[email protected] - Western Union Scam

Contacted me attempting to buy an item from a local Facebook sales/wants page, I'm from UK and it appears they are from U.S.A. so it shows how desperate these people are to scam others.

Agreed a fee for my item but realised they were a scammer when they asked me to forward money to their agent through western union in order to release the paypal payment.

Also sent a couple e-mails from 'Paypal' in broken English which confirmed the scam.

23 Feb 2012
Transaction ID: 0TR19308DU070732T
Hello ***** *****

You received a payment of £160 from Nancy Sonoh([email protected])
Thanks for using PayPal. To see all the transaction details, check your PayPal Email.

It may take a few moments for this transaction to appear in your account.

Reversals:
Please be aware that your payment is on pending, Kindly comply to the instruction given to your Below.

Seller Protection - Eligible

Buyer
Nancy Sonoh
[email protected] Note to seller
The buyer hasn't sent a note.
Agent Information - confirmed
Platinum Moving Services.

State: Illinois
Zip-code: 62206
Country: USA

Postage details
Pick Up Agent.

Description Unit price Qty Amount
Fridge & Chest Freezer



£60 2
£60

disabilitynow
Pick up Agent Fee £100
Insurance - not offered ----

Total
£160
Payment £160

The above USA address is the person they asked for the money to be transferred on to, is it worthwhile passing this on to anyone, surely this would have to be a real person to cash the money? Although I do not know how western union works, could they still have cashed in with a fake name?

Scammers have found ways around many of WU's rules, so it is possible the money wouldn't be picked up in the US. But, if the money is picked up in the US, the name may or may not be real (scammers will call and change recipient info at times.) The person in the US may be an accomplice, but is equally likely a victim of a romance scam or a job scam who thinks he/she has a legitimate reason to collect and forward the money (for example, someone who has fallen for a "payment agent" job.

The real scammer is most likely in Africa or Malaysia.

It's a huge scam. A person using the name of Rebecca Lawrence tried it one me just yesterday with an ad on our local Craig's List. Same story.. she asked to transfer funds to my paypal account and then wanted me to send money via Western Union to a xxx in Cahokia, IL. Then this morning, I reveived an email from yet ANOTHER person trying the same scam. This one is using the name Christina Robinson. Beware! She is claming to be part of the USAF and "off shore" and wants to purchase the boat I have posted for her father. The wording of the email in plainly suspiscious and again, she asked to use the paypal, etc etc.

Meh. I get these all the time, but this time I decided to see what would happen if I played along. I guess this crazed (potentially Nigerian scammer) thought I was some old naive Grandma. Hehe.

Well, he gave the same crap about how he is on some boat and he was going to send me money via PayPal and his "agent" would pick it up. Obvious scam. He also changed his email address from: [email protected] to [email protected] to [email protected]. And maintaining the name of "Larry Victor Mend" throughout all the messages.

Hello,

I will like to inform you that i have made the Payment to the PayPal
account you provided to me including the sum of $1,150.00 for the
shipping cost and i added $50 for the western union charges i think
you should have the confirmation by now.Below is the Name and Address
of the shipping agent to which you will send the Money to and the
necessary paper documents,i have forward your address and telephone
number to the shipping agent they will call you for the pickup
arrangement, do get the money sent to them via western money transfer
as soon
as you receive confirmation of the funds from PayPal so they can come
for pick up asap.
Cahokia, Illinois 62206.USA
Please kindly email the necessary details to paypal :
SENDER NAME :
ADDRESS :
AMOUNT SENT :
MTCN NUMBER( 10 digit number on western union transfer receipt) :

You can email it to paypal directly,that is fine with me in order for
the money i sent to be credited into your account after they might
have receive and verify everything they will credit the whole money in
your account.My pickup agent will contact you after they have received
the payments in order to book a time for the pick up to be done.Thanks
for the understanding,It's nice doing business with you.
I will be looking forward to hear from you.

Regards,

And then before that I got this. **After I said I wanted to go through with the deal, just to see what would happen. I told him I had a PayPal account at my email address, which I don't. I have it linked to another email address. But I got a obviously fake confirmation from faux PayPal below:

Hello (I'm removing my email address because I'm listing it on this forum) ,

This email confirms that Larry has sent you $13,000.00 USD.

View the details of this Transaction here:

Payment Details





Transaction ID: 9TQ95872YQ3810894P


Item ID #
Item Title Quantity Price Subtotal
N/S


(I'm removing the name of item I listed on this forum) 1 $11,800.00
USD $11,800.00
USD



Pick-up & Delivery:
(includes any pick-up delivery fees)
$1,200.00
USD



Insurance:
(optional)
$0.00
USD

Total: $13,000.00
USD



This is to inform you that you are required to send a sum of $1,150.00 USD to the address below via Western Union Money Transfer and get back to us with the relevant information's which you will be provided with after the money has been sent. You are requested to give us the MTCN# (Money Transfer Control Number) and the Sender's Name and Address used in making the transfer after which we will then credit the total sum of $13,000.00 USD into your PayPal account. Below is the Address where the money is to be sent using Western Union Money Transfer.


Agent's Info: Thomas Yahozha,.
2830 calvin BLVD lot 5,
Cahokia,IL.
62206 USA.


