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Help!!! Think I've been a victim of a money order scam!!!
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Author:  soscammed [ Fri Nov 24, 2006 6:19 pm ]
Post subject:  Help!!! Think I've been a victim of a money order scam!!!

I recently went to the internet to an online dating website...I "met" someone and things seemed ok. Until this week...a couple of weeks ago I was sent several money orders between $500 and $800 each. This was supposed to be money to help me out during the holidays until this person came back to the states from Nigeria. Being completely naive to what I now think is a scam, I deposited each of the money orders into my bank account. The bank placed a hold on them because they were $500 or more. I found out today that my account had been debited for the amount of one of the money orders. I am now in the hole at my bank and am not sure what to do. The teller told me I would have to wait a couple of days before they would know for sure if they were fraudulent money orders. What if in the mean time they continue to debit my account for the amount of each money order...I could be indebt for thousands of dollars!!! HELP!

Author:  armac [ Sat Nov 25, 2006 8:34 am ]
Post subject: 

So you withdrew and spent the money from the money orders?

Author:  soscammed [ Sat Nov 25, 2006 8:36 pm ]
Post subject:  Money order scams

No...the money orders were placed on hold w/ my bank...as of yet there has been no money released to me/or in my account. However, the bank has began debiting my account for the money order amounts...so far totaling close to $5000.00!!! My bank says it will be a few more days before the money will be released IF they are legitimate. My fear is that if they are not legit I will owe my bank for this amount of money.

Author:  armac [ Sat Nov 25, 2006 9:49 pm ]
Post subject: 

If the money orders were held, and you did not spend the money, there is no way you could be overdrawn. You did not spend the money.

Author:  pasttired [ Sun Nov 26, 2006 6:22 am ]
Post subject: 

Soscammed is it that your account was showing the money orders amount, in the account, but not available? Now that amount is being taken away from the one showing the money orders amount? The only way you could end up owing the bank is, if in fact the money was made available and then you withdrew some. If you never took any of that money out of the account, as I understand you are saying, there is nothing to be paid back other then to pay the returned check fees for the money orders that come back. The bank does not take money from you that you did not get from them, other then the fee they charge for checks being returned unpaid from the other bank you would owe nothing if you took none of that money out.

Author:  moveup [ Sun Nov 26, 2006 4:38 pm ]
Post subject: 

well said,pasttired.

Author:  admin [ Sun Nov 26, 2006 7:39 pm ]
Post subject: 

soscammed,
I think that we might need more details of your situation to help you, because I have NEVER heard of a case where the victim did not take any money out of the account yet the account was still overdrawn.

I know that this may mean you have to make a long post, but could you give us a "play by play" of everything that happened? When you got the checks, for how much, when you deposited them, if there was a large amount of money in the account before the deposits, dates of any withdrawls that you made (checks written, ATM withdrawls, bank withdrawls), when you first found out that the account went negative and the explaination the bank gave you for why they were taking the money back out if the checks had not come back as counterfeit yet.

You see, USUALLY a person becomes a victim of this scam because they deposit the checks and either
1) spend the money
2) wire a portion of the money back to the person who sent them the check

then days (or weeks) later the check will find out that the check is counterfeit and at that point they take out the amount of the check from the bank account, but since the victim has already spent or wired the money that causes the account to go negative.

We want to help, but we need to be clear on what is happening with your situation so that we can give you the correct advice.

Author:  soscammed [ Tue Nov 28, 2006 6:14 pm ]
Post subject: 

As of last night my account balance was a -$5875.00....today, my bank notfied me that they has debited my account for each money order amount because I did not have enough in my account to cover that amount. Then they proceeded to tell me that they are 100% sure the money orders are counterfeit. My bank rep. then assured me that my account would be brought back up to good standing...that each MO had to go through their system before any changes in my balance could be made. I really don't understand all of that, but whatever, as long as they make my account right...as if was prior to the money orders being deposited. Thankfully, my bank is only charging me $5.00 per money order (like a ret. check fee). I still have to file a police report and consult w/ the United States Postal Service Inspection Service. My concern with my safety is still an issue, however. See, the person who sent these to me and I had contact w/ via internet (MySpace) had been planning to come to the states to see me. Several people I know tend to think he will not come if he supsects anything....but, I am not so sure...cause he still says he's coming. I was advised by the bank not to let on to him that I know the money orders are counterfeit.

Author:  armac [ Tue Nov 28, 2006 6:25 pm ]
Post subject: 

They had placed a hold on the account, now the m.o. are being returned, kind of a double whammy, when the hold drops the account will be at a zero balance. I bet you never had access to those money orders, they had a hold in place.

Author:  admin [ Tue Nov 28, 2006 9:48 pm ]
Post subject: 

soscammed wrote:
My concern with my safety is still an issue, however. See, the person who sent these to me and I had contact w/ via internet (MySpace) had been planning to come to the states to see me. Several people I know tend to think he will not come if he supsects anything....but, I am not so sure...cause he still says he's coming. I was advised by the bank not to let on to him that I know the money orders are counterfeit.


That is odd that the bank said NOT to let on to him that you know that the checks are counterfeit. Usually when the victim tells the scammer that they know that the checks are counterfeit and that they have given all of the info to the FBI or the Secret Service, the scammer stops contacting them.

I always tell people that I would not worry too much about the scammers coming to find you . . . in the first two years of this site being operational we helped stop over 2 million dollars from going over to the scammers . . . if they were going to come and get anyone it would be people like me and people who operate other scam fighting websites that are putting a dent in their business.

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