New trend in 419 scams: UK Artists

July 5th, 2006 by Kelson. Posted in Spam and tagged for 419, fraud, scam

In the past two weeks, a new variant of the advance fee scam has dropped into our spam traps: supposed UK-based artists needing help selling their works overseas.

The classic Nigerian scam involves someone claiming to be the relative of a deceased or deposed dictator, general, etc. is trying to smuggle money out of the country and needs to borrow your bank account to do it.

It’s usually a third-world country, often one with political strife, so that the average westerner won’t be too suspicious of the level of corruption implied. You never see this scam claiming to come from, say, France, or Japan, because the process would set off too many alarm bells. Someone needing to transfer that much money would either do it through normal banking channels or through organized crime—not by firing off an email to some random citizen in a foreign country.

The first-world variation, at least up until now, has been the “International Lottery” scam. In this variation you get a winning notice, but of course you need to pay them before they can send you the money, etc. This one generally claims to be based in Europe, often several countries in one message. The idea of a lottery seems much more plausible in the first world.

Someone has come up with a way to bring the 419 scam into the first world. The two samples I’ve seen so far both involve UK-based artists trying to sell their works in the US. The premise is that their customers want to pay by some method that is “difficult to cash” in the UK, so they want you, a US resident, to accept the travelers’ checks, or money orders, then wire them the amount minus a 10% commission.

Right.

I’m seriously waiting for someone to offer a commission on the Brooklyn Bridge.

The setting has changed—instead of a dictator’s widow who has hidden away ill-gotten gains in “darkest Africa,” it’s a happy Londoner living with his or her “two kids” and “the love of [their] life” and selling art on the international market. All shiny, happy and yuppie (with just a hint of bohemian). But the script is the same: Someone wants to clear huge amounts of money through your bank account.

I was going to post some quotes, but as I started looking at them, the similarities really go through the entire message.

The first missive was very long:

Greetings to you,

My name is Susan C.Baker. I am an artist, practicing with my husband Mr. Tony Baker, here in the United Kingdom. We own the SUSAN ART WORK INC., here in London, (United Kingdom). I live in London United Kingdom, with my two kids, four cats, one pet dog and the love of my life, my husband, Mr. Tony Baker. It is undeniably a full house that we keep. I have been doing my artwork since I was a small child, which makes it about 23 years of experience for me in the field. I majored in fine and creative art in high school and in the college I professionalised in the art courses in the advance levels. Most of my works are done in either pencil or art brush mixed with color pencils.

I have recently added designing and creative artwork on the computer, and I have been selling my art works for the past 3 years to my prestigious customers from all over the world. Also, I have had my work featured on trading cards, prints and magazines, I have sold in galleries and to private collectors from all over the world, but I am always facing serious difficulties when it comes to selling my art works to Americans. I have bigger customers from the Americans but most of my America customer’s mostly offer to pay me with TRAVELER’S CHECK or MONEY ORDER or CASHIER’S CHECK, which is difficult for me to redeem into its cash equivalence here in London, United Kingdom.

My main reason for sending you this email is that I am looking for a representative in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. I am looking for someone who will be working for me, and with me, as a par time worker and I will be willing to pay 10% for every transaction the person assists me in making. Following your antecedent from the Internet, I decided that you should assist me in handling this situation. I decided upon you because my confidence reposed on you as someone that is responsible and reliable. Presently, I am working on setting up a branch in the states so, for now, I need a representative in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA who will be handling the payment aspect for our company. The work you would be doing for me would not have to affect your present business or work. The work I would like you to do for me is simply to receive from me the TRAVELER’S CHECK or MONEY ORDER or CASHIER’S CHECK that my customers are paying me with. Because the cost of coming to the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA constantly to redeem this payments is becoming too expensive, time-consuming and inconvenient for me. When you receive the check payments from me or my secretary through the postal service, I would like you to cash the checks for me as soon as you receive them. So when you cash the check, I would like you to subtract your 10% and the transfer charges and send the balance to my cashier in the United Kingdom through Western Union Money Transfer.

These payments, once again, are in the forms of TRAVELER’S CHECKS or MONEY ORDERS or CASHER’S CHECK and they would come to you in your home with your name on them. If you are willing to assist as a representative, all you need to do for me is to cash the CHECK PAYMENTS, deduct your percentage and the WESTERN UNION Transfer Charges, then you should wire the balance back to my cashier.

However, the problem I have is trust. And as a result of that, I have made arrangements with the FBI in Washington and the secret service agents that if anybody representing me gets away with my money they have assured me that they will definitely get hold track the person down, and the person will go to JAIL for LOOTING my funds. You are to receive the TRAVELER’S CHECKS or MONEY ORDERS or CASHER’S CHECK PAYMENT very soon. IT WOULD BE SENT TO YOU THROUGH A TRUSTED POSTAL SERVICE AGENT. AND AS SOON AS YOU RECEIVE THEM I WOULD LIKE YOU TO IMMEDIATELY CONTACT ME, SO THAT I WOULD DIRECT YOU ON WHAT TO DO WITH IT AND HOW TO GET THE BALANCE TRANSFERRED TO MY CASHIER IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.
NOTE: All charges of the WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER will be deducted from my total sum, so you are rest assured that you wouldn’t spend a CENT out of your own personal money. You just have to deduct your interest and send the balance to my cashier for accountingand bookkeeping.

If you are interested in assisting me in this venture pending when our branch would be ready in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA for us to work closely together, please kindly get back to me immediately via this my mailbox.

N: B, Please send to me the listed information below:
1. Your Name in Full
2. Your Full Contact Address(where i can send the cheque).
3. Your Occupation
4. Your Age
5. Your Marital Status
6. Your Direct Phone Number and Fax Number

I eagerly await your prompt response, so that I can send the CHECK PAYMENTS to you immediately. I appreciate your fervent dedication and your decision to assist me.

Thanks for your assistant and God bless,

Thanks for your assistance and God bless you for your anticipated dedication,
Director of SUS ART WORK INC,
Susan Baker.
London, United Kingdom.
Reply to …
<ADDRESS REMOVED>

The second one was considerably shorter, but tells much the same story. Pay close attention to the introductions. This one reads like someone took the previous letter, changed the names, and cut it down to half the length.

My name is David Arjen and I am an artist.I live in the United Kingdom,with my two kids,and the love of my life.I have been doing artwork since I was a small child. That gives me about 23 years of experience. I majored in art in high school and took a few college art courses. Most of my work is done in either pencil or airbrush mixed with color pencils. I have recently added designing and creating artwork on the computer.I have been selling my art for the last 3 years and have had my work featured on trading cards, prints and in magazines.I have sold in galleries and to private collectors from all around the world.I am always facing serious difficulties when it comes to selling my art works to people in the United States,some of my customers offers to pay with a UNITED STATES POSTAL MONEY ORDER,which is difficult for me to cash here in United kingdom.

I am looking an individual in the states who will be working for me and i am willing to pay 10% for every transaction,which would’nt affect ur present state of work,someone who will recieve payments on my behalf,from my customers in the states.These payments are in form of a money order and it will be made payable to your name, so all you need do is cash the money order deduct your percentage and wire the rest back to me via western union money transfer.

I want you to know that you will not be investing any money from you r pocket in this venture,you are to receive payments which will be sent by my customers to you via express mail.

If you are interested,endeavour to send your reply through my alternative e-mail address: <ADDRESS REMOVED>

Regards
David Arjen

I’m assuming the names are fictitious, given that the biographies are virtually identical.

Also Related

Web Advocacy

141 Responses to “New trend in 419 scams: UK Artists”
By DC on Jul 29, 2006

i was duped by this UK scam. I now have my account frozen and Bank of America says they will come after me for the balance

is there anyone that can help me?
By Kelson on Jul 30, 2006

I would suggest contacting law enforcement.
By d r e on Aug 30, 2006

why is your account frozen
so you actually did get the money, and the our “fair, kind and honest”(yeah right) government wont let you have what is rightfully yours
there is now law against being a third party in an overseas transaction

the greedy government just wants their cut, like they dont suck enough out of us already
By Kelly on Sep 8, 2006

Hello, i put an ad on craigslist.org, for a roommate, and I’ve gotten like 4 emails from “people who are interested” in the room, they all say they’re going to send me the money order, and I’m to cash it, and then Western Union them, back the balance to “their travel agent” and how can you cash a money order from the UK to US???? What’s up?

