they can. That makes it very hard to track them done, but they ARE being arrested and prosecuted, here and in Nigeria.