 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: crnichols
Date: 2006-06-01 20:39
There's yet another version of the now classic cashier's check scam that's been going on for quite some time. I refer to an e-mail that I've received a few days ago asking about tutoring rates and where I'm located and such things. I replied, as I get such e-mails inquiring about students all the time from the DC area, where I used to live. Now, it wasn't until the second bit of correspondence that I figured out this was a scam. First off, where on god's green earth are you from, that your best option for clarinet lessons would be to fly your beginner teenage daughter to the middle of Kansas to take lessons from me for 6 weeks. That's pretty hard to swallow... Then they drop the classic scam with the cashier's check for over the rate, and you have to send them back the overage. Anyway, I just thought I'd alert the community. If it didn't work for people, they wouldn't keep doing it.
Christopher Nichols, D.M.A.
Assistant Professor of Clarinet
University of Delaware
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Author: GBK
Date: 2006-06-01 20:47
crnichols wrote:
> There's yet another version of the now classic cashier's check
> scam that's been going on for quite some time.
Music lessons with a "Theme and Variations" ...GBK ![[wink]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie3.gif)
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Author: Cuisleannach
Date: 2006-06-01 23:40
I must seem a bit of idiot, but I'm not quite sure I've heard of this one or understand how it works...could you elaborate?
-Randy
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Author: hans
Date: 2006-06-02 00:00
Cuisleannach,
It works something like this: you are given payment (perhaps for an instrument, or in the case above, for lessons) with a cheque with a much greater value than what you are owed, and asked to refund the overpayment in cash. Eventually the cheque turns out to be a forgery and you have given away your money to someone who has quickly disappeared.
Regards,
Hans
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2006-06-02 11:06
If you Google the phrase, "Nigerian scam," you'll find a ton of information. The classic original Nigerian scam came from someone claiming to be the unimaginably rich relative of a king who'd been deposed in Africa. On the run to another country, he was desperate to find some way to launder his enormous fortune.
The e-mail offered to let the victim have hundreds of thousands of dollars just for stashing some money in his/her personal account and then wiring it (minus the big, enticing fee) to a bank account overseas. Of course all this had to be done in secrecy--and the victim, drawn by greed into something this obviously shady, was usually reluctant to investigate or ask the police to look into the con's bona fides. Well, the check turns out to be a fake, but the overseas turnaround takes long enough that the victim's bank doesn't know about the fraud until too late--at which point, the victim not only loses that promised fee (some of which he or she may have already spent), but owes the bank the amount of money that the victim removed from the account and wired to the crook, who's long gone.
Fortunately, the music teacher knew better than to fall for the latest version of this scam. It's wise to assume that any offer to pay extra (for merchandise, for lessons, for anything) and have you refund the difference is a fake. Always.
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
Post Edited (2006-06-02 11:09)
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Author: Anon
Date: 2006-06-02 11:16
I've gotten probably 10 of these in the last 3 months. The subject line always reads "clarinet lesson inquiry" or something similar...enough to make me at least open the email because I get a lot of legit questions....
But like the original post said - sure, you're gonna fly your kid here from overseas or wherever to work with me? To quote waaay too many of my 7th grade girl students "What-EVER...."!!!
:-)
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2006-06-02 11:29
I get a bazillion of these. The normal giveaways:
1) Just lessons: not on any particular instrument. Very few say "clarinet"
2) Visiting near you: not in any particular city.
I once replied for fun and told them I charged $700/hr. No complaint on the response - they wanted to pay in advance and needed my address.
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Author: Bruno
Date: 2006-06-02 13:53
Hey! Don't knock the Nigerian "scam"!! I know it's not a scam because the daughter of a wealthy Nigerian oil baron who's being persecuted by nefarious elements of the Nigerian government told me so in a really pitiful email.
I've already sent her my bank account number and am now just waiting to have $16,000,000 deposited in my account (That's sixteen million smackeroos, Buster!) of which I get to keep $4,500,000 just for helping out. Who said this isn't the land of opportunity?
As soon as I receive the funds I'm buying the Brooklyn Bridge. The guy who's selling it said I can make a fortune by turning it into a toll-bridge. I can't imagine why no one's thought of this before!
Candide
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Author: GBK
Date: 2006-06-02 14:36
[ The initial warning has been given (again). We've been down this road MANY times before - GBK ]
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The Clarinet Pages
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