Today was an interesting day. If we look, there should always be something that stimulates our minds and emotions. We should never feel we have nothing worth saysing. But today, has also been a day of diametric opposites. A roller coaaster day, if you will.
But, because the thoughts that dominated my evening have been intensely personal, I just want to take a moment to pass on an update on the scams and scam busting post From last time.
After I posted the last piece on Saturday, I took a moment to notify the check was drawn on. I had a response early this morning. I called both the bank, and the business being used as a pigeon in all this. You gotta feel sorry for the folks @ HaleyGreer.
When I told the receptionist I was calling about a counterfeit check, the receptionists voice went from polite and professional to annoyed and curt. A second young lady came on and inquired how she could help. I explained what I had discovered. When I told her I was from IL, she indicated that, that was a first, but she was quickly hearing from folks "all over the country" in the course of the conversation, she also indicated "several" folks had actually cashed those very professional and authentic looking checks. I forwarded copies via e-mail to Haley-Greer and their bank.
One of my high school class mates told me to just throw that mail away. And while I agree with that in principle, something in me cries out that that isn't the answer. Businesses are being inconvienced and even harassed because of the checks. Some perhaps losing money, at least because of time and resounces spent trying to fix the issues. Individuals are losing thousands of dollars. My rambling mind takes us down a path that questions if we should be getting involved. While some are from greed, some are from nothing more than desparation ... looking for a way out of trouble.
I just hope by sending info on, and talking about it here, one person might be saved falling prey to such non-sense.
PEACE, my friends!
Monday, April 20, 2009
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Scams and scam busting
Do you ever find yourself in a situation and wonder how it came to this? That kind of reflection put us in the middle of an international scam today. Let me back track a minute.
Trying to build a commission only business has been a struggle at times. Some time back, I found myself thinking about the things we sacrifice that most people take for granted: Sometimes necessities like new tires instead of the cast offs at the local tire store... some times eating out: going out only on "special occasions" that our kids spring for in place of buying meaningless gifts (or when Dad's buying).
After several years of retail and being judged by mystery shoppers, I knew that such services are legitimate. So during one of my moments of weakness and reflection, I thought, "hey, maybe I can get a free meal once in a while by being a mystery shopper." I signed up for one of those services. Never heard any more of it until today.
While I was eating breakfast with my Dad, my bride called to say she got a check for almost $5K in the mail. I thought it must be one of those "pre-bate" checks. You know a promotional "check" to make you spend thousands more on a car or something ... I told her to leave it and I would check things out when I got home.
Here's where the real fun begins ... the "cynic" in me reared his head. Some of you already know, I am the guy who looks up your e-mail forwards on Snopes.com. My Dad, who ironically is one of the most trusting people I know, taught me two lessons as child ... If something claims to be historically based, look it up, and learn to distinguish the facts, from the fiction. The second, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is. So from those two lessons and an inquisitive mind, I developed my share of skepticism ... OK some of you are saying I got your share, too. Well I digress ... back to the tale.
The cover letter looked official enough. Professional logo. I Googled it ... I recommend that highly when starting your queries. I found the company the letter purported to come from is a legitimate enterprise ... based in London, UK ... in our internationalized world that was enough to convince me. I was still uneasy. Didn't want to deposit a check only to have it bounce later. (As an afterthought, I googled the address on the letter head, it is an apt in NY.)
So, off to the BBB website, then Snopes. Snopes re-inforced the idea that this could be a hoax of an expensive nature. But, the sadist reared his head. I had to beat this dead horse. I Googled the maker of the check. They're a window sales and installation company in Dallas, TX. So, now we have a company based in NY (the cover letter), using a pseudonym (the window installer) and banking in TX.
The final piece to examine, the envelope, brought even more evidence some one was trying to play me: no return address and post marked in Canada. When I searched the "zip" code on the post mark, it came up linked to a variety of postal scams dating back to 2006.
Guess I will have to find alternate ways of getting that meal with my wife I was looking for. But, I am thankful God wired me the way he did. Other wise, we could have been out several hundred or even a few thousand dollars. The next time you're tempted to send me a hard to believe forward, please do. I enjoy a good hunt!
PEACE!
Trying to build a commission only business has been a struggle at times. Some time back, I found myself thinking about the things we sacrifice that most people take for granted: Sometimes necessities like new tires instead of the cast offs at the local tire store... some times eating out: going out only on "special occasions" that our kids spring for in place of buying meaningless gifts (or when Dad's buying).
After several years of retail and being judged by mystery shoppers, I knew that such services are legitimate. So during one of my moments of weakness and reflection, I thought, "hey, maybe I can get a free meal once in a while by being a mystery shopper." I signed up for one of those services. Never heard any more of it until today.
While I was eating breakfast with my Dad, my bride called to say she got a check for almost $5K in the mail. I thought it must be one of those "pre-bate" checks. You know a promotional "check" to make you spend thousands more on a car or something ... I told her to leave it and I would check things out when I got home.
Here's where the real fun begins ... the "cynic" in me reared his head. Some of you already know, I am the guy who looks up your e-mail forwards on Snopes.com. My Dad, who ironically is one of the most trusting people I know, taught me two lessons as child ... If something claims to be historically based, look it up, and learn to distinguish the facts, from the fiction. The second, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is. So from those two lessons and an inquisitive mind, I developed my share of skepticism ... OK some of you are saying I got your share, too. Well I digress ... back to the tale.
The cover letter looked official enough. Professional logo. I Googled it ... I recommend that highly when starting your queries. I found the company the letter purported to come from is a legitimate enterprise ... based in London, UK ... in our internationalized world that was enough to convince me. I was still uneasy. Didn't want to deposit a check only to have it bounce later. (As an afterthought, I googled the address on the letter head, it is an apt in NY.)
So, off to the BBB website, then Snopes. Snopes re-inforced the idea that this could be a hoax of an expensive nature. But, the sadist reared his head. I had to beat this dead horse. I Googled the maker of the check. They're a window sales and installation company in Dallas, TX. So, now we have a company based in NY (the cover letter), using a pseudonym (the window installer) and banking in TX.
The final piece to examine, the envelope, brought even more evidence some one was trying to play me: no return address and post marked in Canada. When I searched the "zip" code on the post mark, it came up linked to a variety of postal scams dating back to 2006.
Guess I will have to find alternate ways of getting that meal with my wife I was looking for. But, I am thankful God wired me the way he did. Other wise, we could have been out several hundred or even a few thousand dollars. The next time you're tempted to send me a hard to believe forward, please do. I enjoy a good hunt!
PEACE!
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