[WARNING] New type bank draft scam

Victor

http://home.eircom.net/content/unison/national/2333224?view=Eircomnet

Bank warns of Nigerian rip-off scam targeting 'small ad' sales
From:The Irish Independent
Monday, 12th January, 2004
Shane Hickey

IRISH people have been warned to beware of an elaborate new scam in which high denomination forged bank drafts are used by fraudsters to pay for cars and greyhounds.

Bank of Ireland officials say they have uncovered around six forged bank drafts which were presented as payment for goods sold through magazine advertisements over a period of one month.

The drafts are typically made out for an amount far in excess of the sale price - usually thousands of euro - and the unwitting seller of the goods is asked to refund the excess money by an international wire service.

In one incident, a fake bank draft for €8,700 was sent to pay for a greyhound bought for €3,700, according to a spokesman for the fraud prevention unit in the Bank of Ireland.

"All of the telephone calls were about the bank draft the person was going to send and not about the greyhound, after which the customer queried the incident with the bank," he said.

The gardaí have been contacted over the fake bank drafts, which appear to be originating from the UK and continental Europe.

The people who have been stung by the con have been asked to wire the cash to Lagos in Nigeria.

"The spurious documents appear to be available to people of a west African extraction. Typically, a draft is posted to the vendor, with the buyer saying that somebody owed them a lot of money.

"They ask the vendor to send the surplus to Lagos. All they have to do is get a password from Western Union, they telephone the crook, and half an hour later the person in Nigeria is in to withdraw the money. Meanwhile, the bank draft has hardly been laid in for payment."

Similar false bank drafts have also been circulated around Europe and the UK, with the forgers simply writing in the branch of the bank from which they claim it has been issued.

There have also been incidents in Ireland where people responding to small ads have paid for the goods outside bank opening hours with a false bank draft and simply driven away with the items for sale.

However, the cases involving 'moneygrams' and high quality forgeries are new to the bank. "We had a case of a customer who had gone into a bank and requested payment to be sent to Nigeria. They were given the password but the husband wasn't able to get out of work in time to make the telephone call to the individual," said the spokesman.

"With the extra hour, the bank spotted that it was bogus and we were able to stop the payment to Western Union. There was a potential loss of €6,000."

In a bid to defeat the scam, vendors have been warned not to part with high value goods in the absence of full payment.