Thomos Gary/Tobi Martins: BAD GUY

[Phil]

Just wanted to warn everyone about someone who tried to purchase some snakes from me with a bad cashier's check. Luckily, I was suspicious of the check and immediately called the bank it was drawn on and they confirmed that it was indeed a forged check. So the bright side is I didn't send any snakes or make a fool of myself at my bank trying to cash a bad check. The person who sent me the check has since disappeared (surprise, surprise), but here is the information I have:

Name: Thomos Gary or Tobi Martins
Address: 23 Association Ave.
Ilupeju Estate
Lagos, Nigeria 2341
Phone: 011-234 (802) 358-1860
E-mail: [email protected]

Additionally, the check was sent Fed-ex from Poyle, England by someone using the name Sandy Crane with an address in Maryland that does not exist.

Here's the best part-This person claimed they had a shipper here in the U.S. that would take care of all the shipping arrangements. A day before the check arrives they ask me to cash it and wire the leftover balance to their shipper (the address listed above). I tell my wife this whole thing sounds fishy, but she tells me I'm paranoid (which I am). Then they send me a $4,000 check for $250 worth of snakes! Obviously, as soon as I saw the check and the amount I knew it was a scam. After talking with the bank I e-mailed this person to let him know that I was an ex-cop and that even I am not THAT STUPID. He denied any knowledge of this so I asked him for his phone number and tried to call him without success. He said he would call the bank and get back to me. A week has gone by and nothing. My wife wants me to frame the check and put it up in our snake building. I'm torn between that and turning it over to the proper authorities.

Phil Frost
ZNJ Exotics

 

[TNS Reptiles]

I had the same guy do something to me, but his name was Gary Williams. His e-mail was [email protected]. Same scam he tried to buy one of my albino balls doing that and some other things. I've already spoke to the Police about this and they say their looking into it. Nigeria is apparently a hot spot for this type of thing.

Mike Brooks

 

[Corey Sawyer]

The feds just tell you to destroy the check. They will tell you its a crime to keep it but they dont want it.

 

[Phil]

Interesting

Mike,

Thomos Gary, Gary Williams....interesting.
He might be dumb, but at least he's smart enough to change names. Explains why my search and inquiry on "Thomas Gary"
got no replies. So lets add another name to the ones (we know of) that he's used thus far in his little scam:
Thomos Gary
Sandy Crane
Tobi Martins
Gary Williams
I noticed from your post that his screen name was the same, only he was using yahoo in the UK back then. The check was sent from England so I wonder if this person is actually in England
and just uses a bank account in Nigeria or if he has a partner?
The snakes he inquired about were posted on several sites, so I don't know which site he saw them on.

Be careful,

Phil Frost
ZNJ Exotics

 

[DThomas]

I have been reading these forums for sometime now and just got around to registering because I really felt a need to reply to this thread.

A little background about myself first. I am a fraud detective in AZ and have been so for the past couple of years.

These Nigerian counterfeit checks are VERY common. They troll classifieds and send these counterfeit checks to purchase just about anything. Usually, they send the check with a couple thousand extra in it and ask you to wire the difference back to them. They could care less about the merchandise and just want the money. Your bank then holds you responsible for the entire amount of the check and the bank WILL take it out of your account. They will not provide fraud protection for you since you are the one that deposited the check.

My advice is to not do business with anyone from Nigeria. The individuals that have been caught have said their goal is the destabilization of the US economy. Do report any incidents like these to either your local police depart or the US Secret Service. DO NOT DESTROY THE CHECKS! The USSS has a Nigerian Fraud Task Force that is activiley investigating these crimes and have arrested many of these individuals. If you have any other questions about this or any other fraud activity, please feel free to ask.

 

[Phil]

No no to Nigeria

Thanks for the information Dennis. I had no idea that Nigeria was such a hotbed for criminal activity. Live and learn.

Phil Frost
ZNJ Exotics

 

[cyberfrog]

LoL, the nigerian schemes crack me up. Anyone gotten the nigerian inheritance email scam? I get it all the time. They have between 12 and 25 million dollars, they need a safe place to move it, and 10% is all yours if you just fork over all your bank information, lol. Sad part is 2 people have been killed from getting deep enough into that scam to actally go to Nigeria.

 

[DThomas]

I've gotten a couple of those e-mails myself. Those are very popular also. You'd be surprised how many people fall for those and have their bank accounts drained. Greed overwhelms their common scense.

 

[Phil]

My Nigerian Education

OK, so now I'm finally getting educated on this whole Nigeria thing. Apparently the names I posted mean nothing as this is big business in Nigeria, so obviously the names change from scam to scam. When I did my search on the BOI I got zero hits with the name (Thomos Gary) this person was giving me at the time. I then posted an inquiry and got no response because he had probably never used this name before. IF I had been SMART ENOUGH to do a search/inquiry on Nigeria I would have hit the jackpot as there is numerous threads on Nigerian scams.
Example:
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15685
The above listed thread (as well as others) talks of scams very similar to the one my Nigerian friend tried to pull on me. If I had been reading the BOI regularly three months ago I might have been alerted to this whole thing as well as warnings that state unequivocally to NOT DO BUSINESS WITH ANYONE FROM NIGERIA.
Luckily, I didn't lose anything, but sadly others have posted that they have only to be ridiculed for admitting to it (talk about kicking someone when they're down).
So, thanks to Dennis and others I've now been enlightened about doing business with individuals who hail from Nigeria.
The sad part about this whole thing is that as an ex-cop I'm already the paranoid sort, and after this I will probably be even more paranoid when it comes to dealing with people who I've never heard of (especially if they reside outside the U.S.). I truly hope that I don't end up offending any good honest folks in any future dealings, but fear that I might.

And as a final note, there's an adage that says "practice makes perfect". Apparently this scam has been going on for quite sometime and maybe these individuals are getting better at it. If I had known that I was going to receive such a large check I would have surely stopped the transaction as I was already suspicious of the whole thing. Maybe they've learned that telling you how much they're going to send you scares most people off. Perhaps they've learned that it's better to wait until you've received the money and take their chances.

Best wishes,
Phil Frost
ZNJ Exotics