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<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=140450813-02082006>Another scam has been hitting music teachers via email.
Here's the scenario of the scam I got recently:</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=140450813-02082006></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN class=140450813-02082006>(1)
Scammer sends email to victim (assumed unwitting music prof) explaining
that his son/daughter will be staying with a friend of his in the region over
the summer. The child is a talented musician who wants to take lessons with
music prof. The scammer asks prof to send him some contact
information plus the music prof's lesson fees.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN class=140450813-02082006>(2)
After sending the info to the scammer, the scammer replies that he is delighted
and will be in touch..</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN class=140450813-02082006>(3)
Shortly after that, the scammer writes that things are working out great, and
that he can even pay in advance because the 'friend in the area' owes him $5,000
or whatever for some farm equipment. So, the scammer offers to have the
friend send the victim a $5,000 or whatever cashiers check made
out to to the music prof, from which the victim is instructed to cash the
check, keep the total lesson fees, and then send the change via electronic
transfer or Western Union etc to him (usually
overseas.)</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN class=140450813-02082006>(4)
Two weeks later, the unwitting music prof discovers that the bank
check was a fake, and so is out of pocket for the total of the bogus
check.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=140450813-02082006></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=140450813-02082006>Followup story:</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=140450813-02082006></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN class=140450813-02082006>I
played along with the scam, knowing how it worked, and contacted
the Moscow Police Dept, who gave me an email for a contact person in
the national Secret Service Bureau. The SS contact no longer existed,
so I contacted Idaho's branch office of the SS. They left a message on my
machine that they would call back, but I was no longer able to contact the Idaho
SS nor was I phoned back from them. I let the whole thing die, SS wasn't very
interested I guess, and I never even got the bogus cashier's check in the
mail.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=140450813-02082006></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN class=140450813-02082006>Boy,
was I disappointed. Sensing that the student probably had talent, I was planning
to offer lessons for free... a 'scholarship' of sorts... ;-)</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=140450813-02082006></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN class=140450813-02082006>Bob
Dickow, troublemaker</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left><FONT
face=Tahoma size=2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B>
vision2020-bounces@moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces@moscow.com] <B>On
Behalf Of </B>Ellen Roskovich<BR><B>Subject:</B> [Vision2020] Winning the
lottery<BR><BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV class=RTE><STRONG>This must be my lucky day. . . I just went out to my
mailbox and found a letter saying I won $50,000.00 and International Lottery,
Inc. is holding the check for me.</STRONG></DIV>
<DIV class=RTE><STRONG></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV class=RTE><STRONG>Of course there's the small matter of paying required
Federal and State taxes on the winnings before they can release the check to
me.</STRONG></DIV>
<DIV class=RTE><STRONG></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV class=RTE><STRONG>Usually these scams come to me via the internet. . .
</STRONG></DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>