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 Post subject: Nigerian American Express Counterfeit Gift Cheque Fraud
PostPosted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 12:33 am 
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Joined: Sat Dec 30, 2006 8:58 pm
Posts: 29
Location: Canada
Hi all, I want to share my experience with you. I have fallen victim of a Nigerian American Express Gift Cheque scam. I know how some of you must be feeling like right now. We think how could I be so stupid. These scammers are so good, that its too late by the time you even realize that you have been a victim. My story is rather long but I wish to share it with you all and maybe help in preventing other to fall for the same fate as me. I hope you read it all and can learn from my experience.

It all started very innocently back in the summer of 2005 when I met a man called Frank Dominic on Zorpia.com web site. He contacted me for friendship and I accepted. Through out the last year and half, we become close friends and he was so sweet and caring. When he told me he was managing an orphanage in Nigeria, my heart went out to him as this is something that I could see myself doing. He talked about God alot and how he was blessed to have found me and how I was the perfect woman for him. My sweet Angel he called me. He even helped me in not accepting a proposition I received from a woman with breast cancer who wanted to donate her 6 million $ to me to give to charities back in June. So I thought he's a good man him in helping me out of that possible scam. So yes I have been almost scammed b4 this happened.

We chatted like this since 2005. In November of this year, he came to me with a proposition. He asked me if I would be willing to be responsible for the donations and cash cheques and send the money back to them and that this would make me feel good and the charity would be stronger and the orphans would benefit. I accepted without thinking twice as I trusted him. I did ask him why they cant cash them there and he made me believe that because of scams the banks wont cash travellers cheques. I received as promised 2 days later a package from UPS and in in were 5 American Express gift cheques with my name on them. $2500 in all USD. I then went to the bank to have them cashed and the tellers told me they would deposit the money into my account and would freeze my account for 5 business days. I agreed to that just to be on the safe side. 5 days later the money was unfrozen and I then went to withdraw the money and went to Western Union where I sent it back as promised. I thought to myself this went well. He received the money the same day. I actually felt good that I had done a good deed in helping those poor orphans. Frank then told me that they had received another big donation of $4500 and that they would send it to me once again. As promised, 2 days later I receive another UPS package with the cheques.

On the same day I received them, I was talking with Frank and he started to ask me if I would cash cheques that his uncle had sent him for his personal use but that he needed me to send him $20 in order to have them sent to me by the UPS guy. I told him that it would have to wait until the second batch were cashed first. He then asked me if I could send half of the money to the UPS guy and gave me the name and hotmaill address and if I could send the other half to himself. I started to have red flags right there. He then gave a 2nd msn so we could talk more privately about this without the charity knowing what he was planning. I added the 2nd msn to my contact list. And I felt that I was talking to 2 different ppl. I decided to wait to cash these new cheques and made up any excuse I could and let it drag for almost 3 weeks.
Well im glad I did go with my gut feeling because yesterday I received a call from my bank telling me that 3 of the 5 cheques I cashed had been returned as counterfeit. I almost fell off my chair litterally. I told her where I got them and what I did with the money. She asked me how I was gonna repay that back. I was in shock and in a big mess and thought how could I be so darn stupid!!!
These cheques were so real that the tellers at the bank didnt even notice! I called the local RCMP and filed a complaint and while waiting for them to call me back,

I then went online and saw Frank on with his new id. I automatically started to tell him off etc...as I was so mad! Then he told me that this was not Frank I was talking to. Now I was confused. He introduced himself as Dotun a former coworker of Franks and that he was the one who was talking with me posing as Frank that day he asked me to cash the cheques from his uncle to create a diversion and make me aware that something was amiss and that this 2nd id was his and not Franks. He then told me that Frank was a fake and his real name is Falade Folarin, that there was no charity and no orphans. That Frank had been using the same cyber cafe and that he had seen Frank talking with me about the cheques the day I had cashed them and that's when he knew I had been scammed. Luckily for him Frank forgot to sign out of his msn and Dotun took the opportunity to come and talk with me to try to warn me of what was going on. He gave me very good information. The name of the cyber cafe, phone numbers etc. He said to believe him and that he wants to have him brought down. If this Dotun is honest, hopefully with his help I'll be able to shut this guy out of business. By this time, the RCMP returned my call and I told them what happened and they referred me to Phonebusters with my file number. I called them and gave them all the information and now I am waiting for news from them as they investigate my case.

