Nigerian Internet Check    Scam Resurfaces

By Andrew Gorosko

Police are restating their recent warning to the public about money scams that are perpetrated by swindlers via the Internet.

After a local resident recently received a suspicious cashier’s check from a Nigerian, as the payment for an item that the resident had advertised for sale on the Internet, the resident turned over the uncashed check to police for criminal investigation, police said. Police declined to identify the local resident.

On July 11, the resident had received a cashier’s check in the amount of $4,700 from the Nigerian as payment for a wedding dress, which the resident had advertised for sale at $400 on the Internet, police said on July 18.

The Nigerian had informed the local resident to cash the check and keep $400 for the wedding dress, but to send the balance of the cashed amount to Nigeria, police said.

Police said that the resident had read a recent article in The Newtown Bee about a similar Internet-based Nigerian check counterfeiting scheme. In that scam, Nigerian swindlers sought to obtain US currency by having a counterfeit cashier’s check cashed by an unwitting local man in connection with the purchase of an automobile, which the man had advertised for sale on the Internet.

In that case, the unidentified local man advertised a used car for sale for $7,000 on the Internet. A Nigerian swindler saw the advertisement and agreed to buy the auto.

But instead of sending the local man a check for $7,000, the Nigerian sent the local man a bank cashier’s check for $12,000. The Nigerian buyer asked that the local man send back a $5,000 money order to Nigeria.

The local man cashed the check at an unidentified local bank and obtained $12,000 in currency, police said. It was later learned, though, that the check for $12,000 was a high-quality counterfeit check, which initially had appeared to be a genuine bank cashier’s check.

Because the man has refused to give the $12,000 back to the bank, the matter remains an open case, police said. No money was sent to Nigeria.

Nigerian check counterfeiters have perpetrated similar scams across the United States, according to police. The Nigerian criminals read countless email postings of items for sale in finding targets for their fraud, police said.