Please write me regarding this at [ed: email address removed to save you from spam bots]

Thanks, I haven’t done anything yet. But, according to the UPS Tracking number it’s on its way……….HMMMM?

WRITE ME
By Kelson on Sep 8, 2006

That sounds awfully suspicious to me. If they’re looking to join you, and they have the money to cover both the rent and the travel expenses, they should be able to make the travel arrangements themselves. There’s no reason you should have to send them back any money.

And even though international money orders do exist (not sure about Western Union specifically), the portion of the money you’d send back would go through currency conversion twice. That doesn’t seem like something anyone would want to do.

It’s entirely possible that one or more of the respondents are trying to pull the same type of scam: send you a fraudulent money order, get you to send them a real money order, then when the bank finds out that what you deposited isn’t valid, you’re out the money.

My advice — and keep in mind, I’m not a cop, lawyer, banker or anything relevant, just an overly-suspicious sysadmin who sees a lot of crazy stuff when I clean out our spam traps — is don’t cash the money order unless you can verify it. If you do cash it, don’t send any money until it clears.

I went looking for a page on verifying money orders, and found an article on MSN Money that includes a story about a scam very similar to what you’ve described:

A Kentucky woman who advertised for a roommate received several fake money orders from a woman in England who said her company was relocating her to the U.S. and paying her expenses. The victim was told to take a month’s rent and the security deposit from the money orders and return the rest.

The victim deposited the bogus money orders in her account at University of Kentucky Federal Credit Union. The credit union cashed them, but then made the victim reimburse the amount when it was determined the money orders were counterfeit. As you can imagine, the victim, who was out a considerable amount of money, was incensed that the credit union didn’t catch the fakes.
By DAJ on Sep 16, 2006

received the Susan Wright scam - I have links & url’s turned on & at the bottom of this one was images of clay faces & a picture of this Susan Wright. The clay faces reported a link to another gallery - which I suspected since the Susan in the email did Graphic art not schulpture - poor thinking! Was somewhat amused.
Recently I also got an email from a John Ayinla - art dealer - to print & mount 2 of my images & send to a gallery in Australia via FedX & let him know payment details so he or his client could send me a check. I put this on my yahoo stockphotographers groups list & have recd quite a response & also found a scam report on him. At the moment I have a photo friend in Aus. who is ckng out the address. Am not falling for this, just want to be able to report the facts when I get them. Best to everyone - keep a sharp eye on these people!
By Deni on Sep 27, 2006

I now have received 2 of these Susan Art Works emails from, yeah right, England. I understand how the scam works and am just surprised why it works. After doing lots of transactions on Ebay and using PayPal, why wouldn’t a legitimate company or person in need a funds from another country just have a paypal or similar account? When I received the first email, my first inclination was to respond with paypal information. Anyway, the scammers are not looking for help for legitimate reasons so those that get duped into accepting the funds and then forwarding funds to the criminals really boggles my mind. Why is anyone sending money to these people BEFORE any funds have cleared. I advertised a sofa for sale 2 yrs ago and got an offer to purchase but it was the same thing where I was suppose to cash check and forward money for the shipping to a pre determined company who was going to pick up and ship to customer. I got check and took to bank, they tried to verify it immediately and there was no such bank, and it was a cashiers check. End of story, I didn’t send anyone any money from this bogus check. The scammer did call me and I just called him a criminal for sending a worthless check, he hung up on me.
By cr8zblackguy on Sep 29, 2006

yeah my account is frozen today cause these dumb bitches gave me a fake check. i called the bank on the check which is in the us and they said it was real and gave me a confermation number and at the bank it went through but somehow two days later it’s fraudulent. good thing i did not touch it. i did transfers for a company earlier this year that was actually real, they wire the mone themselves and let me know when it’s coming. i made a lot but it was only for a few months. there is this other place that is supposed to be sending me money that i want to know if anyone else has seen. it’s thomson-financial.net the website looks real, some lady contacted me from here and gave me an address, phone and this website. I don’t know though after this. i think i might just consider staying broke from paycheck to paycheck just like everyone else.
By Carla Brown on Oct 2, 2006

I was hit by this same ad. Only the name was Tracey Sanderson. I cashed the money orders only to find out later they were counterfeit. I have been contacting all websites that this person has placed a job ad and warned the company that this is a scam. I also went to my local police but they are doubtful they will ever catch anyone. I am just trying to do what I can. I don’t want this to happen to anyone else.
By Tahlia Delao on Oct 12, 2006

The thomson-financial website is a scam. I gave the lady my info for my bank account and then the website was mysteriously gone. Then her email address could not be found. So, I put a hold on the bank and now she keeps writing me that she wants her money and she is going to tell authorities. I told her, go ahead. Don’t fall for this scam like I did.
By Uk person on Oct 18, 2006

Sorry, maybee i don’t understand the nuances of this scam, but it sounds really obvious to me that these people are not for real. my moto- trust no-one. Remember if it sounds too good to be true then it probably is.
By Guardian5 on Oct 20, 2006

lol
Dude guys ok i got this letter on the british loto. ok this is what it said. Con grats you won the international British Random Lotto…. blah blah blah you’ve been approved for lumpsum of $85,500 i was 1 of 17 selcted then in cluded was a check for $2,998.75 to me my address was on it and evreything it looked legit too. i called the person “agent” to activate the check or whatever oh yeah the leter also had a deadline by when i was to call to verify my info and activate the check right. well i called skeptic at fist not recalling when i entered this lotto thing and even now i dont remember? but she said go cash it you might have to wait while the check clears then withdraw it and give her a call. i deposited the check it cleared went through thats where im at now i have that check in my acc its available for withdrw it took 7 days to clear only 5 buisness days + sat and sunday didnt count. then she told me go to money gram transfer $2815 of that money to my agent who is incharged of the money or something she gave me her name address evreything this is what she gave me “send 2815 dollars to Peggy hunt 40667 second northeast st suit131 quebec canada H5M2V6 and with the rest of that money left pay the sending fees.”
well my dumb ass went to walmart to send money but they wouldnt let me because 1 week ago they got a alert scam leter written by the president of money gram him self that there was a scam that people where sending money exactly 2815 to some place in Quebec for a lotto winnings and they where getting ripped off so they told me they have the right to deny the service and they did. then i came home looked for the address on google msn yahoo mapquest canadas directory canadas pos office where i did a search for the address over and over and over again only coming to a dead end evrey time.. The search you are looking for could not be found please cheack your address or your spelling and try again! then i did just a search for quebecs zip code the h5m2v6 and all of quebec no such code is found then i did zip code look up just to find that ALL of Quebec’s zips start out with a G not a H like she told me she called 2 today oct 20 but i misses the calls ive been doing research on this thing for like 5 hrs now they sam ething keeps showing up SCAM SCAM SCAM! PLEASE some one help mewhat d i do call her back? i still have that money in my acc sitting there. please some advise would help a number i can call or something.
By Guardian5 on Oct 20, 2006

ok sorry just had to get the above out of my system..
now this david arjen guy yeah i resieved the sam eemail from him looked a little too good to be true. so i dont know y i replied to him oh yeah keep in mind this was during the same time the british ramdon lotto thing went on. so i email him back i get a message this it

David Art Gallery
166 felthamn road,Unit 16
Ashford/London/TW15 1YQ
United Kingdom
TEL:44 7783027225
Registration number 3699677
VAT registration number 832 6732

I am most grateful for your mail, and I seize this opportunity to thank you for coming to my rescue and to also let you know that this transaction is a straight forward and legal transaction. I hope you were not too embarrassed by my first email to you since you do not know me.I had no option so I resorted to putting fate to test and making a random contact. I got your email address from the web email directory and decided to introduce my plight and this transaction. I am communicating with only you at this moment with regards to this transaction and I would not have any cause to do otherwise.
I’ve had diffrent dealing with many Americans and i believe they are very honest.I look forward to a very trustworthy relationship.
Presently i have a client who is offering to pay me some money in form of a US Postal Money order.I will like to know if you can assist in cashing the money order.
If you are still intrested,kindly furnish me with the below listed information,so we can proceed:

FULL NAME:
CONTACT ADDRESS:
CONTACT PHONE NUMBER:

Best Regards
David

ok so i did then i got this:

Thanks for the quick response.You shall be processing up to 7
transaction on my behalf in a month.Presently i have a client who is
offering to pay me $3400 in form of a Money order.Please i would
like to know if you”ll be able to assist me in cashing the Money
order.If you could,i want you to confirm the name(YOUR NAME)to whom
the Money order will be made payable to and your physical address
where the Money order will be mail to.I will like to know if i can
count on you to send back the balance after deducting your percentage(10%) and any extra charges.
May God almighty reward you.

