Hi all. A friend of mine fell for a scam a few weeks ago and I'm trying to help him catch the guy as well as help law enforcement catch up. LE is very busy however and I'm dealing with a time-sensitive part of it that I think represents the only chance we have of getting back the money that my friend lost. He's a 78-year-old army veteran, a good guy, living on the edge financially and he may very well end up losing his home over this loss
I have tricked the scammer into sending me a bogus check that he thinks I have cashed. He wants me to use the money to purchase a money order which he would then instruct me to deposit into another account. The scam "story" is a long one, I can post it later if need be, but for the time being I am looking for a bit of help from someone who might know how to accomplish what I need within the next 24 hours.
Before I can get the number of the account and name of the bank where the scammer wants me to deposit the money order, he insists on seeing a photo of the money order. Apparently the scammer is following some sort of protocol or script from which he will not deviate. My friend sent him images of actual Moneygram money orders, which can be traced online via their serial numbers. I don't think a bank money order can be traced that way so I told the scammer that the line at Walmart was too long and we didn't have time to wait there and went to the bank instead.
What I need is an image of this fake money order. I called my bank and my friend called his bank. We fully explained the scam to them and told them my plan: I will take the fake check the scammer sent me -- which he thinks I have already cashed -- to the scammer's bank and deposit it there, instead of depositing the money order. That will give the scammer's bank an excuse to at least place a hold on the amount of this check, which is for the same amount that my friend was scammed out of. And then perhaps LE will be able to get it back for him.
Both banks refused to supply us with an image of a real money order -- to be destroyed after making an image of it -- with which to fool the scammer into giving me the bank account info where I could deposit the thing. It *could* be the same account that my friend deposited his REAL money orders into, but since scammers often change things up in an effort to stay ahead of the law, it could also be different. I won't know until I can show the scammer the image he wants to see.
If anyone here knows how to produce the image I need, please let me know. But if it's more than 24 hours since this post first appeared, it's probably too late. You guys are our "last resort". If there's something horrible about this post and you want to chew me out over it, you needn't bother. I haven't really had time to think it through. I am just desperate to help my friend avoid losing his home, and every place we've tried to get help has either passed the buck or hasn't had time to call us back. Meanwhile our chance to reclaim that money is slipping away.
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