Fake Money Order Scam!! Fraud.?

Question

A guy by the name of James Williams (so he says!!) mailed three $900 money orders to my house yesterday using UPS. He made the money orders out in my mom's business name. The return address was somewhere in California. If you hold the money orders up to the light you can see the watermarks and everything. (they look very legit) --to make a long story short--Whenever she went to cash in the money orders they were fake!! She was arrested on the scene. The police looked at is as "passing a fraudulent document".. She ended up getting out a few hours later because the detective said we were a victim of some scam going around involving fake money orders, and travelers checks!! wtf..i didn't even know there was any such things as fake money orders!! and they look so real. omg...

my question is (1) who is this guy? i heard he was a foreigner, but how do they know??(2) how does he know us?? where'd he get our address and stuff. the only people who knows my mom's business info are people who we actually do business with.(3) and lastly but def not least..what is this guy getting out of it? what if we had cashed the money order, what was he gettin out of the ordeal??

It's ashamed the world is coming to such a horrible place to reside. it scares me.

Answer 1

I would say they got your information from the internet somehow. It is so easy to obtain another persons information online. The only thing I can think of that they would get is if they tried to make a purchase of something or a service of some kind and he used the fake money orders to "pay for it."

Answer 2

YES. This is a scam. I was 90% sure just from the fact you asked, and a money order was involved. Any doubt I had was OBLITERATED by the mention of Craigslit and a job. OK, now to read your details. "I've actually gotten someone for the position posted online but i have this other position available." That alone is irrefutable evidence of a scam. "You can do the shopping at Bestbuy, Kmart, Sears and Wal-Mart or any other stores. I will provide you my UPS account number for shipping." If they do enough business with UPS to HAVE an account, they don't need total strangers to do their shopping. Muhtasin Shajon: A "Top Contributor" is NOT necessarily someone that knows SQUAT. It is someone that posts a lot. I cite the fact I am a Top Contributor as my qualification to make that statement.

Answer 3

hi,

Maybe your mom was involved in a job scam. Fraudsters contact people over e-mail and tell them that if they cash some checks they`ll get a fee.

Also your mom information can be found on internet or in your trash. There are many methods used by fraudsters to steal your money.

Be safe

Answer 4

Well the first red flag would be for these things to show up and you have no clue why - did he buy something from your mom? I mean - people don't just send out $2700. to complete strangers for nothing. I suppose if it really DID go through the bank (i.e. they didn't catch it was fake) this guy may have somehow gotten ahold of your mom's bank account number??? Dunno....

Answer 5

It happens. Happens with checks, too.