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I am scammed by a woman in roommates.com
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Author:  ladyfrog304 [ Sat Jan 23, 2010 10:49 pm ]
Post subject:  I am scammed by a woman in roommates.com
One month ago, I was looking for a roommate online and someone came to me. She said that she's from UK and coming to US for 8 months, so she needed a room to stay. She said she's gonna ship her car and luggage here so I'll have to pay for any extra payment. She has an uncle and he sent me a check of $3250 for the ship payment and the deposit. She told me when I get the money, deduct $1000 for the deposit and send the rest to her shipper in Massachusset (through Western Union ). So I did do it. Later on, she said she found another shipper who's in China that had offered a cheaper fee payment so her uncle will send another check of $3500 for me to send to her Chinese shipper. So from that I feel strange then I started to research and found out I was scammed. Currently I lost about more than $3250. We still get contact everyday and she always force me to send the money as soon as possible. Now I know she's a scammer. How can I get my money back ?
Author:  ladyfrog304 [ Sat Jan 23, 2010 10:52 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: I am scammed by a woman in roommates.com
Oh about the $1000 that she said I keep for the rent deposit, later on she told me she needed money to book her ticket so I had to send her $1000 back. So yeah, I was so stupid. Now I lost everything.
Author:  Biggles [ Sun Jan 24, 2010 5:30 am ]
Post subject:  Re: I am scammed by a woman in roommates.com
ladyfrog304 wrote:
... sent me a check of $3250 for the ship payment and the deposit. She told me when I get the money, deduct $1000 for the deposit and send the rest to her shipper in Massachusset (through Western Union ). So I did do it.

This is of course a very typical 'Overpayment Scam'. Anyone who sends a payment which is more than you are asking, and then wants a balance of that money sending somewhere else is 100% guaranteed to be a fraudster. What happened at your bank with this cheque? If it is a month ago, that cheque should have bounced by now.

ladyfrog304 wrote:
How can I get my money back ?

There is not much hope of that happening, sorry to say. First, you do not know who the perpetrator actually is, nor where they live. Despite them saying they are in the UK the probability is that they are in West Africa. Considering you do not know the person's identity, Law Enforcement have nothing to go on, and running an investigation across international borders is exceedingly expensive.

You should consider filing a report with your local police, and if your bank have not contacted you regarding that cheque, you really need to get that sorted too, they will come after you for it. Read SVU's article about Counterfeit Cashier's Check [link].

Next is making a report to The Internet Crime Complaint Center [link].

Finally is exposing the details that have been used by the scammer. Post their initial letter to you and any other that contains information about them. Email addresses, Names, Postal Addresses, Western Union transfer information, phone numbers are all very important for search engines to pick up. This information can help other people in a similar situation.

Don't forget to remove any of your own personal details before you post anything.
Author:  admin [ Sun Jan 24, 2010 7:59 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: I am scammed by a woman in roommates.com
I back everything that Biggles has said, and I wanted to add that you can go to
http://scamvictimsunited.com/Reporting_scams.htm
for a list of other places that you can report this scam to also.

Education is the key to fighting these scams, so by telling your story to everyone that you know and sharing the information on this website with them you are helping to fight back.
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