www.iva.co.uk

Just a word of caution for those of us operating any form of online business. The old Nigerian 419 scammers are now targetting small businesses.

We were contacted to give a quote for a translation and agreed £300 ($500). Lo and behold, we had an email from the "client" apologising because their "accountant" had inadvertantly sent us 4 American Express Travellers cheques in our name, each of $500.

Of course, as these are made out to us, the way to rectify the situation is to deposit the $2000 into our account and wire back the excess $1500 .... I should coco !!!!

The "cheques" are, to be fair, excellent forgeries, but my background and cynical nature made me examine them carefully. The watermark is actually printed on as opposed to embossed, but looks good on quick inspection!

Anyhoooo, I contacted American Expree Fraud Dept and they confirmed that the serial numbers aren't coming up with an authorisation code at their end ( so don't exist).

According to the Agent I spoke to these scammers are increasingly turning to small online business operators ..... so be aware.

I'd quite like to frame these -- but as they are counterfeit instruments I might get in trouble ... so they are off to the nick in the morning !

The old thing still stands - if it sounds to good to be true then it most probably is.

Brilliant that you have spotted it and you won't be out of pocket - I wonder how many people they have conned though!

Thanks for the heads up.

Well spotted. People who steal and committ fraud p**s me off no end. Get a proper job you lazy, no good #@!*&'s!!!!!!!

I think they make a very good living conning gullible people out of money so why should they get a job?

One of my colleagues is currently dealing with a big fraud case where some poor OAP has been conned out of £400,000!

They should have some respect for fellow human beings but sadly too many people in this World are happy to do each other over, legally and illegally.

Unfortunately there are people in this world without any scruples at all.

I'd love to string them all up!

I was warned of a dodgy email today, it said:

If you get an email which offers 2 free tickets to see Everton DO NOT OPEN IT...........it contains 2 free tickets to see Everton.[:D][:D]

Well -- we had our second scammer contact us today saying he has sent too much in cheques .... looks like we are about to start a collection!

Cheaper than buying wallpaper!

some people, honestly no shame but they make a very nice living off other people! Grrr

This is getting better -- we have $2000 of bent travellers cheques, with another $3000 on the way apparently and this morning we received a cheque for £2950, issued by a company that ceased trading under the name used in 2006 ..... don't these scammers do their homework ?

Obviously not!!

They must think they've found a soft touch with you Foggy!

Shame they've wasted money on postage!

These things go round in cycles and at the moment the targets are small online business operators, it would appear.

I was tempted to bait them and waste their time with endless questions and generaly mess with them, but, to be honest I haven't the energy. The relevant authorities now have the details, I will leave it to them (though I doubt much will / can be done).

They're very difficult to track down. Perhaps they'll leave you alone once they see that you'be not fallen for it.