this is my story about being a viction

Hi my user name is smilly I am a victim of a scam and also a victim and almost a victim of another one. The one I was a victim of is someone gave me a name if a friend and the persons friend is in the UK I believe. But he asked me to be a payment officer for him and for their customers in the USA. I was suppose to receive checks from their customers and then take a 10% commotion and send the rest to the UK. But what happened I received a check and I cashed it and I wired the money to Korea and the check turned out to be counterfeit. But I have found the that this person that I have talking to on the internet doesn’t work for the company that I was suppose to be working for.
The other scam I almost got taken from is a steel company in China. I really thought it was for sure it was true but when I started looking at the company and looking at the board members the person wasn’t even on the list of members. I couldn’t get in touch with the steel company to really find out but the problem is I don’t speak Chinese and I don’t really know for sure or not. But I have learned from this experience not to trust anyone and that is my new problem. I don’t know who to trust anymore. So this is my story I hope this helps everyone that reads this.

Sorry to hear that, smilly. Legitimate companies/businesses will never, ever route funds or checks through an individual's private bank account. Have a look around here, there is a wealth of information regarding these and other types of scams. Look in the "Checks and money orders, fake company representative jobs, and other financial scams" section. Lack of trust can be overcome by educating yourself on the types of scams that are out there, until then it certainly can't hurt.

You might want to have a look at the "Money recovery scams" section as well since it is likely that you may be contacted by the same scammers offering to recover all or a percent of the money you lost. Unfortunately, the money is gone and there is 0% chance of getting it back.

Glad that you found us, smilly and thanks for posting your story. It may help someone else.

Welcome to ScamWarners, Smilly. Sorry that it had to be under these circumstances.

The steel company in China wouldn't be Sino Steel, would it? Sino is a real company, but their name is often abused by scammers. The email you received was DEFINITELY a scam, and not sent by anyone working for Sino or any other steel company in China.

As Jose said, no legitimate company hires people to receive and cash cheques, or process payments through their personal bank account. This is just the story scammers use to get you to deposit their fake cheques and send them money. No matter how good the story is, or how reasonable it sounds, it is always just another scam.

As to who to trust, the rule of thumb is to never trust anyone who contacts you over the internet with an offer that sounds too good to be true. As you read around the fora here, you will find many many examples of how far internet scammers will go to part you from your money. Learning as much as you can about these scams and how they work is the best way to avoid becoming a victim again, and sharing your story is a good way to help someone else not fall for an internet scam.

Again, welcome.

Smilly, welcome from me too, and thanks for telling us about what happened. It may help prevent others being scammed.

You've had good advice from jose and SF, so I'll just add for others' benefit that it is important to understand that seeing the money in your account does not mean it's safe to send it on. If the check or money order is forged or stolen, it could take ages to discover that, but the bank will almost certainly take the money back out of your account when they find out.

Banks usually give you the money for the cheque 'with usual reserve', which means they actually give you the money, but hold the right to debit your account the moment the cheque turns out to be 'bad'. Loads of people think the cheque cleared, since they received money from their bank. Unfortunately, as you already found out, this is not the case.

If you receive emails from any company offering a job where you need to cash cheques, this is a fraud. Legitimate companies can send the cheques to their bank or the bank's lockbox and the cheques will be processed automatically.

It would be great help if you could post some of the emails the scammers sent to you. It may raise red flags for people in a similar situation. Someone could recognize the style or the demands posed in the emails and realize in time they are being scammed.

Thank you for telling your story!

Thanks all for all the info you gave me but I have a question for all who my read this. If you have read my story you can tell I have been a victim of an internet scam and got financially ruined. So what I am asking can anyone tell me were I could go to get help get back on my feet. I am employed and I just need some help to get my bills paid and help my rent. I know there is someone out their that is good and can help people in need. I know I messed up and became a victim of an internet scam but I have learned my lesson. So if anyone can give me any assistance in any way just let me know here and ok.

.......someone gave me a name if a friend and the persons friend is in the UK

Is this a real life friend ? or a person off the internet. No need to give names or details, but it would be of use to know how you got hooked into this scam.

smilly, we cannot offer you financial assistance, I'm afraid. However, if you want help negotiating with your bank about the debt, I suggest you head over to FraudAid.com where they have specialist victim advocates. They have some information here about steps you can try yourself to help reduce the debt, and if that fails, there is a contact link at the end of that section to enable you to get individual advice. I hope that helps.