And then there was nothing....

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My "friend" David

So, David responded yesterday, looking for more information:

Hello,
Thanks for your honesty towards this transaction so far.  Sorry for the late response, I was out of town for the weekend, I have been notified by my financial institution that the funds have been deducted from my account and I have received the Western union Money transfer number, I would also need the Sender's name and address ( as it appears on the receipt) actual amount sent.  Kindly get back to me with the Western Union transfer details (as it appears on the receipt obtained) so that i can forward it to the movers for confirmation of payment and they would schedule for the pick up of the item alongside with my other properties..
What is your schedule for the week prior to pick up?
It's awesome doing business with you.
Best regards.

I find it ironic that the conman continues to reference "honesty" when speaking about our 'transactions'.  And of course it's awesome doing business with me because he actually thinks he's going to get money out of this, unlike the majority of his other victims.

Unfortunately, David, in his greed, called my house (remember, I gave him my phone number in one of the original correspondence) and my wife answered.  I failed to cover that base and bring her in on the scam.  She told him that we found out that the check was fake and that we were coming after him with police. 

Damn.  Busted.

So, I'm thinking that it's likely that'll be the last I hear from David.  Note to self:  Next time you want to string along a conman to see if he will give up any info, make sure the wife is on board.  However, I think the lesson out of all of this is that it's very unlikely that any authorities will get involved unless we're talking tens of thousands of dollars being scammed, because it's just not economically viable to prosecute someone for a couple thousand dollars.  Harsh?  Yes.  Accurate?  Unfortunately, yes as well.  So, please, for your own financial well-being, don't even give these assholes the time of day.  Eventually they'll give up and go back to trying to con people playing three card monty on the street.  Or selling mutual funds.
Maybe I'll renew the ad on Craigslist so I can phish in some new dumbasses....

So, I wired money to a stranger....

OK, I didn't REALLY wire money to a stranger...heck, David and I are old friends by now.  But no, I didn't actually wire him anything.  I looked up what the MTCN # format was and copied a number directly from the wiremoneytoindia.com site, figuring that if they've had that info out there for this long, it's pretty much public knowledge.  Here's my email to my friend David:

David,
I have wired you the money for your shipper.  The details are below.  However, due to a clerical error, instead of $40, $400 was kept.  When your shipper arrives, I’ll give him a check for the additional $360.  I had my wife do the transaction and she misunderstood.  I’m sure you understand.
I look forward to your response.
Regards,
Jeff


Following is a summary of your transaction.
————————————–…
 TRANSACTION DETAILS:
————————————–…
Your Money Transfer Control Number [MTCN] is: 9993093353
 Please use this number for any inquiries.

Man, I can't wait for the response...this is like Christmas, except the things I'm trying to unwrap aren't cool.

Law enforcement and scams

I had a discussion with a good friend who is a police officer and has a bit of a speciality in Internet crimes yesterday.  He advised me to continue down the road of educating people and screwing with the scammers, but that attempts to prosecute these jack-wagons will likely end in frustration.  Mostly because even if I was scammed out of the money (which I was not), the amount lost would be little in comparison to the man-hours it would take to track down these dregs on society.  Additionally, they tend to do a lot of their scams across multiple jurisdictions, thus pieces of the case would be spread across various departments and no one department would have all of the evidence.  Thus, the costs to chase down the perpetrators of these sorts of crimes is 10x greater than the reward.

Now, I disagree with this sort of cost/benefit analysis when it comes to crime, but I definitely 'get' it.  Police departments are faced with limited resources and want to spend those resources on things that get the biggest bang for their buck.  I have no issue with that. 

My issue, however, is that the folks who are being victimized by these dirtballs are those who can least afford to be victimized:  low to middle income folks who are just trying to get by and who see an opportunity to make a little extra cash.  Let's face it, the $40 that David DaKing offered me to cash his rubber check and then Western Union his "shipper" the difference isn't even worth my time.  However, someone who is making minimum wage is much more likely to go ahead and try this.  Especially when they see a check for $1990.  Deep down it's likely they know that this guy is a scumbag and a scammer, but they see that money and think of all the bills they can pay with it.  Next thing you know, they're cashing the check (or trying to), spending the money, wiring this bastard his cash, and then bam, it all comes crashing down on them and they're in worse shape than they were before the $1990 that never existed in the first place.

So, my mission is clear:  Continue to harass and expose these dirtballs for what they are and continue to aggregate evidence as best I can.  Maybe someday I'll have enough for someone to use to prosecute one of these tools.  Or, maybe I can just enjoy the process.

David DaKing

I received an email from my friend David yesterday, but didn't have time to post it here.  He's wondering if I've had a chance to get that check cashed so I can wire him the money.  I don't have the heart to tell him that I know his check is just about as real as the boobs on a porn star.  So, I continue to string him along....

Here's his email:

From David Da King [davidatusani011@gmail.com]

Hello,

How are you doing this morning?.  I wold like to know the status of the transaction as of this morning, have you gotten the check cashed? kindly get back to me with an update regarding this transaction so that we can proceed with the pick up of the item as i've some other properties to be moved

Thanks for your honesty and I await Your Urgent Response..

 Regards.

I'm really tempted to just go off on him, but I want to see where this goes.  So, I'm going to give him a fake Western Union number, tell him our business is complete, and tell him I await his shipper....maybe even screw with him a bit and tell him that there was a clerical error and instead of keeping $40, I kept $400 and offer to make it right when his shipper shows up...

Yes, I think that's where this story will continue....I'll keep posting whatever I get.  Stick with me folks, it's going to be a fun ride.