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The majority of the common, and some not so common, fraud schemes have one thing in common.  The fraudster requests that you (their victim) wire some money to them.  If you remember ONE thing always remember that once you send wired money – you will NEVER get it back!!

There are many variations of fraud schemes that can generate from the idea that the fraudster will profit, from their scheme, by making you (their victim) wire them their money by some ruse or false story.  The majority of these fraud schemes can be broken down into two basic catagories:

ADVANCE FEE FRAUD
FALSE EMPLOYEMENT FRAUD

ADVANCE FEE FRAUD

There are a number of variations from the ADVANCE FEE FRAUD basics – so instead of confusing anyone on a specific scheme (which we will cover) let us first understand the basic elements of the ADVANCE FEE FRAUD scheme.

The fraudster will enter into some kind of agreement or situation, with the victim, where in the agreement the fraudster will need to send the victim funds (for the sale of goods, for the winning of a lottery, for the agreed price of a future service).  When the victim receives the agreed upon funds (in the form of a check or money order) the amount of the funds is well above the agreed upon price.

The fraudster will either send a correspondence with the check or money order(s) or contact the victim after the funds are delivered (in some cases the fraudster warns the victim that more funds are coming).  The fraudster will explain a story of why there are more funds than the original agreed upon price (the context of the story is not important only that they WILL HAVE an EXPLANATION).  The fraudster will ask the victim to take out the agreed upon price (sometimes even instructing them to keep a little more for their “trouble or inconvenience”) and then wire them the remaining funds for whatever reason they elect to tell you (again the details are not important only that they WILL HAVE an EXPLANATION).

This is the premise for the name ADVANCE FEE FRAUD scheme – the fraudster will send you some type of ADVANCE of extra money for a FEE, sales or purchase and they will “trust” and play on the victim’s internal want to “do the right thing” and fulfill the idea of trust.

The trouble is that the check or money order(s), that are sent, are COUNTERFEIT.  Once you cash these checks or money order(s) – you are responsible for the funds that are turned over to you.  Your knowledge of the counterfeit nature of these instruments may be important when deciding to CRIMINALLY charge you with FORGERY or FRAUD; but it is of no consequence when the bank, or merchant, (where you cashed the COUNTERFEIT check or money order(s)) CIVILALY attempts to recoup the missing funds (ALL OF THE MISSING FUNDS) from you.  Every bank (or merchant) will win EVERY law suit in these matters against you for FULL RESTITUTION.

Variations of ADVANCE FEE FRAUD schemes involve the following elements:

• The sale of goods and/or services on online auctions
• The sale of goods and/or services in newspaper classifieds

EXAMPLES:

1. A woman was advertising piano lessons in a local newspaper.  The woman received a telephone call from a man who stated that he was from out of state and his “grandson” lived in the area of the instructor.  The “grandfather” stated that he wanted to purchase a year’s worth of lessons for his “grandson’s” birthday.  The instructor and the “grandfather” agreed on the price for one year’s worth of lessons.  The “grandfather” sent the instructor a check that included the agreed upon rate as well as an extra $2,000.  The “grandfather” said that he wanted to put the extra $2,000 in the “grandson’s” college fund; but could only get one cashier’s check printed from his bank.  The “grandfather” asked the instructor to keep the agreed rate (for the one year’s worth of piano lessons) and wire him the $2,000 so he could put that money in the college fund.  The check was COUNTERFEIT.
2. A man sold a car on eBay.  The highest bidder won the car for $5,000.  The man received a check, from the buyer, for $10,562.00.  The buyer contacted the seller and told him that he could only get one loan from his bank and in his loan he needed to cover the cost of the car and the fees for a shipping company to come pick up the car and deliver it to him (at is far away location).  The buyer stated that shipping costs would be $5,362.00 so he wanted the seller to cash the check, keep the $5,000 for the car and also keep an extra $200 for their trouble and inconvenience.  The buyer then asked the seller to wire him the remaining funds, so he could pay the shipper, and someone would come and pick up the car as soon as the transaction was complete.  The check was COUNTERFEIT.
3. A girl, in college, had graduated and she was moving over 200 miles away from campus to start her new career.  The girl thought that it would be less expensive (in the long run) to sell all of her furniture and simply buy new furniture when she got to her new home.  The girl placed an online classified add on her college website and was contacted by a perspective buyer within an hour of her post.  The buyer offered to pay the girl an agreed upon amount and the girl told the buyer where he could pick up the furniture.  The buyer informed the girl that he lived three states away and that he would have to have the furniture shipped by a moving company.  The buyer told the girl that he would send a check that would cover the sales price and shipping costs; he only requested that she wire him the money, above the purchase price, so that he could arrange for the shipping company to come get the furniture off of the girls hands as soon as possible.  The check was COUNTERFEIT.

Nigerian Advance Fee Fraud Sample Letter Gallery I
Nigerian Advance Fee Fraud Sample Letter Gallery II

United States Department of State - Nigerian Advance Fee Fraud Guide
Federal Trade Commission - Nigerian Advance Fee Fraud Information

FALSE EMPLOYMENT SCAM

Everyday people, around the world, use the Internet to log into job search web sites and attempt to advertise themselves as beneficial future employees to businesses looking for future staff.  These online job search web sites are also the feeding grounds for fraudsters to seek out their next meal.  The average Joe thinks that they are presenting themselves as a good employment commodity; when to the fraudster they look more like fresh meat looking for extra money and they have the ruse to hook them.

The basic principles of the Advance Fee Fraud Scheme still stand with False Employment Fraud:

NEVER WIRE MONEY TO SOMEONE YOU DO NOT KNOW!!!

The unsuspecting victim usually receives an email from a possible employer (the fraudster) who has seen their posts, resume, or account on one of the many job search web sites.  The fraudster owns, operates and/or manages some type of business that periodically receives their payment via some type of money order (United States Postal Service, Walmart, Money Graham, etc).  The fraudster explains that their company periodically receives payment via these money orders and no banks, in their area (usually outside of the United States), is able to cash these instruments.  The fraudster wants to hire the unsuspecting victim to be a payment processor.  The actually details change from scam to scam but the underlying frame (explained above) usually holds true with all variations.

The fraudster explains that they want to hire the victim to receive all of the different kinds of money orders, that the business receives but cannot cash, and the victim will need to cash these instruments and wire the money back to the home office.  The victim will keep a portion of the total funds from all of the instruments they cash (usually 10%) and then wire the remaining balance to the home office.

The scam works like this – the money orders are counterfeit and when the victim cashes them they become civilly responsible for the funds that they generate.  When the victim wires the money to the fraudster – the money is gone forever once the wire is sent.  The victim becomes civilly responsible for the missing funds and in some cases law enforcement investigations list them as suspects involved in felony crimes. 

One of the “Golden Rules of Fraud Prevention” will ALWAYS keep someone safe from this scam:

NEVER WIRE MONEY TO SOMEONE YOU DO NOT KNOW!!!

There is a variation of this scam that are worth noting.  In some situations the fraudster could extend an offer of employment to the victim and ask them to fill out and send back an application or employee information sheet.  That application or employee information sheet will include questions about name, date of birth, social security number and even bank account information for direct deposits of “bonus checks”.  Once the victim sends in these items their identity is available to be compromised at the fraudster’s leisure.

To locate more information pertaining to counterfeit money orders and/or this type of scam – click on one of the below links:

Western Union Fraud Information
United States Postal Money Order Information
Monster.com Fraud Information