New Nigerian scam suckers online sellers

"We're seeing victims all across America, but about all we can do is educate the public and state and local law enforcement agencies."

Here's how the scam works: A consumer selling an expensive item via the Internet gets an e-mail from a buyer overseas -- often from Africa -- who says he wants to purchase the item, and will pay for it with a cashier's check from a U.S. bank.

Next, the buyer informs the seller that the cashier's check will come from a third party and will be for an amount greater than the selling price of the item because someone in the U.S. owes him money from a previous deal that wasn't finalized. The buyer tells the seller to wire the difference to him in Africa after the check clears.

A few days later the cashier's check arrives. The seller deposits the check in his own account. Thinking that the check is good because it's been accepted for deposit by his bank, and the funds have been released, the unsuspecting seller wires the difference to the con man in Africa. But in a week or two the seller learns he's been scammed when his bank informs him that the check was phony and wants him to pay back all the money it paid out on the bogus check.

That's what happened to Shawn and Jeff Mosch of Minneapolis, Minn., when they advertised their 1961 Buick Special for sale on a popular classified Web site for $1,600.

They received inquiries from across the country and from South America, but none worked out. Then they received an e-mail from a man in Nigeria.

"He claimed he was a car dealer in Lagos," remembers Shawn. "He said that he wanted to buy the car for $1,600, and that someone in the U.S. who owed him $7,200 would send us a cashier's check for $8,800. We should deduct our $1,600 and wire the remaining balance of $7,200 to him in Africa through Western Union."

When a Bank of America cashier's check arrived in the mail from Pennsylvania, Shawn took it to her bank where a teller informed her funds would be available in 24 hours.

"I asked him, 'Are you sure?' I wanted to be absolutely certain that it was good and wouldn't come back to bite me in the butt," she says.

The teller laughed and said, 'Tomorrow afternoon, ma'am. No problem.'"

The Mosches waited 48 hours before withdrawing $7,200 and sending it to their "buyer" in Nigeria. One week later their bank called to tell them that the check was bogus -- and $7,200 had been deducted from their savings account.

"The checks are superb facsimiles, counterfeit but so authentic that they fool bank personnel who study them," says Tom Miller, the Iowa attorney general. "People think the cashier's check must be good when the bank gives them the money."

But Susan Grant of the National Fraud Information Center notes: "Just because the money is available for you to use doesn't mean the check is good."

That's because when a cashier's check is deposited, the bank, as a courtesy to its customer, may make the funds available in as little as two days even though it can take as long as two weeks until the check's authenticity is verified by the bank that it was drawn on. And if the check is bad, it's the consumer who will have to make good.

Nancy and Ken Ferry of Nashua, N.H., were luckier than the Mosches when they advertised their 2004 Dutchman trailer on the Internet for $21,000.

"Almost immediately we received an e-mail from someone who called himself Markus Johnson," Nancy recalled. "He said he lived in Finland, and since he was in another country an associate in the U.S. would handle the transaction for him."

The next day, the Ferrys received an e-mail from the associate, Woodman Lambert. He asked them to e-mail photos of the trailer. Following that exchange, Lambert agreed to purchase the trailer for the asking price, but there was a catch: He was sending a cashier's check for $26,500.

He explained that Markus Jackson had drawn the check before leaving on a business trip. He instructed them to deduct the $21,000 and wire the balance of $5,500 to him. He even gave them permission to deduct the wire transfer fees.

Sure enough, the next day a Bank of America cashier's check for $26,500 arrived bearing a return address in Maryland. But on the very morning it came, Nancy read a magazine article that warned about con men preying on unsuspecting consumers from Internet cafes in Nigeria.

Instead of depositing the check, the Ferrys called the Bank of America. When they learned that the check was phony, they filed a complaint with the FBI and sent an e-mail to Markus, the crook who tried to scam them.

"I told him we were on to him, and that he was nothing but a lowdown con man."

Other online sellers have been less fortunate.

• Ed Parker, a California teen selling a 1964 Volkswagen Beetle on the Internet, lost $3,600 to Nigerian scammers.
• George and Dawn Brindly of Penn Valley, Calif., offered their 1999 Chevy Astro van for sale on the Internet. They lost $4,340.
• Jeremy Sjoblom of Yorktown Heights, Va., was scammed for $5,800 when he tried to sell his 2001 Volkswagen GTI online.

"It's really difficult to tell these checks are fake," says Gene Seitz, of the FDIC's special activity section.

He advises anyone who receives a cashier's check as payment to do what the Ferrys did: Call the issuing bank to make certain that it really authorized it.

And U.S. Secret Service agent John Joyce, based in Tampa, Fla., said there are two warning signs that should get the attention of potential victims.

"One, when you are dealing with someone from Nigeria, bells should be going off," he said. "The majority of these crimes come from Nigeria.

"The second thing is that the person is willing to pay more than what you are asking for. That's abnormal."

Peter Davidson is a freelance writer based in Florida.