Internet Scam Victims - Real Stories

When I first became a scam victim I was embarrassed and did not want anyone to know . . . that lasted all of 5 minutes and then I was angry at so many things . . . the scammers for their greed, the banking system for not giving me accurate information about how long it takes for a cashier's check to clear, the wire transfer company for not having more warnings about these scams in their businesses and for turning a blind eye to the problem.

That is when I KNEW I had to do something.  I started to contact the media in order to get our story out there, and you know what . . . it HELPED!  It helped me to talk about it and get it out there, but it also helped so many other people.  My phone was ringing off the hook from people saying "The same thing happened to me" or from people who heard our story in the media in time for them to know the situation they were about to enter into was a scam and it saved them thousands of dollars.

If you are a scam victim, you could do the same thing for someone else.  I am contacted by the media in a regular basis asking for help in locating recent scam victims who would be willing to share their story.  Wouldn't it be wonderful to know that you saved someone else from going through the living hell that becomes your life when you discover you are a victim of a scam.

If you would like to be able to help to educate people about scams and fraud, and possibly save someone from becoming a victim, please email me and I will work to connect you with a media person that will do your story justice and help us to take a step forward in educating people about these scams.

Also, you can connect with me and follow our updates from http://www.retaggr.com/page/ShawnMosch/

Survey

I put out the request for people to take a survey the other day, and it seems like there was a "glitch" in the system that would not allow some people to complete the survey.  I spoke with the person in charge of the survey and it has been fixed.  The survey can be accessed here.

http://survey.scamresearch.info//43356/lang-en

Warning for all who sell crafting items!

Here is one of those times where my two internet lives collide . . . I have my crafting blog and my scam education and awareness blog . . . and this topic will be posted on both of them.

I was made aware by a post on our scam fighting message board that recently several Stampin' Up demonstrators have received emails from people wanting to purchase items and pay with a cashier's check.  This is a scam that we have seen variations of for years on our website, and if the scammers are doing it to Stampin' Up consultants, it is only time before they start to target other places that sell crafting items.

The scammer will request to purchase items and send a cashier's check as payment.  If the check arrives, and it is for more than the amount of the items, the scammer will apologize for the error and ask you to deposit the check and wait for it to clear, and then wire the extra money back to them.  If the check is for the correct amount, once you have received the check and deposited it, the scammer will contact you letting you know that they need to cancel the order and will request that you return the money to them by wire transfer . . . they may even tell you to keep a portion of the money for your time and trouble.

If this situation matches one that you hear of, it is a scam.  The cashier's check will come back as counterfeit later on and you will be held liable for the entire amount of the check.  Just because the bank has told you that the check is "good", "clear" or "verified" does NOT mean that the money from that check is "real" and that you are safe . . . in most cases, in about a week or two, the bank will contact you and hold you liable for the money.  People have lost thousands of dollars due to these scams, and there is no way to recover this money because the scammers are in another country . . . it would have to be the law enforcement and government in that country that would have to do something about these scams.

To learn more about these and other scams, go to my website ScamVictimsUnited.com

Take a minute to remember others

With Thanksgiving over, and the Christmas shopping season in full swing we at Scam Victims United are asking you to remember others this year.  You can do this by sponsoring a family who has recently been hit with a counterfeit cashier's check scam, and make sure that the young children in that family still wake up with gifts under the tree.  We call this our Secret Santa Program, and if you are interested in being a part of it please contact Shawn. 

You can also help out by supporting Scam Victims United with a donation as small as the cost of a cup of coffee. 

Frustration, confusion, anger . . . the feelings of a scam victim

I just finished answering an email to a scam victim, and we were talking about the different feelings and emotions that come over a person who is a scam victim.  I wanted to share my email to that victim with you.  I don't really need to know the background on their story to understand my response to them.

I can relate to your frustration . . . I have been there!  Eight years ago at this time we were fighting our battle, and every time that I read the story of another person becoming a victim I am taken right back to the place I was when I found out that we lost thousands of dollars to this scam.  It puts you on an emotional roller coaster that you did not ask to get on . . . you were just thrown onto it. 