Best Regards
David

ok 5days theys went by then i got this:

I really appreciate your effort in excecuting this task.You will be recieving the first payment on the 19th of October 2006,so please let me know if this okay with you.I will like to know if i can count on you to send back the balance after deducting your percentage and any extra charges.
I can assure you that this transaction is 100% legal.Am a man of my words and am a good christain
Please note:You are to deduct 10% of the total amount and the remaining balance will be send to me via western union money transfer.

Regards
David

then i wrote him back saying i didnt get anything in the mail do you know when its coming in right because it sounded legit until i got this then some BIG F@^*ing RED FLAG went of in my head about both the brithish lotto and this email guys email here it is:

im very sorry for getting back to you so late.I contacted my client and he said the payment was sent via regular mail and you should have recieved it and if not you will be recieving it very soon.
I want you to cash the payment at your bank,deduct your percentage which is 10% of the total amount and wire the remaining balance via western union to my Sales representative in West Africa,he has been my sales rep for the past 5 years and i hope you and i will be together for longer than that,his details is as stated below:

David Olaitan
Lagos/Nigeria

Western union will attract charges for sending,you can have it deducted from my balance and send the rest .It will be cheaper if you ‘ve the western union done in a store,below is a store that does it very close to your end,i was given when i visited western union outlet.

NISHIS MARKET
6505 E LIVINGSTON AVE
REYNOLDSBURG, OH 43068
Tel: (614) 759-7577

Once the funds is sent these are the following information you will
have to mail to me,in order to have my sales rep pickup the funds

MTCN #[CONTROL NUMBER]
SENDER’S FULL NAME & ADDRESS

MY REGARDS
DAVID ARJEN

HHHHMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!! why would he want me to send the money to his agent? an agent in africa? what the F@!K is going on here so here is where im at now can anyone help me out what do i do? i was thinking about cashing the money order deposit it in my bank and tell him i have to wiat like 5 days to clear beacouse the the size of the money order and if my bank clears it i will send him where ever the hell he wants me to send him his money….. or may be just keep the money order drop contact with this idiot and the other dumb broad from the lotto keep that to because in a mont my lease is up and im moving anyways so is my phone plan so ill get new address and new phone # change my email and end up with like
5 gran LOLOLOLOLOL muaahhhhh im evil… scam a scammer lol ohhh man i love my self…. but i dont no thats y im here let me know please
By Katie on Oct 22, 2006

So, lesson to be learned: Don’t cash money orders on other people’s behalf unless you are sure you knew them personally before they asked you to do the cashing. This goes octuple for anyone asking you this favor via random email.
By Joyce on Oct 25, 2006

I have my Resume’ posted on Yahoo Digest. I was contacted by a Mrs. Kelly Brown of KellyBrown Ventures, UK on Oct. 8th, 2006. I needed the money so she asked if I would work for her, accept money orders for her for her art work she sells, and cash them, keep 10%, deduct the Western Union fees and send the balance to her accountant. I was to notify the accountant by e-mail when the first money orders arrived, and then follow her instructions. It sounded identical to the Susan Baker story. I received two money orders today in the total amount of $5,000. I contacted both Mrs. Kelly Brown and her accountant by their e-mail addresses, and have heard nothing back. Meanwhile, these money orders are from a man giving me an Ohio address. What should I do?
By sbw on Oct 27, 2006

If anyone one of you falls for this “cash this for me and keep 10%” crap, you deserve just what you get…you’ll end up paying your bank back for the ENTIRE amount…not just your percentage, and you could end up in jail for passing counterfeit money orders and/or checks. It takes 2-4 weeks before the bank can verify whether or not these checks are good. That’s why they say “wait a week” or “cash immediately”. But if you are getting the same kind of letter from various people and/or companies, you can BET they are scams.

Use your brain, people. Who in their right mind is going to solicit a complete stranger via e-mail and trust them to handle thousands of dollars of their money? That’s right…no one. Would YOU e-mail a stranger in a foreign country and trust them to handle YOUR money? Of course not. So why would you think they would?

THINK!!! These are ALL scams.
By Don Lapre Lover on Nov 20, 2006

I get that crap all the time, I actually won the 1 million an 10 million lottery in 4 countries. I have lots of dead relatives that want to give me their inheritance and to top it off have about a dozen business owners wanting to transfer lots of money into my account to split from their dead clients. Wow i’m richer than BillGates.

LOL

Laura
Don Lapre Lover
By John on Nov 23, 2006

these scams are ridiculous, iu dont see why the government doesnt crack down on it more..
By tnapg on Nov 28, 2006

i just answered the david arjen scam now i am scared what should i do
By james ahearn on Dec 7, 2006

i just recieved a letter in the mail from alliance processing center from the virgin islands award winning notification final.we are pleased to inform you of the release of the results of our global draw heald in dublin ireland in witch you are one of the lucky winers. your name emerged as a winner in the month of november 2006 category. you have therfor won youself a lump sum of 50,000.00 credited to your reference number akg 286 56lw. all participants were selected through a coumputer ballot system drawn from readers digest, publishers clearing house online sweepstakes database and internet users, from australlia, new zeland,europ, north and south america, asia, as this is our international promotions program, which is conducted monthly. congratuations. to clame your prize money of 500,000.00 dollars after paying the tax and admininistrative fees.please call your agent melissa freeman at alliance processing center, an accredited agent of united kindom random lottoat this number i- 902-412-9299.an assistance check of 2,962.00 is hereby enclosed to healp you pay for your tax and administrative expenses and international clearance fees involed with your winnings . we are sendinding you this check from your winnings to assist you to pay for the international clearence feesinvolved,after whitch your money shall be relesed.please call for authorization and healp in claming your winnings upon receipt of the letter and check the number to call 1-902-412-9299. please keep this winning as confidential as possible to avoid false clames and double winners until you claim your prize money. the deadline to claim your winnings is dec 12 2006. please resoned fast so as to miss the deadline, unclamed prizes will be returned to charities and re-entrance for the next drw after this day.yours trly, sharon albright director

now this is a new scam that is comming out i went to the my two banks and reportewd this to them and to the district attorneys office i hope none of you get hook on this one it took me sometime to find this site thanks for all the info” jim”’
By Stephanie on Dec 12, 2006

Ok, so I did the whole David Arjen scam and his money orders just cleared in to my account. Now I read this, WHAT do I do now?
By lanifu on Dec 19, 2006

I just got the ALLIANCE PROCESSING CENTER notification & me my husband sat here for hours trying to figure out if it was legit. Well, thanks James for your insight, b/c tomorrow morning I was going to the bank!! I was wondering if you could still just cash the check instead of depositing it into the account??
By TJV on Dec 20, 2006

You usually cannot cash a check without holding it against your own assets. If the check turns out to be a fake, you will be out the money. A friend of mine also received the Alliance Processing letter which is how I ended up on this website.
We called the number and told them that we contacted the attorney general’s office and they hung up the phone.
If you deposit the check, they now have your banking information.
If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
By cnh on Dec 20, 2006

ianifu?? What happened with the check you recieved from the alliance thing?
By lanifu on Dec 21, 2006

we still have the check. i contacted the bank that was on the check to find out that the checks were stolen from a FedEx truck & that the account had been closed since Oct. I had even contacted the company that was on the check as well & they said they’ve had a hard time with these people. Teh security department @ the bank now has all of our info. my husband & I even duped the lady into thinking that the money was in our account & that it was on it’s way to them. The guy in security is gonna hook something up as to were a FAKE moneygram is gonna go to them to try and catch these people. it’s sites like this that keep people informed & i’m glad that i did the research b4 falling for some crap like that!!
By copper chick on Dec 21, 2006

My husband received the Alliance Processing Center scam letter. We will be contacting the bank tomorrow. I’m glad that I looked it up on line though. This is a very good site for people to read.
By lanifu on Dec 22, 2006

chopper chick, try to give them as much info as possible b/c they are really trying to get these people. my husband & i even went as far as trying to stay in contact with these people until our deadline…which is on the 29th. were ya’ll one of the “1″ Dec winners?? That’s funny…
By lovlylytleladi on Dec 23, 2006

yea, we got one of these checks in the mail today, we got excited lol and called and they said “go deposit the check and call back” but luckily something told me to check on-line first because i have gotten scammed before….thanks guys! why cant people get real jobs instead of spending time stealing from hard-workin people like us? I have a 15 month old daughter, i cant afford to give away money!!
By Ted on Dec 23, 2006

Check out the website summer-exchange.com

It’s almost exactly the same as Thomson Financial!!

