Nigerian 419 Scam Artist Prey On Our Residents
Many months ago I had just sold a clients condo and she was looking for a place to rent; she called me one afternoon for my opinion on an offer she had received after posting an advertisement on Craiglist.com. She was really exciting and wanted to share it with me. She had received an email from a Washington businessman that had moved overseas. He had a beautifully furnished home in Seattle with a view. He said she could live there rent free if she would take care of the place, and perform one small task for him and his business. The task seemed harmless enough to her; she need only to receive checks that would come to the home from clients of his that still owed him money. Since he couldn’t cash the cashier’s checks overseas, he needed her to take the checks to her bank, deposit them, and wire her the money via Western Union. To her it seemed like a great deal!
Obviously I had to tell her it was a scam, and she refused to believe it! So I had her forward his email to me so I could show her. I set up an email account using a female name and sent him an email claiming to have received one from him (they send them in bulk so don’t know or care who received them).
It began like this (his spelling can be odd at times):
Me: “You had sent me an email back in march while I was looking around on craigslist.com about a place you have that you need someone to stay and take care of. Is it still available? I attached my pictures”
He wasted no time responding:
Scammer: “Thanks for the email. Nice hearing from you. Just to let you know that the House is still available. I appreciate that you are willing to do this. I will provide you with all other information you would need. As for the house you’ll be moving into, you will have to send me your recent contact address so i would send you the keys to the apartment. So this simply means that you would be moving in until you’ve gotten the keys and the necessary papers of the apartment. As to the process of cashing the payments, you would be receiving the payments on my behalf.
Which means the payment would be made payable to you (you’ll have to provide you full name as it would appear on the check. Once you receive that, you would go ahead and cash it. You would then deduct 10% of any amount you receive as your own payment, and send the balance to my associate via western union. I hope you fully understand this now. Again you can stay in the apartment for as long as you want to. You wont have to pay any rent or any bills. I would take care of that myself. So please provide all the details required (full name and contact address) so the necessary papers and keys to the apartment can be sent. I will also notify you when you would be receiving the first payment which will serve as a test for you. Have a lovely day.”
Frank Berry
I became a bit intrigued by the prospect of “scamming the scammer” so I decided to play it all the way out in order to prove to my client such emails were merely a ploy to take her money. So I’ll simply post the sequence of emails here for you:
Me: “Frank, I’ve not heard from you in awhile nor received any payments. Is everything okay?”
Scammer: “Am so sorry for not getting back to you on time. Have been terribly busy for sometime now. Just a quick note let you know that one of my clients will do make a payment to you this week. I will want you to do get back to me once you do receive it so that other necessary arrangement can be concluded on time and i will do also like to know when you will be ready to move into the apartment. Get back to me with an update. Thanks so much”
Frank Berry
Me: “Oh thank God, I didn’t know what had happened to you and I’ve already given notice to my landlord I would be moving out. I’ll take care of the check as soon as it arrives, but what about the keys to the house? Where is the house? You haven’t even given me a chance to go look at it. It’s seems unfair to be “putting me to work” prior to your keeping your end of the deal. Your ad said you would overnight the keys to the person that was interested in the deal. You have not done so. So please don’t expect me to process too many checks for your prior to receiving the keys. Fair is fair.”
Scammer: “How are you doing? Just a quick update to let you know that one of my clients has sent a payment of $3000 to you via ups with the tracking number 1Z476R1F0198984383.I will want you to get back to me with an acknowledgement once you do receive it so that other necessary arrangement can be concluded on time. The keys of the house will also be sent out to you on Monday with other necessary documents. I wait to hear from you soonest. Thanks so much
Frank Berry
Me: “Well Frank that’s wonderful and all, but dear lord I’ve waited for more than two weeks to hear from you regarding this home you have and keys your supposedly sending. What kind of person does business in this manner? It’s been about a month since you first claimed you were sending me keys! Now, still with no keys, I’m expected to process your checks? I think I’ll require more than 10% for this service since you obviously have no home in Washington. How many checks will be arriving?”
Scammer: Am so sorry for not getting in touch with you all this while. Once you cash the payment, I will like you to do follow the detailed instructions below in getting the remaining funds remitted to the benneficiary information below in Ukraine once you have the Cash. You are entitled to 15% of the total amount on the check for your effort. You are to wire the remaining funds less western union money transfer fee to the beneficiary below via western union money transfer in any western union outlet closer to you. Here are the details of our beneficiary to whom the funds will be wired across to via western union money transfer in any of their outlets closer to you.
Name: SODADE O.ENIOLA
Address: 50 LET LUGANSK, UKRAINE 91045
For your conveniency the transfer can be done in any of these western union outlets below:
(ABOUT 5 WESTERN UNION OUTLETS WERE LISTED)
I’m aware of western union transfer fee in getting the funds across; do deduct it from the balance left with you. Once the transfer has been done, you are to get back to me with the details of the transfer in the format below:
-Sender’s Name and Address
-Money transfer Control Number {10 digits}
-Total Amount Sent after deduction of western union charges
-Test Question and Answer
I appreciate your trust and transparency and i look forward reading from you.
Frank Berry
Me: “Okay, that’s fine and all. You said the keys would be here Monday, right? Also, I thought you said the money I was collecting was for you, and you lived in Switzerland?