Address Status: Confirmed



Please note:
We wish to inform you that Larry has made his intentions known to PayPal that he will like $1,150.00 USD to be sent to the recipient's address above via Western Union Money Transfer.

Click here to locate nearest Western Union Agent in your area or send money online and also call western union to confirm the order immediately you send money online.

Note: As this transaction was done via our e-mail payments service, any inquiries and necessary information should be sent to us by directly replying to this message, because of the status of this transaction, it has not been passed on to our customer care phone service section,and all inquiries should be directed to this e-mail address as it is the one monitored for your transaction.

This payment has been deducted from the buyer's account and has been "APPROVED" but will not be credited into your account until the MTCN # is sent to us for verification, so as to secure both the buyer and the seller. Below are the relevant information required before your account will be credited.

Questions Please reply to contact PayPal Customer Service Department concerning this Transaction.


All you have to do is to reply directly to this email with the MTCN and the Sender's Name and Address used when sending the money through Western Union Money Transfer. You will receive a "Confirmation Email" from PayPal Service informing you that your PayPal account has been credited with $13,000.00 USD as soon as the above information's has been received and Verified by us.

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

Please, understand that this is a security measure intended to help protect both the Buyer and the Seller.We apologize for the inconvenience this might cause you.

Because of the inconvenience this causes we are giving you the next two incoming transfers for free! You will pay no fees for your next two incoming transfers*.

PayPal will be responsible for any loss incurred during the course of this transaction.

With more than 147 million accounts worldwide, we are a leading online payment method you can trust!


Thank you for using PayPal®.
PayPal Security.



TOTAL LOAD OF CRAP. I wish I could get in contact with the Illinois crime unit to check out that address. Not going to bet it will happen unless someone is naive enough to give this fool money.


I'll check back to this post soon. Take care everyone, and stay safe on the interwebz!

I dont know who contacted you but i had my identity stolen and had the police looking into it. And i don't own a company or any fridge or freezer. If i had one to sell i rather donate it to Habitat for Humanity than sell it on paypal. Plus i dont know how you got my information i only give it out to people who are friends and coworkers so you cant blame me for your dealing. If i were you i would have ask for more details and instead of posting someone as a scammer i noticed you didnt even ask for a number. So dont ever call me a scammer and for one thing why would i send anything to a country that is full of bigots towards Native Americans.

I am very confused, Tboz. I do not at all understand what you are trying to say, or even which post in this thread you are referring to.

In this thread, you state that you have had nothing to do with this scam and your identity was stolen, yet in your other post you stated:

I worked for this guy who said i be doing transactions and sending over seas. One thing lead to another i kept getting transactions and sent them out but i never got paid by him at all.

If people have been sending money to you and you have been picking it up, or you have been placing ads yourself, even if you were doing it for someone else, then there is no stolen identity involved here. That would mean that you have been acting as a mule for the thieves, and legally would make you an accomplice to their crimes, exposing you to possible arrest and charges of fraud and/or money laundering, both of which are serious crimes.

Without better understanding what is going on, I cannot address the problem if there is one.

the Thread that you posted as my address i dont know what you are talking about and I dont even know of a PLatium MOving Company at all i dont know who got a hold of my address because i been getting all kinds of scams from countries and i have the FBI here in the United states investigating them because i amd also getting a peorson investigated because of their intentions of using me as a coverfront for thier lies

this is to Larryisscammingme. I dont know how you got my address and using my information to send to me. I dont even have a paypal account and i never been invovled with people from overseas to say you need to send this amount.

@tboz:

Larryisscammingme got your name and address from a scammer.

When you accept a "job" receiving and forwarding money, you are agreeing to be a mule, and whether you intend to or not, you are signing up to help scammers and thieves. There is no such thing as a legitimate job receiving and forwarding money--whether it is through moneygram/western union, checks, or even bank account transfers, all of these "jobs" involve you in criminal activity.

After you agreed to help the person calling himself Greg Cooks, he started running his usual scams to steal money. In this case, he is answering craigslist ads, using various names, when people are selling items, and he is pretending to pay them via paypal by sending fake paypal emails (there is no real paypal account involved here.) He is pretending to send his targets extra money, and then pretending that you are a shipper who needs to be paid. That means when people sent you money, they thought they were using money he sent to them to pay for shipping of an item. Because he never actually sent money, the money they sent was their own--the scammer just used this whole fake scenario to steal it. The scammers mentioned in this thread are are just other characters created by the person who used the name Greg Cooks with you. I can guarantee that his name is not really Greg Cooks.

When you pick up those transfers, you are collecting stolen money and forwarding it to the criminal. This makes you an accomplice to his crime, and it is something you can be charged for.
As for him not paying you...He's a liar and a thief--it's not like there is any reason to think he will be honest with you. If he did pay you, it would be with stolen money, which only involves you more deeply in the crime.

Since it appears that you also fell for a scam, I have removed your name and address from the original posts. But if victims are asked to send money to you in any future scams, now that you have been told what is going on, they will be left posted, and the authorities will be contacted.

If you are still unsure as to how all of this works, send me your phone number via pm, and I will have a scam warner contact you and help to answer your questions.