Read this article about Thomson Financial

http://www.ago.state.nm.us/pio/pressrel/2006/scams_html/10-31-06_work_at_home_scam_alert.htm

SCAM SCAM SCAM
By danijela on Dec 26, 2006

I have olso recived the letter and the check from Alliance Processing Center scam ,but I did deposit the check ,money is still on my account,last night I google them and I found this site.after reading it I went to bank and close my cheking account,and open a new one,I even contact my bank,and bank of amerika wich check they send me ,lady in customer service tald that she has no idea what to do.Any suggestions?
By lanifu on Dec 26, 2006

Well, they have more than one check that they are using; they are using several small business checks. My suggestion is to just let it ride since you have alreadyclosed your account and you can’t give anymore info to the lady in customer service. Contact the company on the check to make sure that they know that they have checks floating around.
By Charles McLoud on Dec 28, 2006

I recieved a similar letter from one Henry Scott about SUS ART WORLD INC. I have a friend who honestly transfers money from point A to point B through a special bank account he set up just for that purpose. He pays taxes on his income and makes a decent living just doing that. So when I first got the offer it sounded pretty good but it differs from the job my friend has in that he only deals with certain people not total strangers. And he gets 20% of the total amount for his services. Every check he gets is a certified check from a bank and he has it verified before deposit into the account by the bank it was written on. That’s why at first glance, it sounded like a great deal even at 10%.
I recieved the first check today written on a First Citzens Bank Cashier’s Check for the amount of $5500.00 with two signatures on it and hand written in black ink. In the morning I am taking it to my bank which just so happens to be the same bank of which the check was supposed to be drawn and alert them as to the fact that it may not be a real check and give them all the information so that they can alert the FBI for real and catch this guy while he still trusts me to send him the money. I will simply tell him that my bank requires two weeks to clear the check before letting go of the funds. That will allow him to squirm for two weeks in the hot seat as it were. Two weeks should give the FBI time enough to do their job! LOL
By Lucy13 on Dec 28, 2006

The government can’t do anything about these scammers because they’re operating outside of the FBI’s jurisdiction…..Canadian authorities, UK authorities need to get on the ball….
By rebecasdaddy on Dec 28, 2006

I also recieved the letter and check from Alliance Processing Center 5 days before christmas of course I deposited the check into my account and spent some of the money and now my account is overdrawn, what do I do?There has to be away for us to all get together and stop these scammers.
By missmellymom on Dec 29, 2006

So the Alliance Processing center checks do actually bounce? And how do they get your bank info if you deposited their check?
By missmellymom on Dec 29, 2006

I got the APC letter, but Bank of America told me that the check was being drawn on a valid acct. and that the address on the acct. was valid, so I could go ahead and deposit the check.
By rebecasdaddy on Dec 30, 2006

I dont realy know what the deal is, my savings is 2000 negative and my checking is still saying i have 900 availible so I tryed to withdraw some money and it said invalid card, so i guess they froze my account. so now I think I owe this money back.I dont know what to do. Im gonna go monday to the bank and get a copy of the check and go to the police department and make a report ,start there I guess.
By Ruben Lozano on Jan 3, 2007

I received a notification from http://www.Summer-Exchange.com to be a transfer manager, I accepted the offer and a few days letter I received a check, cashed it yesterday and transfered the funds to Rigal, Latvia… Now I read this web-site and I’m scared that I was scammed… Should I wait to see if the check bounces?
By Ruben on Jan 3, 2007

phew, I was able to call Western Union and cancel the transfer, I should be getting the money back by tomorrow. Thank god, I’m also going to file a police report.
By Maka on Jan 3, 2007

http://www.summer-exchange.com seems like a total scam, be on the watch for e-mails from them from a “financial manager’ under the name of Ilona Matise.
By Noi on Jan 9, 2007

Ruben,
I got the same thing from Summer Exchange Inc. My check is on its way next week. Any advice?? Should I contact people on the check?
By Me on Jan 11, 2007

I received the same PHONY request from Ilona Matise. Her email address was ilona@summer-exchange-mail.biz.

After initially responding that I was interested, and after reading these messages here, I sent her a very nasty email. I told her that I wanted off her mailing list immediately, and that I was not sending her any money, nor was I cashing any checks from her or her company.

BEWARE!!!!
By George on Jan 11, 2007

Here’s a message sent to me by David Olaitan. This scam, he’s taking a unique route. He has since then called my business more than 30 times in the last 2 days demanding money. He is demanding that I send it to him right away! After talking to the FBI, I figured out a way to stop the calls. These people are obviously using calling cards to make their calls overseas. What I’ve done is to pick up the phone and just let that person’s minutes run out, since it doesn’t cost me when he calls. I never say a word, after 4 repetitive calls, David stops calling. It is a gratifying feeling to take the power away from these scammers. I can hear the frustration in his voice when he realizes he is talking to noone! Even though you may feel tempted, never say a word. That puts a huge smile on my face.

—–Original Message—–
From: david olaitan [mailto:dee_sticks@yahoo.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 04, 2007 11:01 AM
To: George
Subject: RE:

Dear George,
I know you are in a Best Place to Help me. I will Be Gladif you can Render this Selfless Help to me. I will so Much Appreciate it. I need you to help me on How I can Come to The USA. I want to come for Sight- seeing and to meet People Like you. Here in Nigeria People Always Look at me as if am Waisting my Time Drumming that I can Never Acheive anything Good by Drumming. I taught my self How to Sight-read and I do Practice with some hand made drumset here. I don’t Have Good Drumset here but the One that I have I manage it. I wish I could Play on Zildjian Cymbals and China Cymbals One day. I do see their Picture on the Internet and I don’t really know what they sound like. There are Many things I Need to Learn. Please help me acheive my Dream. Not QuiteLong Internet Came to Where I reside In Nigeria. Thanks for your reply.

Olaitan David Olatunji
No 21 Unity Road
Ilorin
Kwara State 240001
Nigeria.
By peanant on Jan 13, 2007

i am so glad that this website is up and running. i just had an email from Summer Exchange Inc today and i wanted to reply to the Financial Manager that I would take the job. However, i felt like i had to check out this “company” first. I was almost duped once .. i don’t want it to happen again. i guess i’m right. Summer Exchange Inc is a scam. The Financial Manager in my email, however, is not Ilona Matise. It’s Alma Deinis.
By Bets on Jan 13, 2007

I received a letter in the mail today from the Millenium Processing Center. This letter is exactly like James’ above. Word for freaking word. I really am kind of ticked right now. We were going to pay off our home. Thank you all so much for your info. I almost deposited the check without even considering the possibilites. This website definitely saved my butt. The funny thing is that I still want the $2,962 that is sitting right in front of me.
By karma on Jan 18, 2007

Summer-Exchange seems to be pissing alot of people off, and its creator needs to get a life - not to mention a job. I thought it might help to keep everyone updated - it seems that Ilona Matise is currently using the name Ingrida Lumere. When I contacted the attorney generals office, they forwarded my call to an agent at the FBI, so perhaps next week, this pathetic soul can change their address to greedysob@summer-exchange.

I’m a single mom who works very hard to provide for my children, and all of the above postings educated me - thanks. It is unfortunate that someone else will visit this site tomorrow
By Jenny on Jan 20, 2007

WARNING

I would like to warn you that if you get anything from David Arjen,don’t try to cash it. It is a scam. I had three money orders from him I took to my post office They told me they were no good. If you do try to cash them you will be in a lot of trouble. Don’t want anybody to get in trouble for this person who is trying to take your money.
By Ashley on Jan 21, 2007

I just got an e-mail yesterday and I’m glad that this site came up when I googled it. They found my resume on monster and contacted me about making extra money a week being a transfer manager. This time the name they were using was Julija Voinovs and the email address was julija@summer-exchange-mail.biz. Here is the e-mail in it’s entirety:

We have found your resume at http://www.monster.com.
And We would like to suggest a position at our company to you . The position is “Transfer Manager”.

The task of the Transfer Manager is processing payments between our
clients and our company via bank accounts or checks. The job is related to remote
Internet operations.Every payment order will be accompanied with detailed instructions.
It’s a commission based position. You will get about 8% of each processed payment.