 At the time, I did not want to hear anyone tell me that our case would not be investigated and that the criminal would not be caught.  That is part of the reason that I started our website . . . I needed to shout our story out to the world.  I needed to feel like someone heard me.  Then, as the years passed I started to learn how things work . . . the big picture . . . and it really disgusted me that so many saw this as the victim's problem.  WHY!?!?!  If someone would have broken into my house with a gun, would it still have been my problem and not a legal problem?  If I went to the bank and was told that a loan would have a certain interest rate, and I later found out that it actually had another would that be my problem?  So why is it that the bank can tell me one thing (the check is good) but when it comes back that it is counterfeit THAT is my problem and not an error that THEY need to resolve?

 I have been in the place where I feel like I am going crazy over this topic too.  Maybe that is why I felt like our website needed to have a message board also, so that people can share their stories and we can all help each other heal.  Yes, we have to move on, but I feel that being a scam victim changes us so that we move on but it is always a part of us, and those of us that feel the need to help others have to share our story in order to warn others.

 It is the emails from people like you that remind me why we did what we did . . . creating the website, telling our story, trying to bring awareness and attention to these scams.  I think that we have made some progress over the years, but there is still so much that needs to be done.  

If you agree with us that more needs to be done to raise awareness about scams and fraud, I encourage you to contact your law makers and ask them to create laws that will protect people from these scams.  Make the banks liable when they tell the banking customer that the checks are good, clear or verified.  Not only can you write your own letter, you can sign our petition . . . make YOUR voice heard!

LoveFraud ~ Raising Awareness

I wanted to share something from the Love Fraud blog with all of you . . .

I believe that raising awareness of sociopaths is one of the best things we can do to improve our world. Sociopaths are probably responsible for most of the ills in our society: crime, violence, neglect, abuse. Sociopaths with political power start wars. Sociopaths with economic power exploit workers, defile the environment, ruin companies and defraud customers and shareholders. Sociopathic parents cause untold pain for their children. Sociopaths who portray themselves as religious leaders cause incredible spiritual damage. The ways in which they wreak havoc appear to be limitless.

I agree with Donna, of LoveFraud.com

She is asking for people to take things to the next level, and she outlines her ideas and goals in a recent blog post.  Just like her, we at ScamVictimsUnited.com are looking to make a change.  We have a petition where we are asking law makers to do the right thing and change the laws to protect consumers.

Eight years . . .

Eight years ago this month my husband and I became victims of a counterfeit cashier's check scam when our bank told us that a cashier's check we received was good, clear, verified and that we would have no problems with it.  Off of that information, we went forward with a transaction.  One week later the bank contacted us to let us know that the check was counterfeit, and that WE were 100% liable for the money . . . even though they had told us it was good, clear and verified. 

It was this situation that brought us to create the website ScamVictimsUnited.com, where we warn people about scams, offer resources and advice, and allow people to talk with other victims on our message board.  In the first two years of our site being operational we helped stop over $2 million dollars from going into scams.

Now, you would think that eight years later things would have changed.  Some things have, but even today we see victims coming to our site who brought these checks to the bank and were told that they were good, clear or verified . . . sometimes by more than one bank employee . . . so the exact same situation that happened to us eight years ago is still happening to people today.

Until laws can be changed to hold the banks accountable for telling the customers that these checks are good, clear and verified and then later hold the bank customer liable when it comes back that they are NOT a true check, education is the best way we have to fight these scams.  

What can you do?  

Write to your law makers and tell them that you want to see banks held liable for releasing funds on checks that they have told customers are good, clear or verified, and then later reversed those words to hold the customer liable.  

Sign our petition to ask for stronger consumer protection laws.  If the banks are liable for the money lost, and not the customer, then they will change their practices and make SURE that every penny is accounted for before they release the money to the customer.

Contact your bank and ask them if you brought in a cashier's check for $4000, how long would it take to know you could use the money, with no worries about the check.  If their answer included terms like "clear", "good" or "verified' you may want to read the information we have on what these terms really mean, and then armed with that information you may want to speak to the bank manager about better education on counterfeit checks for his staff, or go and find a bank that already does understand these items and can therefore better protect you and your money.

