Monroe woman loses thousands in e-mail scam that sounded too good to be true

Monroe — A village of Monroe resident fell victim to an elaborate although common Internet scam that began with an unsolicited e-mail with a job offer. Monroe Det. James Frankild said the victim was embarrassed and did not want her name used, but offered her story as a cautionary tale. According to the information the woman gave police, the scheme worked like this: She received an unsolicited e-mail from a person who claims he is an artist living in England. The letter writer also claimed that he has a difficult time selling artwork to people in the United States because they generally pay him with U.S. money orders or travelers checks, which he says are difficult to cash in England. He wrote that he is looking for a representative in the United States who will work for him by cashing these travelers checks and money orders and forwarding the money to his suppliers. The employee would receive 10 percent of all money orders and travelers checks cashed. Frankild said the victim, thinking she could use the extra cash, responded; that prompted a second e-mail, asking her to fill out a short online application that asks for her full name, address and telephone number. A few days later, she received a package with $7,000 in travelers checks. It also included a letter reassuring her of the legitimacy of this job and her fees. She is told to deposit $5,000 in the travelers checks and keep the rest until needed. The letter also instructed her to send the $5,000 to two suppliers via Western Union. The victim deposited the checks, withdrew the appropriate from her account and sent the funds through Western Union. Money sent through Western Union can be picked up at any of its offices worldwide. In this case, Frankild said, the money was picked up in Nigeria. She then called her “boss” to tell him the money is on the way. The woman told police she received telephone calls from her boss, a Tony Adams, who filled her in on his business and his personal life. The conversations, she told police, made her feel like she was part of the company. Frankild said the checks were counterfeit and did not clear the woman’s account. “She had withdrawn her own money in anticipation that checks would clear and is now out the money which she withdrew and sent,” he said. “I examined some of the counterfeit checks myself which were very well-designed. They had a silver seal, holograms, micro printing and water marks. “This is a pretty common scam,” the detective added. “These con men send out thousands of similar e-mails to random e-mail addresses. Most people just delete them, but some do respond. Once contact is made and a dialogue established the con men are very good at making the scam seem like a legitimate business venture. “That’s when people fall prey. Usually once it’s discovered that it is a scam it’s too late and the victim is out money, in this case several thousand dollars.” If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true.