I have spoken to Frank aka Falade Folarin today and played his game a bit and then told him about the cheques. He tried to smooth talk me into believing that these cheques were not a scam but sent unintentionally and that he is a victim as well..and that its the ppl who donated who scammed everyone. When I told him what I was going to do if he didnt comply, he told me he wanted to help me get my money back and needed to discuss with the other members. I sent him a copy of the cheques I scanned just so he could see that I am serious. He then came back and told me that he doesnt want to see me suffer and that they would send me back my money by tuesday or as soon as the banks reopened. I'll believe it when I see it of course. I have accepted the fact that I probably will never get my money back. He knows that I wont stop nor give up until justice is served. So I guess I will just have to wait and see what will happen.

If anyone reading this can help me, or has any tips to catch this guy, I would appreciate it. I hope that my story has helped in any way. Please feel free to message me and together WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE! Lets join together and fight!!Thanks and yall have a great night!!

Wendy LeBlanc
New Brunswick, Canada


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 9:21 am 
The largest denomination American Express Gift Cheques comes in is $100. Your bank should have known that.


I have seen maybe $5000 worth of these Gift cheques.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 4:17 pm 
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Site Admin/Co-Founder

Joined: Mon Mar 31, 2003 10:09 pm
Posts: 2921
SeaMaiden
Check out this section of the message board for additional places to report the scam
http://scamvictimsunited.com/phpBB2/vie ... ad58e59efa

Quote:
The largest denomination American Express Gift Cheques comes in is $100. Your bank should have known that.


If you choose to "fight" your bank that you should not have to pay back the full amount I would use this information from armac as part of your case of why they should have detected that the items were in fact counterfeit.

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Shawn Mosch
Co-Founder of http://ScamVictimsUnited.com
There is strength in numbers!

Share your story with the media and educate others about scams! Details here http://scamvictimsunited.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=6319
Sign our petition http://www.change.org/actions/view/crea ... s_programs
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 Post subject: thx for the info
PostPosted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 6:11 pm 
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Joined: Sat Dec 30, 2006 8:58 pm
Posts: 29
Location: Canada
thanks for the information shawn and armac..I will definitely fight with my bank...right now im in the red and anything that comes into my account, will be taken so I have no means to live until its cleared. I have been told to just have any money going into my account into another one. I am still waiting news from phonebusters. What should I do with the cheques I still have here, should I turn them over to the bank or the police? Thx again and thank god I found ScamVictimsUnited...have a great night!

~Sea~


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 7:24 pm 
Open yourself a new account elsewhere.

Call your financial institution, ask if they sell American Express Gift Cheques. If they do, ask them if why they cannot identify a counterfeit in a denomination that does not exist. You might contact a local TV station, your institution, if the bank sells AE products, does not have a very good training program.

That little bit of information may help them see things your way.


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 Post subject: Re: thx for the info
PostPosted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 12:04 pm 
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Site Admin/Co-Founder

Joined: Mon Mar 31, 2003 10:09 pm
Posts: 2921
~SeaMaiden~ wrote:
right now im in the red and anything that comes into my account, will be taken so I have no means to live until its cleared.


I KNOW how hard that is . . . we were there once too. We had an account at another bank, so we were able to have the direct deposit for our paychecks moved from going into the account that was in the red to the other bank so that we still had money to live off of. Like armac said, get yourself another bank account if you can. Then if you have any sort of direct deposit that goes into the old account, switch it to the new one. If you cannot get a new account I would recommend stopping any direct deposits and just cashing paychecks elsewhere for a while.

Quote:
What should I do with the cheques I still have here, should I turn them over to the bank or the police?


I would not give them to the bank. If you are going to contact local media I would hang on to them so that you can show the checks to them. You might want to write VOID or COUNTERFEIT on them. When you talk to media tell them what you have learned from armac about the fact that they do not make AE gift checks for over $100.

Personally, I would write a letter to the bank letting them know that you are fighting this because they should have known that the largest denomination American Express Gift Cheques come in is $100, so you feel that they are liable for the loss. Ask them to contact you ASAP to resovle this. Keep a record of every conversation that you have with any bank employee. If they do not agree to work with you, that is when I would let them know that you plan on taking this information to the local media.

_________________
Shawn Mosch
Co-Founder of http://ScamVictimsUnited.com
There is strength in numbers!

Share your story with the media and educate others about scams! Details here http://scamvictimsunited.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=6319
Sign our petition http://www.change.org/actions/view/crea ... s_programs
Follow our blog http://scamvictimsunited.wordpress.com/
Find us on Twitter, Facebook and more http://www.retaggr.com/page/ShawnMosch
_______________________________________________
Has this site helped you?
Buy us a coffee to say thanks ~ http://www.scamvictimsunited.com/donations.htm


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