[Vision2020] Email scams (Fwd: Merry Xmas From Karims)

[Jennifer McFarland]

 Joan and other Visionaries,

Thanks, Joan, for pointing out that this scam is still hitting in-boxes
everywhere.  Occasionally, we (at the Sheriff's Office) open cases for
people who have thought the email was "real" or for people who were scammed
in a more insidious way: Lately, we've received a few calls from people who
have advertised an item for sale in a local newspaper and have received
inquiries on the item from an overseas potential purchaser.  Generally, the
potential purchaser sends the seller a cashier's check drawn on what seems
to be a legitimate bank in their country (England, at least lately).  The
checks are often quite convincing with holograms or watermarks--things that
would indicate legitimacy to most people.  Local banks have even been fooled
well enough to cash or accept the checks.  When the check fails to clear
down the road, the seller has often already spent some of the funds received
and is, then, responsible for reimbursing the bank.  Fortunately, the latest
report we received was from a man savvy enough to tell his bank to wait, but
not all people are as skeptical as Latah's latest near-victim.  

Most newspapers post classified ads on the internet, so anyone has access to
contact information of the sellers.  Be careful when you sell something on
the internet or through a classified ad.  Make sure that before you give the
buyer the item, you know that the payment they give you is legitimate, that
you write a bill of sale that includes contact information for the person,
and that the buyer is either local or has references.  It doesn't hurt to
ask the buyer to see their identification card or driver's license (they
might not want to show it for their own reasons, but them not being willing
to might raise "red flags" to you).  You all work hard for the money you
earn; work equally hard to protect it.

--Jennifer 


PIO Jennifer L. McFarland
Latah County Sheriff's Office
Public Information Officer
PO Box 8068
Moscow, Idaho 83843
(208) 882-2216
Fax (208) 883-2281

Truth is the summit of being; justice is the application of it to affairs.
***Ralph Waldo Emerson