The general requirements are:

The ability to create good administrative reporting;
Any expirience in customer service sphere is approved. But it’s not necessary.
Willingness to work from home, take responsibility set up and achieve goals;
Honesty, responsibility and promptness in operations;
Effective interaction with customers;
You should be familiar with working on-line and have Internet and e-mail skills;

Salary: $600-$1200 per week

This job will allow to you:

to work efficiently from home;
to increase available personal time;
to get financial independence for less time than it’s usually required;
to develop high self-respect and esteem;

The working hours are not flexible. It means that you can perform the work at anytime. Working hours you
choose yourself. The main requirement is you should spend half an hour every day for the work.
You just have to check your e-mail daily to see if there is any work for you.
Current Vacancies: 4

Ashley, If you are interested in this position, please reply to: julija@summer-exchange-mail.biz

—–
Julija Voinovs,
Financial Manager,
Summer-Exchange Inc.

It has every apperance of being a legitamate job offer but anything that sounds too good to be true usually is too good to be true…and/or illegal.
By Bailey on Jan 25, 2007

I just received the same e-mail, and they still have 4 vacancies….instead of it being from Julija, my e-mail came from a
Ilona Matise. I did a search on “whois” and the domain name is available, it does not show that it is registered to anyone…..and then I read one of the posts on here that lists the domain under the .biz, so I did a search on all of them….they have .com, .biz, .net, and .info
the name and address listed for the registrar are fake, but it looks like the name went up around November of 2006.
By Steve on Jan 25, 2007

I received an invitation from Ilona Matise at Summer-Exchange two days ago and replied inquiring more info. That generated a mailer daemon bounce back saying it could not be delivered. And I sent it by clicking on the link they included in the email! I am pleased at their own snafu; no telling what I could have gotten into. Yes, it was from seeing my resume on Monster.com. I googled the joint and found this site, thankfully. I’m beginning to think that ANY replies based on my Monster resume wil be fraudulent! (Oh yes: 4 vacancies, “still”!)
By amthews1 on Jan 26, 2007

my mother recieved an email about three weeks ago from a Nora asking that my mother receive checks from her customers here in the united states and send her company the money minus the same 10% every one on here has been talking about. We were excited when we received an email from NORA saying her company was going to send her a check fed-ex to put open her an account and to have sitting in the bank as a balance until they decide to stop the relationship. The email my mom recieved sounds like the one here the only difference is NORA’s company is willing to send some money initially for my mom to open an account just for these transactions to be processed through. Is it the same as what I have read so far????
By Chris on Jan 26, 2007

Beware of summer-exchange.com i contacted monster.com and chatted with a man who said this company has broke into there network.They have pulled legit resumes from monster and are contacting people with job offers.Dont believe that this is a real job,just another nigerian scam.
By Anonymous on Jan 29, 2007

Just like Ashley……….I too was pulled by Summer-Exchange from monsterjobs.com. Unfortunately, I’m in between jobs and could really use a part time home base income during my search of a full-time job. I don’t know what kind of situation I’ve gotten myself into, but I am glad I was provided this link before doing any serious damage to myself.

The name they used for me and is currently being used is still Julija Voinovs and the email address was julija@summer-exchange-mail.com (which is slightly different from others, .com, .biz, etc…..).

They still have 4 open positions!!!

Now I have my doubts about any job postings and/or opportunities from MonsterJobs.com. I plan to contact the attorney general office and file a complaint with the FBI. I thought I had a temporary part-time job!
By Dave on Jan 29, 2007

Hey, thanks for posting on here because I just received a “job offer” from Alma Deinis for a “transfer manager” position at Summer-Exchange Inc. I’ll be sending her a nasty email. And yes, there are still 4 positions left haha.
By Dave on Jan 29, 2007

I’m definately glad that I found this website. PLease be very aware of “Ilona Matise” I responded to the email and thankfully I received a mailer-daemon!! Wow is all I can say. Here’s a copy of my email in its entirety…

We have found your resume at http://www.monster.com.
And We would like to suggest a position at our company to you . The position is “Transfer Manager”.

The task of the Transfer Manager is processing payments between our
clients and our company via bank accounts or checks. The job is related to remote
Internet operations.Every payment order will be accompanied with detailed instructions.
It’s a commission based position. You will get about 8% of each processed payment.

The general requirements are:

The ability to create good administrative reporting;
Any expirience in customer service sphere is approved. But it’s not necessary.
Willingness to work from home, take responsibility set up and achieve goals;
Honesty, responsibility and promptness in operations;
Effective interaction with customers;
You should be familiar with working on-line and have Internet and e-mail skills;

Salary: $600-$1200 per week

This job will allow to you:

to work efficiently from home;
to increase available personal time;
to get financial independence for less time than it’s usually required;
to develop high self-respect and esteem;

The working hours are not flexible. It means that you can perform the work at anytime. Working hours you
choose yourself. The main requirement is you should spend half an hour every day for the work.
You just have to check your e-mail daily to see if there is any work for you.
Current Vacancies: 4

If you are interested in this position, please reply to: ilona@summer-exchange-mail.biz

—–
Ilona Matise,
Financial Manager,
Summer-Exchange Inc.
By tiffany on Feb 7, 2007

i received 2 offers in the same week from two separate sources. one was an artist in the UK, and his letter sounded a lot like the one above, and the other found me on a housesitting service. she at first said she was interested in me housesitting while she was in russia, but then said she found a friend to do it, but wanted my help with her business. it all sounded too good to be true. i also in my mind have had a lot of ebay paypal transactions with sellers overseas, so the red flag went up that anyone could do something similar overseas. it’s sad that some people do fall for this stuff. luckily i mentioned it to my boyfriend and he was like, don’t do it, it’s a scam. i mean, that’s what my subconscious told, me, but also the 10% off the top sounded nice. i did have a friend get burned in the UK, as she tried to sublet her place in venice CA while she went to burningman. they sent her a check to hold the place, then 2 weeks before she left they said there was a death in the family and they needed their money back. she saw the money appear in her account and wired them back $3000. only to discover too late that the check had not really cleared, even though the funds became available to her. she has not had any luck in prosecuting overseas. so beware!!!! any wiring of money anywhere and any checks involved!!!!
By shondra on Feb 10, 2007

hey every one i have received both emails and a letter with a check i know it was to good o be true
By Suzanne Ackley on Feb 15, 2007

I have been scammed and want to know what can be done if anything. I know have no bank accout due to theves. I still have in my possession US postal money orders that are for $5,000.00 I have tried to contact the US postal service and report it and of course I have to leave a voice message. No one has ever contact me replying to my voice mails. Does our government not care that people are using them to scam people. I would think it would be easy to forward the money and have an FBI agent waiting to arrest these spammers.
By thermistor heatsink on Feb 16, 2007

There are some things of which it is difficult to find a use. I have a video of two turtles fucking. it will waste about 3.5 megs for them to download and watch. They are an endangered desert tortoise here. So it wastes a little of their time. It might be edifying and good point blank advertising.
By Sharon David on Feb 17, 2007

We are glad to offer you for a job position at our
company, Trade System Inc.
We need someone to work for the company as a
Representative/Book keeper
in the USA.
* The average monthly income is about 4000.00 USD.
* No form of investments from you.
* This job takes only 1-3 hours per day
About the job:
We are a manufacturing company here in the UK, we manufacture textile materials which are used in making cloths and other materials. Our major maket is in the US and the demand for out products are growing.The majority of our customers send us payments via casheirs checks or american postal money orders, and this is very inconvinient for us down here, as we have to wait for long working days before the payments are cleared down here, sometimes up to 3-4 weeks.
Your tasks are;
1. Receive payment from Customers
2. Cash Payment at your Bank
3. Deduct 10% which will be your percentage/pay on
Payment processed
4. Forward balance after deduction of percentage/pay
to any of the
offices you will be contacted to send payment to.
(Payment is to be forwarded either by Money Gramme or
Western Union Money Transfer).
We have lots of customers waiting to make payments and we need people like you to work with us.
Attached to this letter is an employment form for you to fill, fill it out and send back to me asap, after which you would be contacted by a staff of ours by phone.
So I would be expecting to hear from you.
Warmest Regards,
Thomas Rikaad
Administrative Manager,
Trade Systems Inc.
179 South Esk Road,
London,UK
E8 9HE
TEL +44-793-232-6955
N.B/ IF YOU DONT UNDERSTAND ANYTHING DO NOT HESITATE TO CONFIRM.
By Kelson on Feb 17, 2007

Interesting. Completely different pitch, but clearly the same scam.
By Bigdream on Feb 27, 2007

Ah, I can see these people have been very busy. I have a new one to add to the group (which is not a good thing!)