Scammers pretending to be US Soldiers

I just got done reading an article about the increase of scams in which the scammers are pretending to be a US Soldier. Why do these scams continue to work so well? These scams play on the victims emotions.

As far as we look back at history, we can find stories of letters being sent from soldiers going to fight for their country or a cause back to someone that they care for. With the age of the internet, these letters are sent via email instead of traditional methods. Through these letters people feel connected and share stories, and the start to build trust and sometimes even deeper feelings for the other person. Now, add to this that many people want to do the right thing to help out a soldier who is fighting for our country and you add even more emotion to this stories and THAT is why they work so well.

This article does state that

The Army has received complaints from the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, Great Britain and elsewhere, with victims reporting losses from a few thousand dollars to $28,000 in one case, Grey said. The stolen identities have primarily come from soldiers and Marines, who have been deployed in the greatest numbers.

In response, the U.S. government has issued warnings, with its embassy in London going so far as to post online examples of fraudulent military papers used in scams.

The US Army released a warning about these internet scams which includes some red flags and warning signs to look for.  At Scam Victims United, we would recommend that you do not send money to anyone that you do not know personally.  If the first time that you came in contact with this person is via the internet, even if you have been speaking for months, remember that you do not really KNOW this person . . . you have no way of knowing who is really on the other end of the computer screen.

Non-Profits, Grants and Grant Writing

In August I attended the 36th Annual NOVA Conference and one of the workshops that I attended was on Grant Writing. It was a great workshop, but I left feeling overwhelmed. While Scam Victims United is an Non-Profit, our staff is very small . . . myself, my husband and a dedicated moderator basically sums things up. I guess when we started the process to become a non-profit I thought that it would open the doors to more opportunities, and we would easily be able to find grants to support our work, but finding and getting those grants is a lot of work. Add to that the fact that all of that legal talk sounds like "blah, blah, blah" or the adults from the Charlie Brown cartoons I watched as a kid, it is an uphill battle.

For those that know me, you know that does not mean I am not going to try . . . I just needed my day to vent about how hard it sometimes feels. Thanks for listening.

Minnesota Victims

I am looking for victims of internet crimes in Minnesota who would be willing to share their story with City Pages.  If you do not want your name printed, they are willing to respect that.

If you are a victim of any type of internet crime, I encourage you to come forward and share your story.  I know it is not easy . . . I am a scam victim also . . . but I do know how rewarding it is to know that you have helped save others from being a scam victim because your story gave them the information to protect themselves.

If you are interested, you can contact me through http://www.retaggr.com/page/ShawnMosch

NOVA - National Organization for Victims Assistance

I wanted to thank NOVA for the wonderful conference that they put on in Salt Lake City, Utah August 22nd through August 25th, and for having me as a presentor for one of the workshops.  My co-presentor was Denise Richardson of GiveMeBackMyCredit.com

Not only did Denise and I get the chance to share our personal stories of how we went from victim to Victims Advocate, we attended several other presentations and were able to meet some amazing people, and I will be sharing that information with you in the upcoming days.

Lawyer/legal help

We are looking for a lawyer who is willing to do some pro bono work for a small non-profit. If you know of anyone please contact us through http://www.retaggr.com/page/ShawnMosch

Things are getting busy

I wanted to thank all of you for following and reading this blog. It really helps keep me going to know that there are others out there that find this topic important.

I have some big things going on in the next couple of months, so I might not have as much time to blog as I used to, but I hope that all of you stay with me through this time. I would also like to open this up as a time when it would be wonderful to have some guest bloggers on this site. If you have your own website or blog about scams, fraud or consumer protection issues and would like to share what you do and why you do it with the Scam Victims United readers, that would be great. Or if there is a specific topic, like medical fraud or credit card scams that you would like to focus on that would also be something we could share here.

http://scamvictimsunited.blogspot.com/

http://scamvictimsunited.wordpress.com/

http://astore.amazon.com/scamvictimsun-20

Shop at Amazon

Do you ever shop on Amazon? I know that I do.

