Almost Got Ripped Off
Several weeks ago, I received an e-mail from a guy named James who was interested in hiring me to teach English to a group of five children, ages 12-15, who lived in Genova, Italy. He stated they were planning on coming in September and he wanted me to tutor them a couple of hours per week for the ten weeks they were here. I quoted him a price of $1,200.00 to which he agreed to.
In the ensuing weeks we traded about 20 e-mails and I put together a contract based on everything we had already agreed upon. I told him I would need to receive the money by the 5th of September in order to book the time for the kids. A week before James was supposed to send the contract, I got an e-mail from him asking if I could forward some money to the "Nanny" who would be taking care of the kids. In other words he wanted to send me a check, take my cut, and then send the rest of it to the Nanny for her services.
Being the cynical, pessimistic person I can be, his request struck me as being a little strange. I thought to myself, 'Why doesn't this guy just send the both of us a check?'
The 5th of September came and went and I still hadn't received anything from James. I e-mailed him a letter reminding him that I couldn't book the tutoring sessions until I had money in hand. A day or two later he e-mailed me to say "the check in in the mail."
I received a $4,000.00 check the day before yesterday . It looked legit. I thought it was odd that it was drawn on a bank in Texas, but hey we live in a global world, right? I'm not an expert on fraud or forgeries, but I thought that the check was O.K. I mean what lowlife would actually pretend to work at an orphanage in Italy and make up five students as part of a scam?
To be on the safe side I went to my bank and had it thoroughly examined. Low and behold the check turned out to be a forgery. The scam was that I would be stupid enough to cash the check, deposit my money and send the balance to the make-believe Nanny that lived in Colombus, Ohio. While they were busy spending the money and laughing hysterically for pulling a fast one, I would be left owing the bank four grand.
I contacted the police in both Columbus and here locally and the attitude was very cavalier; that it would not be worth the money or man power to try to catch these scumbags and that it would probably be best if I just ignored James and went on with my life.
I think this apathetic attitude by the police made me more angry than someone trying to rip me off. How many people have already fallen victim to this guy and the group he is probably working with? Probably quite a few. As long as nobody cares about doing anything because of the money or lack of manpower, grifters like these will continue to prey upon the naivety of others.
I hope that son of a whore James rots in hell for doing this to people.
In the ensuing weeks we traded about 20 e-mails and I put together a contract based on everything we had already agreed upon. I told him I would need to receive the money by the 5th of September in order to book the time for the kids. A week before James was supposed to send the contract, I got an e-mail from him asking if I could forward some money to the "Nanny" who would be taking care of the kids. In other words he wanted to send me a check, take my cut, and then send the rest of it to the Nanny for her services.
Being the cynical, pessimistic person I can be, his request struck me as being a little strange. I thought to myself, 'Why doesn't this guy just send the both of us a check?'
The 5th of September came and went and I still hadn't received anything from James. I e-mailed him a letter reminding him that I couldn't book the tutoring sessions until I had money in hand. A day or two later he e-mailed me to say "the check in in the mail."
I received a $4,000.00 check the day before yesterday . It looked legit. I thought it was odd that it was drawn on a bank in Texas, but hey we live in a global world, right? I'm not an expert on fraud or forgeries, but I thought that the check was O.K. I mean what lowlife would actually pretend to work at an orphanage in Italy and make up five students as part of a scam?
To be on the safe side I went to my bank and had it thoroughly examined. Low and behold the check turned out to be a forgery. The scam was that I would be stupid enough to cash the check, deposit my money and send the balance to the make-believe Nanny that lived in Colombus, Ohio. While they were busy spending the money and laughing hysterically for pulling a fast one, I would be left owing the bank four grand.
I contacted the police in both Columbus and here locally and the attitude was very cavalier; that it would not be worth the money or man power to try to catch these scumbags and that it would probably be best if I just ignored James and went on with my life.
I think this apathetic attitude by the police made me more angry than someone trying to rip me off. How many people have already fallen victim to this guy and the group he is probably working with? Probably quite a few. As long as nobody cares about doing anything because of the money or lack of manpower, grifters like these will continue to prey upon the naivety of others.
I hope that son of a whore James rots in hell for doing this to people.
posted by Luciano at 5:21 PM
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