Add the name Joseph Young who reportedly represents the Kansai Crown Co. LTD, which is a huge Japanese conglomerate. Email address is Joseph Young [kansaicron@yahoo.co.uk]. Notice the email is close, but no cigar. He/They are indeed putting a new face on an old dog and pony show.

They picked up my information off of one of the job boards too. I won’t boar you with the details of the letter except to tell you all that is pretty much along the lines of the Summer Exchange posts. I have taken this a step further in the fact that I have let them walk me through every step of the process. I was called by Joseph Young (if that’s his name) and the first phone call was clear as a bell. Oh, they have a distinctly African (Country of) accent to their English. Subsequent calls were muddy, and I commented on the 2nd to last conversation that is sounds like he was in a bar. He said he was on the street. (How appropriate)

We bandied email back and forth, me defining the position, him doing his best to get me to forward identification, soc, etc. Finally after about a week I get an email saying I need to contact Mr. Elder Davidson to arrange for payment. I was led to believe that the payment were for textiles and would be $5000 to $7000 per occurrence. Imagine my surprise when a week later I get a check for over $55,000.00!

My contact – the ever vigil Joseph, called to ask if I have received the funds yet? Yes I have, I tell him. He says fine… please deposit the check and let us know when it has cleared your bank. I let him know it could be two to three weeks as it is a Canadian bank, and even though the check is drafted by a company that does about $200 Million dollars a year in business – it seems odd that they would need an account representative in the US. Now I am even more curious because the entire point of “hiring me” was the amount of time it took for an out of country check to clear the British banks, the exact language in my email of which said, “sometimes it takes up to two weeks for a check to clear here.” So why is it acceptable to wait for two weeks for me and give me 10% as opposed to waiting two weeks with the money in your account and paying me nothing?

That very night I get an urgent email from Mr. Joseph Young requesting that I send $2900 to them to cover expenses for the upgrades to their China office. It seems to poor guys were caught in between a rock and hard spot when the area manager (who is the only one that can authorize payments) is out of town on business. I email him back telling him I am a little confused – and could he please explain why a half a billion dollar a year multi-national conglomerate would need me to send $2900.00 for an office upgrade in China!

Red flags, bells, sirens, whistle, size fifteen boot in the backside – call it what you want. I call the bank in Canada, after about three calls, they finally break down and tell me that the account, the company, and the check are all real, it’s just that the amount is incorrect and it has shown to have been previously cashed for $200.00.

Like clock work, Mr. Young calls me. Did I get the email, can I send him the money Western Union. I say, no. I then proceed to relay the details about HIS client that sent me a $55,000 dollar forged check. He tells me, that’s impossible - he has been dealing with this person for 25 years. He also says he knows he works for the company in question. He then tells me he will meet with the management of his company first thing tomorrow morning to get this situation taken care of. I couldn’t resist mentioning that the management he referred to speaking with was supposed to be out of town on business!

He is supposed to call me back tomorrow with a complete explanation. I actually set up the coffee maker to brew a whole pot for tomorrow. It going to be story time - and I just love stories!

Oh, one more thing for those of you that really want to know more. I just love the service Net2Phone. The really neat thing about this service is you can track where a person is when you call someone using the service. So far my guy has been in London three times and Ghana twice. Must be nice to have money to fly all around the world. Wonder who’s money it is?
By Bigdream on Mar 4, 2007

I thought perhaps some of you would like an ending to my last post. It is hard to understand what motivates these people, (outside of a blatant disregard for the truth), but I read a lot of these sites to see what experiences others have had, and what methods were employed to try and deceive them. Since I do a fair amount of business on the internet, I am constantly being barraged by these types of email scams - and I am hoping that someone else can learn from my experiences too.

The rest of the story went by rather quickly. I really did make a whole pot of coffee – just so I could really enjoy the show though. Needless to say, I did not hear from Mr. Young after our conversation that night, at least by phone. What I did get was an email speaking to the fact that he was going to get to the bottom of this, and he was also going to find out why Mr. Davidson, whom had been an associate, not a client (fraudulent slip?) of his for 25 years – would have tried to pass a $55000.00 fraudulent check off.

He went on to say that he had been in a meeting all day with the management of his company and they would really like me to consider becoming the manager of their branch in the United States – and they have made just such a proposal to the Board of Directors. They had also turned over the information with respect to the check to their attorney’s.

Then he wrote: “Regarding the issue i mention in my last email to you, that some of our staff are in Africa. I dont know if you can still assist us to send the money to them when our account is back all the funds will be refunded back to you as i told you before.”

I wrote an email back saying that I would certainly expect a call from their attorney regarding the check as it is still in my possession, and I am sure the attorney will need the documentation and my notes. I also informed him that I wouldn’t be sending any money.

As you can imagine, that didn’t elicit any response… no call – no email.

The ending to this is, that the very next day I received an email from Donald Duke, owner of CREATIVEWORLDS ART AND CRAFT, FABRICS AND PRINTS. He has customers here and they only pay with Money Orders.
By shauna on Mar 12, 2007

i received some money orders in the mail and like a dummy i took them to the bank and i landed in jail for 2 days.
now i owe the bank $5,000.00 or face some time in jail.
i go to court on march 21
By KIM on Mar 12, 2007

i have had 4 men invovled in this same scam….. one guy named richard carter one guy named james rapel or something like that and one guy named diane adams in nigeria i was supposed to western union $2.100 hundred bucks to …!! the guy named james is the one who appaerently purchased 5-$500 dollar travelers checks ,,,,,and paul mcflores los angeles and claims hes from minnesota…… now i did cash 1 check and i am gonna go to my bank and have them trace these travelers checks by who had purchased them ….. they even came from a wells fargo bank it says right on them,,,, i know im stupid but i hoped i could scam these scammers i will keep u all posted …………if im not in jail that is lol……………but yeah they said i was goona be a PAYMENTS REPRESENTITIVE……And all the 10 % to keep but damn ………these f@!$%&* are good…..lol……….if anyone has any advice for me on TRAVELERS CHECKS PLEASE DO POST ME….thank u………………kim
By Bigdream on Mar 14, 2007

You can search on Google for money orders and fraud. They have some good sites out there for reference.

The situation with CREATIVEWORLDS ART AND CRAFT, FABRICS AND PRINTS has finally played out.

I all of a sudden received an email from Mr. Dukes claiming that one of his accounts had sent me a “Campus Check,” and it was being delivered by FedEx. He told me to cash it and immediately send 1/2 the funds via Western Union to some address in Ghana (which seems to be the new hot spot for 419 scams).

I sent him an email back letting him know that FedEx does not deliver to post office boxes in the US. I heard nothing for about 3 days until I received another email claiming that FedEx had contacted him and that my shipment had been refused when they tried to deliver it. He asked me to contact FedEx to find out what had happened.

I called FedEx. They told me that the shipment had been destroyed (a term they use when they find a fraudulent account or information.) Mr. Dukes (or who ever he/they were) had apparently opened many accounts under an old FedEx number and had shipped numerous packages to different addresses around the country. They opened the one to me and found a check that was (according to the representative) obviously fraudulent. She said it looked like it was made on a cheap DeskJet, and had no actual banking information and was even cut badly.

I passed on this information to Mr. Duke and also let him know that FedEx had traced all the other packages he had shipped and let the shippee(s) know that this person had been caught passing fraudulent checks and they had been turned over to the FBI.

I haven’t heard from him since. I wonder if it was something I said?
By tony on Mar 16, 2007

I recieved a letter from tower processing center 6540 liberty square po box 25920 st thomas virgin islands 00876 - 4510 they claim I won 50,000.00 dollars. They sent me a check from Pinnacle National Bank for 2,962.00. I am supposed to cash this check and send them the money to pay the taxes on the 50,000.00 so that the money can be released to me. The check is from tennessee commercial warehouse I checked the internet this is a trucking company I notified Pinnacle National bank in tennessee and am waiting to hear back from them. The letter states that winners were selected through a computer ballot system draw from the readers digest publishers clearing house on line sweepstakes database. It then lists several countries that were included claimming they are all involved in the international promotions program. I am also instructed t contact susan at tower processing center an accredited agent of united kingdom random lotto. How dumb do people have to be to fall for this.
By wondering on Mar 17, 2007

I just received the same letter as Tony! I (stupidly) got excited for a split-second before the skeptical side of me came out. Yeah. Like I could be that lucky. It’s especially tricky because I’ve traveled to the countries they list, so I’m thinking…what did I sign up for when I was there–maybe my name did get entered into some database.
But alas, Tony’s probably right
Please, let us know what you find out about the bank/check, etc.

