What will be the new long con targeting charities?
For example, a Kentucky non-profit recently received a check for $9,000. However, the contributor sent an email asking that $4,200 of the payment be wired to Nigeria. The email stated that the "extra funds on the check is meant to cover the payment of the service of the publisher of a magazine company whose services I employed to help me feature the memoirs and memories of the captured moments during my wedding celebration three months ago."
The email continued, "As soon as you receive the check today, deduct your own funds for the payment and help transfer the rest…as they are expecting to receive the funds from you today so they can proceed with their arrangements regarding what I requested of them." It is requested that the money be wired to an address in Nigeria.
"This is a new twist on the old counterfeit cashier's check scam," said Attorney General Stumbo. "Scam artists are now sending counterfeit checks to needy charitable organizations and requesting that a portion be forwarded to a foreign address immediately. In the past, consumers who fall prey to similar scams not only lose money by wiring the funds, but then are pursued by banks to return the funds or be prosecuted," explained Stumbo. "This is why educating consumers is a top priority of my Office. Once stolen, this money is very difficult to recover." (my emphasis)
This is a new variation on this short con, so named because there is very little to the setup and the profit is quick and dirty. Like all short cons, this will migrate into a long con. Can you guess how that will work?
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Charities are the perfect target for an elaborate ponzi scheme, recall the New Era ponzi scheme run by Bennett. What I suspect that we will see is charities being victimized by a ponzi criminal, but with each payment from an unusual bank or source. The payments for "processing" will be made and go off without a hitch, for a specified time. Some of these cheques will be allowed to bound deliberately, so that the criminal can make good and establish credibility. Thousands of charities will be targeted, all of them primed to receive a very large Nigerian check - which will not only bounce, but signal the end of the scheme.
Technorati Tags: commonwealth of kentucky, email, captured moments, wedding celebration, charitable organizations, counterfeit, memoirs, charities, cheque, variation, wired, advise, nigeria, charity
