sounds completely legit to me....

Did you try to contact Police? I think FBI gets involved in matters like this. To bad you don't know anybody in GA that could meet up with the scumbag when he goes to Walmart to collect.

I would tell him you didn't have enough in your bank account to send but will soon. Then notify the police. It might be a wast of time but then again. You might save some sucker down the road.

See 419eater.com forums for the best advice. I say it's not worth contacting law enforcement. Even if there is a real person in GA they're just a mule being scammed too. Worth looking them up and letting them know.

Dang Cosmo you have all the fun. Wait a day or 2 then contact him again and tell him your in the hospital cuz you got robbed and shot going into the Western Union with his cash.

The guy is out of country... Local police won't do anything. Perhaps Mulder and Scully will take the case?

Play him as long as you can. Might as well have a little fun. The dog ate the check send another, my rich Nigerian uncle just died. You get the idea. Come on people we need good ideas.

Says "Official" on it, so it must be..... Official.

Unfortunately... Cheque is spelt wrong. But still... Official.

Spoof a phone number is easy enough.

Think these guys work outta the same hut as the guys who call from Microsoft cause u have a virus. Straight outta Pakistan.

LOL sad part is how many would fall for this scam. I would turn the account over to the Feds. Most likely not even in the US and tracking would be rough. I would tell him that Western Union needs a physical address to send cash. Then do a address search on google earth just to see what pulls up. Also, due to the new fraud alerts Western Union has advised you to ask for a copy of his drivers license before sending any money. You most likely won't very hear from him again.

I know you have his address (supposedly) but it might throw him off his scammers game...

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Funny - I was playing with one last week as well. When they asked where to send the money I provided the following:

"Jimmy is the person on this end who can make it work:

James Comey
935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20535
202-324-3000
"

As if I'm on first name basis with the director of the FBI (the address is their headquarters - the Hoover building)!!! This week they re-engaged saying the check should be there now. I've just been ignoring them but am tempted to tell them to call Jimmy and see if he has it yet.

-Rob
-visit http://www.kahr.us to get my daughterboard that helps fix WPC pinball resets or for Williams system 3-7 sound board potentiometer solutions

If it's been a few days since you received the 'check' - I would call him out. Tell him your bank called and wants the money as the check is bad. That usually will get them to go silent. If not, ask them to transfer from the BoA account to cover your losses... so maybe they will send another check??

Just wondering if the 'movers' ever showed up?

Hey Cosmo - was your check made out to the world-famous New York matador, 'Eduardo Corrochio?'

I knew him through my friends, Ramon (also the local pool guy...) and Bob Sacamano.

Becaus

Because it is so much fun to screw with them, ever see the guys page who made them take pictures of themselves holding up signs saying things like ilovesmallboys, monkeyfuc***, he had hundreds of them posted.

I played with one for a week, knowing of course it was a scam, wanted to see how the Russian girl was going to try to get me for money, finally it responded with a "crashed my grandmothers car, have no insurance, need 895 or I cannot come see you" So having fun, I responded well, that is a shame.. then got the maybe you could help me, I said how can I help you, if you send me the money I can come see you... then I unloaded on it, telling it I knew the whole time exactly what it was doing.. it was funny as hell.

Try this, ask for his address and tell him you need to send him a check back, then get some crayons and make a check out to him on a blank page, make it payable to douche bag scammer. Draw a little hand in the memo section giving him the finger!

In some parts of the world this is the correct spelling.

Can you get another check made out to Art Vanda lay?

I really hope the cops (in ALL countries) start taking this stuff seriously. It seems odd to me that they can find a "kiddy fiddler" but not someone who scams $1M.

It proves they CAN track them down if they have the will.

You're not giving him your real address to send the check to, are you?

They could track down anybody and tell you what they had for breakfast if the right person wanted to know.

I would think you should contact the US Postal Service....This is mail fraud.

Tell him that you totally screwed up and by a remarkable coincidence, you made a cashiers check for $1600 instead of $1300 and ask if he could wire you $300 now. Then you could send the $1600 cashiers check... Fill in the numbers any way you want...

Just tell him that the bank called you and said the check/money order did not go through, (they are investigated a possible fraud), and that he has to make other payment arrangements now as the bank will not give you the funds.....and you are now in a hurry.., and feel sorry for his movers having to wait....I'm sure he will soon disappear...

I usually have the checks sent to a police station. I know they will never be investigated, but it is fun. Next time I'll use the FBI address.

They won't do anything. I have a big time mail thief I'm dealing with. Called the Postal Inspectors and gave them police report #s, excellence video and stills of the perps face etc....never a response. Local police seem like they're too bothered to investigate...and never followed up by sharing the info with other officers to identify. I had to hire a separate security company to assist. Oh well.

I have all my checks framed on display.....Max Badazz, I.P. Freely, Hugh Jass, and of course Jack Schitt. There's a good 20+ checks worth around 250k. I even had them take a photo with a funny saying. After a while it got too easy and I stopped. Easiest way to get them to go away is say the bank flagged the check as bogus....you won't hear from them again

Love this and love the name you have set up for him on your phone.

I end my responses at the end with "God is watching you, and you will pay for your sins".. Someone told me that freaks them out, and it does seem to as not once did they ever respond again.

You need to instead take it to your local news station - they'd be more than happy to help you out since you have video.

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I often wonder how the scam worked, now I know. I always stopped at I will mail you a check and my movers will come pick it up. My standard response is send cash with your movers as I don't take checks and then it stops I don't hear from them anymore on my item.

I'm curious as to how you have so many scammers email you. Are they responding to pinball machine for sale ads on CL? Do you ever initiate the conversation?

Actually, there are lists out there that get bought and sold every day. If a person responds and they get figured for a soft touch, the scammer will immediately sell the contact so their buddy can go after them before they figure out they have been had. Once on a list, the name/email/etc. is perpetually circulated.

I have an ad on CL constantly running:

Expensive stuff for sale!

I ship anywhere!

Checks welcome!

I'm honest. If you overpay me, I'll refund the difference, FAST!

God Bless!

I personally wouldn't waste my time dealing with scammers as I can see no satisfaction gained.

Similar to spending a lot of time on pinside.

Since it sounds like you have started a wall of checks from them you have to collect all of the shows names, Mr Peterson, Soup Nazi and so on.

Plenty of people who play this game do. It's funny until you f with the wrong person.