Thanks.
By anthony on Mar 17, 2007

i got the same one i would like to know what you found out if you can do that for me thank you my email is antman5435 (at) hotmail.com [ed: changed your email's formatting so it's less likely to get picked up by a spammer]
By Robert on Mar 19, 2007

I have a friend that got the same letter. Another friend told her that it was surely a scam, but she has the check and it says tcw, inc. 22 Stanley Street NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE 37210 with phone number 519-991-0144 on the check and PINNACLE NATIONAL BANK. The whole thing was just like Tony’s from the same old Tower Processing Center even the check which is for $2,962.00. It was check #204348. When she called the 519-992-0144 number, it just rang and rang and nobody ever answered the telephone. No answering machine or anything. When we called the number on the Tower Processing Center form 1-902-412-9383, the lady said “hello”. She did not say anything about Tower Processing Center or tcw, inc. just “hello”, just how stupid do they think we are? Then the lady told us to go ahead and deposit the check then call us and we will tell you what you need to do next. LOL!! Let us know what you find out about the check.
By Jedi on Mar 19, 2007

I received the same letter/check. The check is valid. I’m now almost $3,000 richer. However, I agree that the number and company seem bogus, as I too have tried the number, and today received a busy tone? Must be a lot of people calling in!

But as repeated, the check CLEARED, so I’m not quite sure what kind of “scam” gives away thousands of dollars???

Perhaps this needs real investigating…
By Curious on Mar 19, 2007

Received the Tower Processing Center letter. A couple of subtle differences….Name on the check is Fyne-Wire Specialties Inc with an address in Virginia. Found the company on the web but it has a totally different phone #. Bank was Second Bank and Trust in Virginia. Phone numbers are exactly the same. Amazingly enough the 519 number points to Windsor, Ontario and the 902 number points to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Something definitely fishy here. If you are $3000 richer then good for you. How long ago did you cash the check? Are you going to go for the $50K? It just seems that the story remains the same - only the names have been changed…..
By Jedi on Mar 19, 2007

nah. I talked to my bank, and I’m going to have it stopped I guess. I mean, if it happens to go through, I’ll be richer, but I’ll also need to probably change my account info- and they’d have a sample of my signature, I suppose…

If it doesn’t, which I’m betting it wont, then I’ll also have to pay some processing fee?? I’m going to talk to them more tomorrow - especially why I’d be charged for a bad check that I didn’t write -_- . I’m betting it will bounce, though, but I would love to deficit the scammers if I could
By Mike Letendre on Mar 19, 2007

A letter arrived via postal us mail Tower Processing Center St Thomas REF#NAB-YB45_40M Mar.8th 2007Saying I won 50,000.00 credited to the afformentioned account Acompanied by a check for 2,962.00 for assistance in paying for tax and administative expenses(International Clearance fees) After wich your money will be released.
THE CHECK IS DRAWN ON RYERSON TOWERS Inc
c/o ARCO WENTWORTH MANAGEMENT 3646 NOSTRAND Ave Brooklyn, NY 11229 Tel(519)-991-0144
Please call claims agent TINA STILES at Tower Processing Center,an accredited agentof United Kingdom Random Lotto at this number 1-902-412-9650 I received this today 3/19/07 and I have to respond by 3/24/07 or miss the deadline and loose out Signed Kimberly White Prize Director Check drawn from North Fork Bank 1001 Avenue of the American, New York NY 10018-2706 I would place the routing number here also but I would not want to assist another scam to start.
By gunner1 on Mar 20, 2007

I recieved the Tower Processing letter also on 3/19 stating that we needed to claim our winnings by 3/24. My wife and I called the 902-412-9383# to talk to megan and SHe said Hello and nothing about TPC. She told us to deposit the check and call her back when the Check cleared and she would instruct us what to to next… Sounding TOOOOO good to be true I found myself here… What should I do next, police or post master since it came via reg u.s. mail.? I cant believe that people really just send money without researching this first. The check we recieved is a real check with the safeguard water seal on the back and when photocopied the copy gives you the VOID written across it… I dont know how they got these checks but they look very REAL.
By Perry on Mar 20, 2007

I recieved my Prize letter today 3-20-07. My first thought was the envelope was odd. I thought it was a chain letter. This particular letter was from tower, same figures as above. The obvious was how many countries and states my award had travelled; more than I have or will. The name is different from any others I,ve read here. I know one key of fraud is the short time limit to respond as one may discover all sorts of ODD things; look for them and you will see them no matter how much you want to believe your luck came at just the right time. I will copy and forward my letter and check to the Attny General. Thanks for listening and good luck, for real.
By Tammy on Mar 22, 2007

Well, just out of curiosity I decided to check out the names in a letter and on a so called check before I threw it out. Like a few others on here, Mine was as follows:

TOWER PROCESSING CENTER
3540 LIBERTY SQUARE
P.O. BOX 25920
ST. THOMAS, VIRGIN ISLANDS 00876-4510

REF#:NA8-YB45-40M
March 8th, 2007
By Tammy on Mar 22, 2007

I just recieved a letter and check from……that’s right, Tennessee Commercial Warehouse. The letter was from Tower Processing Center, where, yep, virgin Islands. lol Before I threw it out, I decided to check it out for curiosity’s sake. And this is where I landed. So, yes, people, the world is a nasty place for the honest, trusting, or gullible.

Did you know I also won $50,000.00 and the check to cover taxes, excuse me, key word here was to HELP cover taxes etc. It was made out for exactly $2,962.00 as well. And yes, I only have until tomorrow to claim my prize. Now, I am living on disablility with my children and could really use the money if it was real, do not work, have been brought up with preachers in the family, therefore, trusting your fellow man was a belief I grew up with. BUT no matter what, I could see right off how bogus this was. First off, there are typos all over the letter. Second thing that struck me after the initial, yeah right, was there are way too many places mentioned in this transaction. If it was legit, wouldn’t there have been less than four locations alloted with this, such as, where the bank is located, the warehouse, then the lotto itself and then the processing center from another place. puleeze.

I am glad, though that I read through all of your comments because instead of just trashing it, I know now to turn it over to the proper authorities. Thank you all for posting your experiences for the rest of us.

By the way, the names of the people involved in my letter refer to Gary Miller 1-902-412-9544 and Kimberly White-Prize Director

Have a wonderful day and hope my info also helps others from being scammed.
By PAULA on Mar 23, 2007

I ALSO RECIEVED AWARD LETTER IN THE MAIL THE OTHER DAY AND A CHECK FOR $2,962.00. I BEEN TRYING TO CALL THE 1-902-412-9319 AND THE IT ANSWER IT SAID THIS BOX OR NUMBER IS FULL. I CAN’T BELEIVE THE SCAMS THAT ARE OUT THERE.
NOW I CAN BELEIVE IT BECAUSE I FOUND THIS WEB SITE..
THESE PEOPLE NEED TO GET COUGHT AND PROSECUTE THEM FOR STEALING FROM US CITIZEN,THANK GOD THEY DID’N'T GET NO MONEY OR ANY INFO ON ME.SO WATCH OUT FOR LETTERS COME FROM( TOWER PROCESSING CENTER) 6540 LIBERTY SQUARE, P.O. BOX 25920 ST THOMAS VIRGIN ISLAND. 00876-4510
By RASHEL on Mar 23, 2007

I WAS CURIOUS IF ANYBODY HAS GOTTEN ONE FROM A PLACE CALLED BKM SEC INC OUT OF SPAIN AND THE UK. SAME OFFER CASH THE CHECKS, SEND THEM MONEY, MAKE 10%. I KEEP ASKING THEM TAX QUESTIONS BECAUSE I USED TO WORK FOR THE I.R.S. AND THEY ARE AVOIDING ME.
By Bigdream on Mar 25, 2007

Wow! Since my last update - I have been contacted by no less than two additional companies. Here is the information on these. If you wonder why I keep posting, it is quite simple. Information is power. I see a number of people here that bring up a great point - that without finding this web-site and reading the comments, they may have been taken advantage of. The more scams we expose, the more innocent people we can help avoid losing their money or their time.
TFK Security Inc. - They claim to sell security systems and software in the United States. The say they have stores in Spain and all over Europe and guarantee a salary of at least $5500.00 per month to process payments. We exchanged a couple of emails and they laid out their policies in a contract they wanted me to sign. I layed out my terms for doing business and as of March 19th, they have not responded.
United Nations - Yep, THE UNITED NATIONS! They sent me an email saying that I had not one, but two boxes of consigned goods with my name and email address. And guess what? Each box contained $25 million dollars that they were ready to “personally deliver to me” if I would simply send a donation of any amount between $300-$1000 to a charity of my choice. I emailed them back saying that I had made a donation to the Muscular Dystrophy foundation for $500.00, (which I honestly had done) and asked them if they would like a copy of the receipt. I was told that there was a list of charities of my choice that they would accept. Of course, none of them were even remotely recognizable, and I was also told to send the funds Western Union with the name of my “representative” (Francis Tetteh) who would make sure and get the money to the “authorized” charity. I received an email back stating they were not going to beg me to accept the money. That if I did not make the donation to charity, they would turn the money over to “Unicef, Aids commission and the new Liberia government for charity purpose.” I hope they send me a tax deduction receipt.

