Scammers Posing as Buyers
They want to buy something from you, pay with a check and have
you "Western Union" the excess money
Example scams using these names: Kaka Smith, England
If you have something to sell, there is a scammer calling
him/herself "Kaka Smith" in England waiting for you. It doesn't matter
whether you own a business, a website, or are just selling something via a
classified advertisement. If they think they can con, they will try. The
scam is basically passing a counterfeit check to you to cash, then have you wire
the money via an irretrievable, untraceable method (Western Union MoneyGram) to
them or their cronies, who are located in a different country from you.
How does the scam work?
The scam works because banks take days or weeks to clear checks,
and since the checks are forged based on real accounts (usually from checks
stolen from people's mailboxes), your bank will cash it, based on funds already
in your account. By the time it bounces, the scammer has collected the
money from Western Union, and has disappeared into the woodwork in another
country (usually Nigeria).
And he gets away with it because what law enforcement agency in
your country is going to go to Nigeria to hunt down a small time con man who
gave you a fake name and address?
Similarly, the names given, in this case, Kaka Smith
may be the name of real people who are unaffiliated with the scam. But
he's probably in Nigeria, not England. He probably has a confederate (assistant)
in the UK who acts as a money mule. They
may even be the names of real employees of the companies - the scammers can
easily get their names by walking into an office, showroom, or from a company's
website. Again, if someone tells you he is "Kaka Smith", you want to ask, how can
you verify that he is this person? Driver's license is a start, but these can be
forged, too.
See this page for more
information about and other examples of this type of scam.
An actual email that illustrate this type of CraigsList scam:
We may highlight passages that
illustrate typical scam clues:
Email - from the victim, tell CFR about the scam, February 20, 2008
I would
like an e=mail address where I could send a whole folder with several files
in it (for investigation). It is correspondence originally between Kaka Smith and myself. Then
the name changed. They ended up sending me a check for $3,800.00 when my
merchandise was a total of $541.13.
The remainder, they wanted me to forward
balance by western union after taking out $70.00 for my inconvenience to a
shipping company. The e-mails are several over several days but I have kept
them all. I have sent the original check to the Missouri Attorney General's
office after talking to the Marionville Police Dept. in Marionville, MO. I
took the check to Great Southern Bank and they informed me it was fraud. I
then notified ZZZZZZZ.com where I had my merchandise listed. Then I
sent a copy to the San Diego State University that the check was written on
to the Comptroller's Office. Then a copy to the Wells Fargo Bank Corporate
Offices. Then I got an e-mail saying they were going to turn me in to the
FBI for fraud that I was suppose to send their money. Well it takes more
than an hour to get money in your bank anyway but I did not deposit it. So
I forwarded their e-mail to the Kansas City, Mo FBI office and made a copy
of the check also for the Lawrence County Prosecutor's Office. The guy said
he could not come to my store because he was in England. Please e-mail me
and let me know what else I can do to stop this guy. I have saved all of
the e-mails to him and from him. I want to protect myself and others. Help
me do this please. Thank you very much. I also need to contact someone in
England and whoever else you think. This guy needs to get stopped prior to
him continuing with this practice.
First email from the scammer after the initial contact:
Date: February 19, 2008
From: Smith Kaka [
smith_kaka080@yahoo.com ]
Subject: urgent needed
Hello,
How are you doing today,how was you night been?How is
work,working hard?I am really sorry for not getting back to you asap;i was
out of town and got back late...I am getting you in letting you know that
the check will be getting to you TODAY thru UPS;kindly keep an eye out for
it...I have gotten to my shipper also so he can contact you with some
details and instruction on how to complete this transaction asap...Please
kindly note again that the check will be getting to you TODAY thru UPS and
let me know minute after you receive it...I want this to be completed asap
and would also be getting back to you with details and the shippers
information for the transfer of the shipping funds to the shipping co.rep...I
will get back to you later today...Hope to read from me then.I do appreciate
your trust,patience and honesty.Stay blessed and i await to read from you as
soon as you have the check.Here is the tracking number to the
check(j2094923096)
Regards;
Second email from the scammer:
Date: February 20, 2008
From: Smith Kaka [
smith_kaka080@yahoo.com ]
Subject: urgent needed
as soon as you receive this payment kindly western
union the remaining money to:
you will western union the remaining money to:
Name: Kelvin Alan
Address: The Barracks, Barwell
City : Leicester
Zip: LE9 8EF
Country : United Kingdom
as soon as you western the money kindly get back to me
with all this info from western union.
1.MTCN NUMBER
2.EXACT AMOUNT SENT AFTER WESTERN UNION CHARGES.
3.NAME AND ADDRESS FOR PICKUP.
GET BACK TO ME WITH ALL THIS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE
Third email from the scammer:
Date: February 20, 2008
From: Smith Kaka [
smith_kaka080@yahoo.com ]
Subject: urgent needed
i call you yesterday concerning the payment you
received via ups.go and cash the payment and deduct your money from it plus
additional 70dollars added for your effort and patience and send the
remaining money to this shipper information. you will send the remaining
money to them via western union money transfer and get back to me with all
this info.
1.MTCN NUMBER
2.EXACT AMOUNT SENT AFTER WESTERN UNION CHARGES.
3.NAME AND ADDRESS FOR PICKUP.
you will western union the remaining money to:
Name: Kelvin Alan
Address: The Barracks, Barwell
City : Leicester
Zip: LE9 8EF
Country : United Kingdom
GET BACK TO ME WITH ALL THIS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. as soon as shipper receive
this money western union, they will come for the pickup of the item.
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