Anyway Frank, I’ve attached a few picture of myself so you’ll know me when we meet. I’m assuming that since I’ll be living in your house you’re going to stop in and visit sometimes.”
(This next post was merely a reprint of a previous one he had sent)
Scammer: I will like you to do follow the detailed instructions below in getting the remaining funds remitted to the benneficiary information below in Ukraine once you have the Cash. You are entitled to 15% of the total amount on the check for your effort. You are to wire the remaining funds less western union money transfer fee to the beneficiary below via western union money transfer in any western union outlet closer to you. Here are the details of our beneficiary to whom the funds will be wired across to via western union money transfer in any of their outlets closer to you.
Name: SODADE O.ENIOLA
Address: 50 LET LUGANSK, UKRAINE 91045
Me: “But Frank, I still don’t have the keys to the home you’ve been promising me. What’s the address of the home so I may at least go and look at it?”
Scammer: “What is needed is your trust. This payment is actually serving as a trial test for you. Once the transaction is completed we can discuss about your moving into the house.”
Frank
Me: “Frank, we have a business arrangement, hence, an agreement. I have no time for silly games. I’ve trusted you; I’ve trusted that you were a man of your word. You said on several occasions the key would be here Monday along with the required papers. Monday came, and Monday went, and no keys arrived. Now I’ve asked for an address for this home you have claimed to own, yet you can provide no address, and certainly no keys. Then, you have the nerve to speak of trust, and that I am being “tested”. This isn’t some type of school game Frank, this is business.
You requested that I provide you a service as part of an exchange agreement to live in your home, rent free. Yet, it’s been close to one month since you made this agreement with me and you have yet to provide one bit of information regarding this home, its location, or the keys to enter it. What you have managed to do is have your business associate send me what you’ve described as a check, and it’s not a check. It’s as good as cash, but not a cashier’s check. It came with no invoice, no bill, and no receipts.
You said you live in Switzerland, and you are a jeweler. You said you needed me to collect legitimate debt for your company and forward the money to YOU. Now it appears there is no home, no free rent. Now you want me to wire money to the Ukraine. How am I to know that you’re not merely using me to send money to terrorist?
You will need to send me some documentation as to who you are, and something that proves the existence of your business. I’m not going to act as the unwitting middleperson to transfer money from America to Al Quida. Send proof of these things and I’ll wire all the money you want. That’s your trust test Frank.”
Scammer: “Let me start by letting you know that Ukraine is an European country and not a middle East country like you stated. I also find it funny that $3000 will be able to fund terrorism. Its abvious that you are only finding excuses of keeping the funds. Guess i shouldnt have trust you enough with my funds. I will want you to do go ahead in transferring the funds after deducting 15% across o the beneficiary information i provided .Thats the only way we can resolve all this.”
Frank
Me: “I will send 100% of the funds at my own expense within one hour of receiving the address of the home that you own. I don’t even want the keys, just an address of the home, and any home for that matter that you own. I would think that a simple address would be worth $3,000!
I know one thing about the Ukraine, it isn’t Switzerland Frank. You have my address, why would you not give yours? What type of business are you in that you cannot provide one shred of documentation that verifies you are who you say you are, and that you have a home in Seattle? What is so freaking difficult that you would prefer to not receive the cash I have of yours; as opposed to providing such basic information?
As you can see below Frank, Washington Property Tax records clearly indicate you own no home in Washington State. Thus, you lied to me Frank. Again, it’s ironic you feel I’m the dishonest one in this situation. I will do as I promised, upon your delivery of what you promised. At this point I’m not even asking for a key, just an address. You can’t do it can you? For three grand you can’t come up with a lie to cover your other lie! How sad.
Give me the address, I give you the MCN.
End of Scam
Frank Berry vanished after that entire diatribe and I was able to show my client that indeed there was no home, no keys, no jeweler, and no money. Although it may seem to some of you like I took it a little far, it simply made me very angry that my client was going to be victimized eventually by one of these types a scam artist if I didn’t prove to her it was indeed a con. The bank confirmed for her that the money orders sent (actually were Visa Traveler Checks) were fakes.
Since then I’ve engaged dozens of these con artist in various amusing exchanges and received thousands and thousands in fake cashier’s checks, money orders, and traveler’s checks. I send them running to Western Union with equally fake MCN numbers (issued by Western Union when you wire money).
There are a variety of such scams Washington residents fall prey to. Another such scam involves residents attempting to rent out homes or rooms. In my next blog I’ll show you how that plays out. It is my hope that by writing this, at least one person out there will be saved from falling for this scam. I see people on TV constantly crying about how they have lost thousands and now owe the bank or face jail time.
You see, if you send the money from the first check, you will receive a check every day until the bank calls you and says those checks have been determined to be fraudulent. The bank has to make the funds available by law when you deposit cashiers checks, but it takes up to two week for the fraud to be discovered. Often the check is real, but has been washed and the numbers changed, so it confuses the computer which rejects it and it’s then researched by a bank employee and determined to be altered. By then, many people have sent over $15,000 to the scammer, and their money will never be seen again. It’s truly sickening.
To see a few fake checks I’ve received thus far, visit this link:
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