Did you know that when you shop at Amazon you can help support Scam Victims United? That's right! With ANY purchase you make at Amazon you can support Scam Victims United. All you need to do is go to Amazon through our special Scam Victims United link and then Amazon will know we referred you to them, and we will get credit for that. It is that easy!

It does not matter what you are buying, just go to Amazon through our link, and you help support us. If you are a regular Amazon shopper you might want to bookmark the link so that you can find it easily.

Scam Victims arrested - adding insult to injury

Being arrested can be one of the most frightening experiences for a person, but when you add that to being the victim of a scam, you can defiantly feel like you are on an emotional roller-coaster.


Most people know the saying "Innocent until proven guilty" but the scam victims that I have spoken with that have been arrested would say that they were seen as guilty until they could prove they were innocent. Why is this? Over the years some businesses and banking institutions have gotten better at detecting a counterfeit cashier's check or money order, but instead of warning the customer that the item is a counterfeit and that they are involved in a scam, they instead call the police into the matter and press criminal charges against the customer. These businesses and financial institutions will charge that the customer was aware that the document was counterfeit and that they were trying to defraud them . . . basically, that they were in on the scam. Most times the customer is truly an innocent person who really believed that the cashier's check sent to them was good, or was only going to the bank to ask them to verify it and then before they know it then end up in handcuffs in a police department.


If you find yourself in this situation you need to read the document "The At Risk of Arrest and Arrested Fraud Victim Manual" This document will cover you and your relationship with law enforcement, your attorney, how to write a narrative of what happened to you, as well as defining some of the legal terms that you will hear so that you know better what to expect.


One of the really important things that this document says is that if you are a fraud/scam victim and you feel you are at risk of being arrested, keep a copy of this manual with you at all times. If something happens, you can refer to this document so that you don't panic and say or do something that will make your situation worse. NEVER wave you Miranda Rights.


While we were never arrested in our case, I do understand the feeling of panic of becoming a scam victim. My first thoughts were "Who do I call? Where do I report this?" That is exactly why we have the Resources page on our site. When you feel like your world has been turned upside-down and you don't know what to do, write up one letter that includes all of the information on what happened . . . names, dates, who said what and when . . . and then send that one letter to all of the agencies listed at our Resource Page.  We also have information on banking terms on this page along with other helpful tips like

• Close any other accounts that you have at that bank so they cannot freeze those accounts
• Turn off any direct deposits you have going into that account
• Turn off any automatic payments or withdrawals you have coming out of that account
• Open an account at another bank

Also, for support from others who have been in your shoes, you can talk to other scam victims at our message board.  Many people find this to be like an online therapy session.

I was a guest blogger

I was a guest blogger on http://inexpensively.com/ today.

You can read the article at
http://inexpensively.com/articles/shopping/avoid-secret-shopper-scams/

Do you support our mission?

Do you support our mission of creating scam education and awareness programs that will teach people across the country about scams and fraud and how to protect themselves? Then add your name to our petition.
http://www.change.org/petitions/view/create_scam_education_and_awareness_programs

What are they thinking!?!?!?

A fellow scam fighter alerted me to an article this past week about a new feature in mobile banking.  Soon you will be able to take a photo of a check with your phone and then get that check deposited into your banking account.  My first thought was that the banks need to fix the problems and issues that they already have with check deposits before they create a whole new way for people to deposit their checks.

The article says

Banks have already offered smartphone applications that let customers check  balances, transfer funds and make payments.

Yes, they do.  I have even heard some banks say that they can send you an email to alert you when a check has cleared.  If you read this blog on a regular basis, you will know that I have a big problem with the banks using the term "cleared" to customers.  Our bank told us that our cashier's check was "cleared" and then one week later they called us to tell us that it was counterfeit.

Back to the article that I was talking about.  It goes on to explain how this new technology would work.

A bank customer takes a photo of the front of the check and  the back of the check that has been signed by the customer. The photo gets sent  to the bank through its mobile application. In most cases, funds are in the  customers account immediately.

