Lookout! Almost Scammed

[robynsandanderson]

Dear MNartists,

I received an email recently from a "woman" named
Elaine Holly. She supposedly lives in London and she
and her husband are in the process of moving to
S. Africa. She wished to purchase 5 of my prints.

Initially, she said she would send the payment and
they'd have their movers take care of the shipping
arrangements from their end through FEDEX. Then she
emailed and said her husband "didn't understand the
arrangements" and by mistake sent me my portion of the
payment along with the money for shipping...would I
take the cashier's check and then write a check from
my account back to the shippers.

Well...that raised some red flags for me, but I waited
for the check. I was shocked when I saw that the check
was written for $2600. My portion was a mere $200. So now,
some major red flags are raised. I took the check to
the bank, it was written from a bank in Kentucky. They
called that bank and it was indeed fraudulant.

By then I had read about this cashier check
scheme...they want you to cash the bogus check and
then write back the difference with your own check to
the bogus moving co. or whatever they come up with.
By the time you find out the cashier's check is bad
you have already written a check from your account,
which you are then liable for.

Just wanted to give you a heads up because I think
they found me on mnartists.org. Thanks, Robyn

Robyn Sand Anderson
1417 Cherry Street
New Ulm, MN 56073

507-359-1242

Email: robynsandanderson@yahoo.com
View my work at:
http://www.robynsandanderson.com
and also at http://www.mnartists.org

[kbell]

Unfortunately, my bank did not check the counterfeit check I received from Elaine Holly's husband, Jeff. It was a US Certified Check written on the Shores Bank in Chicago. It went into my account without question and was still there five days later when I took out the portion over the amount of my paintings to send to the shipping company for their charges and insurance. They're email story was the same as RobynSand Anderson's - they were moving from London to South Africa. FedEx was to pick up the three framed original paintings they selected and deliver them to the shippers who were moving the couple to South Africa. Negotiations took approximately one month to complete and became personal as daily emails were exchanged. Beware! They will clean out your checking account as they did mine!!!

[Ray Rolfe]

good thing I have no checking account!