Dye listed scams that take place online and from telephone calls and are being monitored by the Southern District of Ohio Financial and Electronic Crimes Task Force. Among them:
Online auction sites including Craigslist include many fake postings for equipment or property that are unrealistically priced, sometimes listed for a quarter or less of its estimated worth. Dye said property listed with a picture and location and request for “holding” the property or telling the buyer they will ship a product with a guaranteed payment “wire transfer” are bogus.
“In almost every case the property doesn’t exist and the ‘sellers’ are actually sitting at an Internet café in a foreign country,” Dye said.
Dye said a “shipping company” scam involves local businesses getting emails or phone calls from a foreign country. The customer will provide one to four credit card numbers for the purchase of merchandise worth between $5,000 and $50,000.
“During the purchase, the purchaser tells the company that they have a preferred shipper, which is in their country, and coincidentally provides the contact details for the shipper,” Dye said. He said the scammers ask for a shipping fee to be wired up front.
“In the end, the shipper and the buyer are the same people and the entire purchase has been made with stolen credit cards that initially clear at the ban,” Dye said. “This is an easy way for the overseas criminal to get cash directly from a stolen credit card.”
Work from home online scams promise “fees” for cashing checks using a personal bank account and redepositing the proceeds into other local bank accounts.
“The clearing of a paper checks can take up to three days and if you deposit the funds from these fictitious checks without the check clearing fully, then you are out all of the money,” Dye said.
Dye said several local residents have sent or wired money to casual acquaintances on Internet social networks after developing an online relationship. He said they often misspell common words and claim to be doing things like “Aids research” when they ask for money to be sent after the resident gets a bogus check.
A scam targeting older residents is one where callers say a grandchild was in jail or in an accident and that money is needed to be wired to post bond or fix a vehicle
“This scheme works for several reasons according to U.S. Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Mark Porter,” Dye said. “Elderly family members are often distanced from their grandchildren physically and don’t recognize their voice on the phone. They are often financially secure and feel needed, readily sending the money.”
Other schemes include an “unknown collection agency” asking for wired funds and threatening that law enforcement will show up, an email scam saying a person has “won the lottery,” or that a general in a foreign country needs help releasing funds. Also, timeshare schemes are operated in which residents receive a counterfeit check and are asked to wire funds.
“It is important to understand that most fraudsters are outside of the jurisdiction of Ohio and even the United States and they prey on greed and economic desperation,” Dye said. “Please educate yourself and your family before you become a victim, rather than after.”
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