Recent Scams

January, 2007
A Bethalto woman had developed an acquaintance with a man she had thought lived in Seattle, Washington.  This was done via an on line dating service.  The relationship evolved to the point were the two had exchanged personal information such as addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses.  Things changed, however, when the man said that he would be buying some electronics via the internet, have them shipped to the woman, and asked her to forward them to him in Nigeria.  His story was that he had business in Nigeria, and did not want customs trouble.  Our Villager was wise to recognize that this was fishy, and told the man to send her nothing.  He sent it anyway, and she contacted this PD.  Our investigation found that a member of the US Navy in Georgia had had his credit card number stolen, which was used to purchase the electronics.  A computer registered in Colorado was used to buy the electronics.  The items were sent to Bethalto and intended to go to Nigeria.  The suspect's dating service listing, a phone listing and address in Washington, and a phone listing in New Jersey were all found to be bogus.  Lastly, the Navy Serviceman was alerted and his account was credited, the property was sent back to the seller, and efforts are ongoing to stop the suspect from contacting our Villager.

February, 2007
A Bethalto Business was contacted by phone from a person claiming to be hearing impaired.  They requested to conduct business via Email.  Investigation showed that the emails were routed through Amsterdam, and the original call is suspected to have come from Guiana.  The suspect was arranging to purchase a substantial amount of goods, but they were home improvement items and were not out of the ordinary.    The Suspect then asked for the retailer to use a specific shipping company, and send the items to Guiana.  This raised concern.  The retailer did some research prior to calling the PD.  They found that the scam would continue in that the suspect would send a check for the amount of the goods and shipping.  The suspect would hope that the goods would be shipped prior to the retailer finding out that the check was bogus.  As in the below case, the check would appear legitimate with a good routing number, account number, and financial institution.  This information would be stolen, however.  Fortunately this scam didn't get past the initial emails.

February, 2007
A Bethalto woman was contacted via US Mail with a notice that she had won a large cash prize from a home improvement company in Las Vegas, Nevada.  It was accompanied with a check for about 10% of the cash prize.  The villager was instructed to deposit the check, and send a lesser amount via Western Union to a third party in Texas to cover taxes and fees.  The check appeared legitimate with a proper routing number, account number, and financial institution name.  This information was stolen, however,and the check was bogus.  The villager sent about $4000 in cash to the third party, and even though a government photo ID is required to pick up this money, the only record of whom receives this money is provided by the sender.  The ID is used only to confirm a match with information provided by the sender.  The villager fortunately was compensated by her bank, but now the bank is out of the money.  The third party in Texas is unknown, and the case was forwarded to US Postal Inspectors for possible further investigation.

March, 2007
The County Recorders office has found that a company from up north has been contacting Madison County residents and offering to sell them a copy of the deed to their property for $68.00. People can obtain a copy of their deed direct from the Recorder's Office for $12.00. The Attorney General's Office has been notified, but there does not appear to be anything illegal about the operation. When this scam was uncovered in the beginning of the month, the Recorder's Office published a press release, but it hasn't garnered a lot of attention. The company has so far sold 30 copies within Madison County.

June, 2007
A Bethalto man received a letter in the mail from Madrid, Spain.  It informed him that he had won $615,810 in the "Euromilliones Lottery Primitiva s.a".  All that they required was for him to provide his bank name, account number, and routing number.  The man was wise to realize that this was a scam, and the perpetrators only wanted access to his bank account.  These scams run in many forms, from many countries.  Remember, there is no such thing as free money.  The only legitimate lotteries are the ones that you purchase a ticket for from a licensed agency, casino, or charity group.  None of which require you to pay an upfront portion or provide access to you personal accounts.

August, 2007
A Bethalto man received multiple emails from a person claiming to be an assassin hired to kill the recipient.  The email claimed that if the man would send money to the assassin, then the hit would be canceled.  The email gave instructions on how to begin the money transfers, and how to contact the hit man.  The emails were very threatening, but the Bethalto man recognized them as a scam.  Though the assassin claimed to be in Mexico, the emails were traced to a small African country and being routed through several European countries.  The FBI is currently investigating.

August, 2007

A Bethalto man received an unexpected check in the mail for $3000.00.  An accompanying letter advised that the package he had ordered (no order was made) was awaiting pick up.  The man was to cash the check, and send a lesser amount by Western Union to another recipient as payment for the shipping.  The left over cash was the Bethalto man’s to keep.  This attempt was rather poor in that the man had made no orders, made no contact with anyone, and the letter was poorly written in broken English.

September, 2007

A Bethalto man received a letter in the mail addressed to his father, whom had been deceased 30 years.  The letter was the classical Canadian Lottery Scam advising of the recipient’s winnings.  There was an accompanying check in the amount of $4220.00.  The “winner” was to deposit the check and send cash by Western Union to a specific tax agent for the “Non-Resident Government Tax Service”.

January, 2008
A Bethalto woman received a letter that appeared to be notice of winning $1,000,000 from an organization that she had never heard of.  Upon closer inspection, (read the fine print) the letter and accompanying documents where an entry form for the $1,000,000 prize.  The cost of entry was $11.89.  The paperwork appeared to be a claim form, but in fact were only promising an entry into a sweepstakes.

February, 2008
A Bethalto woman received two emails from two different sources.  Both had similar wording and appeared to work from the same formula.  The senders stated that they were Mexican "hit man" hired to kill the Bethalto woman.  If she were to send them money, however, they would not complete the contract killing.  One wanted $15,000 and the second was a bargain at only $8,000.  Both wanted part in advance via electronic wire service, would then provide some proof of the contract, and then wanted the remainder.

March/April, 2008
A Bethalto woman received notice that she had won $355,000 in an unknown sweepstakes.  A check for $4,850 was sent with the notice to pay for the taxes.  The woman was to deposit the check and send by electronic wire service $3,550 to a third party.  The remained, she could keep.  The check, however, was bogus.  Had the woman sent the money by wire, she would have been out the $3,550.  These scams are especially fiendish because the bank routing and account numbers on the checks tend to be legitimate, but the check is fraudulent.  So, your bank will accept the check, but put a hold on it.  The scammer hopes that the victim will send the money by wire before the check is discovered to be bogus. About 10 days latter and again in April, the same woman received two more lottery/sweepstakes scam letters and checks from different sources.  Though the sources actually maybe the same group of crooks (unknown at this writing) the documents and amounts are different.

May, 2008
A Bethalto woman received a Canadian Lottery scam letter with tax payment check similar to the woman form March/April.  She had allegedly won $250,000.  They sent a bogus check for $4,910.72, but she was to send $3,910 by wire to a third party.

June, 2008
A Bethalto man received an email advising him that he had a check for $800,000 waiting for him with FedEx.  He only had to pay a fee of $230 to FedEx.  The $230 was for a "Security Keeping Fee".  The man did not comply, so it is unknown exactly how this scam worked.  Something for nothing or $800,000 for $230 was enough to let him know that this was not legitimate.