Wait a minute . . . immediately!?!?!  So now if someone were to take a picture of a cashier's check, they could start using that money right away?  What about waiting for the check to be verified at a legitimate check?  What about protecting the banking customer's funds by holding the check until it has passed through the system?  Oh wait, they don't do that now with paper checks so why would they do it with electronic image checks.

Here is the ONLY positive side I could see about this.  There are some people that have taken a cashier's check that they wanted verified into the bank and have been arrested for presenting a counterfeit check.  With this technology they could send a picture of the check into the bank instead of actually going into a branch location.  Of course, if the check is found to be counterfeit the bank could probably send the police to the person's house to arrest them for trying to pass a counterfeit check.

More banks are expected to add the feature, especially as consumers demand 24  hour banking.

I would think that those same customers who are demanding 24 hour banking would also demand that the bank is looking out for their best interest.  How about giving us accurate information on when the money from a check is truly ours to use and spend without any worries?  How about telling the customer that the funds are available, but it could take 10 business days or more for the check to be verified as legitimate.  That is what this bank customer demands.

Another sample letter

If you want to join our letter writing campaign, but don't feel like you can come up with your own letter about why scam education and awareness is important, let me offer this as a sample of what you could say in your letter.

--------------------

So many of the online scams involve the scammer sending a counterfeit cashier's check or money order, asking the victim to wait for it to "clear" and then wire a portion of the money on to someone. The scammers make up all kinds of stories to make the reason for having to wire money to someone else make sense, and of course since the bank has already told you that the check is "clear" you feel like there is nothing to worry about.

Did you know this . . . when you wire money to someone, even if you write on the documentation that the wire transfer is to be picked up in Detroit, Michigan if the scammer has the test/security question and answer along with the wire transfer information then they can pick up the money at any location in the world . . . like Lagos, Nigeria.

These test or security questions are a feature put in place for emergency situations, when the person picking up the money has lost their photo id, which is normally needed to pick up a wire transfer. But if you give the scammer the test/security question information that is how they bypass the need for a picture id when picking up the money. This happens every day on sites like Craigslist. The scammer will pretend to be within the United States so as to not raise any red flags with the potential victim by mentioning that they are really in Nigeria.

With so many scams using wire transfering services like Western Union and MoneyGram we at Scam Victims United would like to see these companies increase their security by making it mandatory that the money must be picked up in the destination zone. If the documentation filled out by the customer says that the money is going to Detroit, Michigan, then the money should not be able to be picked up outside of the state of Michigan, no matter what information the person picking the money up has. This would help to reduce the number of scams going on because the scammers would then have to tell the victims to wire the money to Nigeria for them to be able to pick it up, and with so many people this would be a red flag because of the information about Nigerian scams.

In addition, wire transfering services could have a Fraud Alert posted in their store locations, and when anyone does fill out a wire transfer form and indicates Nigeria as the destination for the money to be picked up they could point out the Fraud Alert or have the customer sign a secondary document saying that they are aware that there are many internet scams coming out of the country of Nigeria which involve receiving a cashier's check or money order and then wiring money.

Since we cannot go to other countries and arrest the people running these scams we must do as much as we can to provide the correct information to the American public to educate them about these scams. This means that everyone must do their part, including the wire transfer services that the scammers use as a part of their business. I would like to propose laws that would require wire transfer services to implement and follow such security measures.

Education is the key to fighting scams, and that is why we are also asking for scam education and awareness programs. To read more about this please go tohttp://www.change.org/actions/view/crea ... s_programs

Make our voices heard!

Years ago we used to organize letter writing events. Everyone would write a letter telling why they think scam education and awareness are important topics that need attention brought to them, and need the attention of lawmakers. Then all you have to do is send that same letter on the first of the month to the contact that I post on this message board . . . someone in the media, law enforcement or government. If we all send the letters the same day then their contact person will get a flood of letters on the same topic around the same time, and could get more attention then just one letter all by itself.


My question is this . . . who is with me and willing to commit to sending out one letter per month? If we do not have a big enough impact, then it will not be effective.
 
ScamVictimsUnited.com


Find us on Twitter, Facebook and more through
http://www.retaggr.com/page/ShawnMosch