Oh, and by the way, the TFK Security Inc, gave me an address of:
TFK Security , Inc.
Plaza de las Cortes, 7
28014 Madrid, Spain

If you Google the address is comes up as the The Westin Palace Hotel in Madrid Spain. A five star hotel. Business must be good!
By elizabeth on Mar 26, 2007

Hi All! I’m sorry to hear that we all are victims of the web scams these people appear to be getting away with. I too was contacted by an Alma something with Summer-Exchange, sending me checks that ended up being counterfit. I got the checks before they were coming back bounced. Course Bank of America, my faithful bank of 16 years totally dumped on me when I told them of what was happening to me, their loyal customer. They have now sent all that money into collections and it has negatively reflected on my credit I have been trying to repair to purchase this house I am leasing.
Well, here I am, 3 months after all that and I just now filed a police report. I need to see about clearing that crap off my credit. Who’s to say? Bank says ultimately, I’m responsible for the money, since I did cash the check. I try to tell them I don’t have the money cuz I wired it to Latvia, but they say they don’t have proof. The only smart thing I have to try to give myself credit for is keeping copies of everything; the emails, the checks, the money gram documents. That all is going into my police report.
Good Luck to everyone.
By Susan on Mar 28, 2007

I guess I need to get in line… I’ve recently received an email from a john ayinla - ART DEALER from the UK here is the email I received:

I am strictly an art dealer and I offer only client based approached i.e the one-on-one personal meetings, i am just trying to team up with a partner in Australia to see to push my business a liltle from there.
I am not intrested in any thing above $1000 you can estimate the shipping cost for victoria in Australia. let me know if there is anything else you will like to know and please get back to me soonest with what the total cost will be so i can make arrangements for payment. I will give instruction to one of my clients there in the united states to make the release of fund to you, I will also be needing the address, and the name to which the payment can be issued to. Once i am in receipt of the nessesary infomation we can set up the transactions.
I await your response soonest.

Being a HUMAN BEING who chooses to believe that we are all on this earth to at the least be kind to each other, I find this disheartning that one could try to hurt another this way.

Any way here is the last email I received from him:

Hello , I am sorry to be contacting you in this manner, I contacted you recently about buying some prints from you, unfortunately my email box has been hacked and i have lost all my emails and all the vital information concerning the purchase including access to my box. i will still love to purchase this prints from you please get back to me with the necessary details so we can complete the transaction. i am sorry if i have contacted you wrongly as i can be sure of the precise details off-hand …
WELL at this point I got suspicious and decided to perform a search on the internet to look up this John Ayinla to see what was going on… You can guess my surprise when I found this site at the top of my search! I am deeply sorry and my heart goes out to those of you that have been scammed, I wish only the best for you all.
By gail on Mar 31, 2007

I have been scammed I’m sure from a Joe Wilson , we started out to be just chat frens on the internet, and than he wrote me a few love letters and poems, says he is in the uk on a job contract that he was a realstate manager, and that he builds compounds for other countries, we talked for awhile and than one day I got a phone call from a unity hospital in the Uk, saying he was robbed, and he needed money to pay the hospital bill, well me of course dont have that kind of money, so I didnt send any, now he is ok, so now he still needs money cause when he was robbed his creditials were all stolen and he has no id to cash a check to pay his bills. so why dont he call his family, no he contacts me says he will call his bank and have them send me a check to cash and I in return send him some money out of it. and than I can take money out of it to buy some groceries. but that he needs $150.00 to send it out, well like a dummy I sent him $150.00 which I couldnt really spare, but thought he cared, and now i’m out of that money, but I did get a check from him in the amount of $3575.00, that I dont dare cash cause i’m afraid it is fake, now what do I do. ??
do I copy all the letters he sent me and take the check to the authories. please someone give me some advice.
thank yu
gail
By Dazmon Taylor on Mar 31, 2007

i got a check in the mail for 2,962.00 dollars i got all excited and then i called the number and it kept saying messages full and i wanted to go to the website but oddly they dont have one so i searched on google and found this website i read all the entries about the Tower Processing Center and i got mad and if u get one and look real close you can see the word VOID all over it so turn this over to proper authorities and don’t be gullible like me dang i still can’t believe it i got my blood pressure up and now it’s a goddamn scam shoot
By kathy on Mar 31, 2007

Hello,
I AM writing to ask if you would mind sharing more about your experience regarding this bad check. I am asking because a close friend of mine has had a check come, and deposited it, it went thru, but 4 days later it was sent back as counterfeit. 2 different Bank of America clerks looked at it, besides us, and none of us saw the VOID written on it.

I am especially curious as to how and why they sent you this check. Did you fill out any entries for a free trip or a cash prize? He did, and thought this check was part of the winnings from this.

Have you contacted any authorities regarding this?

I would really appreciate anything you can share, we have already spent some, and have had the bank take the money back, so we are very angry about this situation, and are not sure what to do.

Thanks for your help.

Sincerely, Kathy Gettel
By venecia on Mar 31, 2007

i received letter from a towers processing center saying i won 50,000.00!
After I stopped screaming I looked it up online and was majorly pissed off. These people have to be stopped. This is a cruel thing to do to a person. I really thought my life was about to change. I am going to the police first thing Monday morning.
By danj on Apr 1, 2007

Has anyone tried to cash this $2.962.00 check directly at the issuer bank instead of depositing it?
By Mary Sanchez on Apr 2, 2007

to all of you out there I hope everyone look up info in the internet before they cash any check sent to them…..nothing is free is this life…I got nervous when I saw the check for almost 3,000 thousand dollars…but I counsulted with my husband and brother in law…and my brother suggested me to call CONSUMER AFFAIR..which I did…and of course its a fraude…

Money is a big help for any one right now….because all of us who live check by check are in debt upto our neck just to survive in this world..and to be SCAM by low life scam succer is ASHAMED…

not only you end up with no money you have to make this misserable low life rich and living confortably on your account..

don’t cash it even dough it looks so tempting and help you out in that moment but then you are going to have to pay a bank with money that you dont have..or even who know jail…no,no..

report these case to the police dont let it go by…….

a friendly friend
Mary Sanchez
By Cliff on Apr 2, 2007

Today I received the letter from Tower Processing as many of you have. Just reading the letter you must recognize it as a scam. Nothing is free. I’m sending it to my local newspaper. If printed it may save the “feeling lucky” person a bad day.
By Dena on Apr 3, 2007

I too recieved a check yesterday for 2962.00.It is written on a Sun Trust account.I am going there today to turn it in.I will let you all know what happens.It was also from the tower processing center,from Cantech inc.A Sharon Howard signed it and Tina Stiles is the “accredited agent”.I can not believe these people get away with this.I have recently been looking up things about cancer and treatments for my Mom who had Cancer.Now I get probably 2-3 a day.I have been very busy and have not done anything.Now that she has passed I am going to do everything I can to help stop these people.They prey on people who need this money and think we are to stupid to find out before we cash them.
By Susan Oblender on Apr 3, 2007

Well, it looks like they’ve been busy since I too received the $2962.00 check and letter. Mine is from “First Century Bank” & is signed by Marietta Stockley and the remitter is Donna Marts. While I could really use the money, I am very suspicious about such things so thankfully I found websites like this one with people who are willing to share their story. I too will turn this into the police. These low life people with no morals need to be stopped. There are plenty of people out there who would cash this “check” because it looks quite real. Also, banks are constantly changing names so if it soun

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