Public Organization procedures scam! Thread poster: Carol Anda
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Hi,
I am new and fell for the scam! I received an email from Lorraine Hungerman requesting a translation, same document/scam since 2019... I failed to do my research before submitting personal info (name and address, not sure what they can do with public info) anyways... it all got very fishy after she sent a check for money than quoted for and the check came from California via usps and had a company's name from Texas. I went to the bank and cashed the check and but came home to d... See more Hi,
I am new and fell for the scam! I received an email from Lorraine Hungerman requesting a translation, same document/scam since 2019... I failed to do my research before submitting personal info (name and address, not sure what they can do with public info) anyways... it all got very fishy after she sent a check for money than quoted for and the check came from California via usps and had a company's name from Texas. I went to the bank and cashed the check and but came home to do some more research about the document she sent for translation and found all the threads about this scam. Still not sure how they complete the scam if I have the money...
I am going to the bank tomorrow to clarify because I don't want to have any issues... too bad people take advantage of people trying to make a decent living. I was so excited about my first job... ▲ Collapse
| | | | Liviu-Lee Roth
United States
Local time: 14:17
Romanian to English
+ ...
The check is fake and this is the classic overpayment scam. "The client" will send you a message that, by mistake they sent you more money and will ask you to send them back the difference.
Go to the bank, tell them that you are the victim of a scam.
Keep reading the SCAM section on a regular basis.
Stay safe,
lee
| | | | Sheila Wilson 
Spain
Local time: 19:17
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
| Sorry you had to learn the hard way | Feb 12, 2020 |
Carol Anda wrote:
I failed to do my research before submitting personal info (name and address, not sure what they can do with public info) anyways...
I haven't heard anyone suffering repercussions for doing that. They really are concentrating on getting money and not bothering about the information.
Still not sure how they complete the scam if I have the money...
You don't have any money! You have a piece of paper that will turn out to be worthless. What they're hoping is that you'll refund the overpaid amount before the cheque clears. Then you'd have actually lost money to them.
I am going to the bank tomorrow to clarify because I don't want to have any issues...
Good idea! Let the bank know that you now realise you've been scammed. Get them to officially cancel the cheque. Don't let them continue to try to clear it. In the very worst case, that could make you open to prosecution for aiding money-laundering -- but don't lose sleep over that happening as it's extremely unlikely.
too bad people take advantage of people trying to make a decent living. I was so excited about my first job...
It is indeed too bad. My sympathies  . But hopefully you haven't spent hours/weeks actually translating the text, as many have done, so you haven't actually lost anything substantial financially, just a bit of lost time. Don't lose heart. Most clients are perfectly fair and honest but you do have to be on your guard. Do sign up to receive notifications from the Scam Centre here. And don't skip the due diligence in future, however "urgent" a new client insists their job is. If necessary, let a job go. Better to get a little rich very slowly than to get very poor very quickly  .
| | | | Edward Potter
Spain
Local time: 20:17
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
| Good job in catching it before it got bad | Feb 14, 2020 |
Still not sure how they complete the scam if I have the money... You don't have any money! You have a piece of paper that will turn out to be worthless. What they're hoping is that you'll refund the overpaid amount before the cheque clears. Then you'd have actually lost money to them.
As I read it, she went to the bank with the fraudulent check and they actually gave her money for it, against her balance.
It kind of sounds like it is the equivalent of drawing cash from your account, since she caught the scam in time. I actually applaud her for catching the scam before it was too late.
I always check out the Blue Board, and/or Google before taking on a new client. Sometimes I get close to getting caught. Sometimes I'll have a great new opportunity offered to me. I'll prepare everything, and just before taking the plunge check them out and find out it was a bad payer or even a scam.
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| I also received an email from the same person | Feb 21, 2020 |
It seemed legit at first and she asked me for a quote even sent me the document to look over. She then told me that she would send me a cheque but that I needed to provide my personal information including my cell phone. I did give her that information. For some reason, my gut was telling me something wasn't right so I googled her name and up came this post.
Thank you so much for posting about this scam. I just emailed her and told her ''Nice try. I just googled you and found out t... See more It seemed legit at first and she asked me for a quote even sent me the document to look over. She then told me that she would send me a cheque but that I needed to provide my personal information including my cell phone. I did give her that information. For some reason, my gut was telling me something wasn't right so I googled her name and up came this post.
Thank you so much for posting about this scam. I just emailed her and told her ''Nice try. I just googled you and found out that you are a scam. No thanks''. Just a bit concerned that she has my personal information as I should have known better than to give that out before checking online. At least she knows she got caught. She was blowing up my email but now it's real quiet.
Thanks again for the information.
[Edited at 2020-02-21 07:37 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Not a smart move | Feb 22, 2020 |
Chanterelle613 wrote:
I just emailed her and told her ''Nice try. I just googled you and found out that you are a scam. No thanks''. (...) At least she knows she got caught.
It's not in our interest that the scammers know they've been "caught". It may give you a brief moment of satisfaction to call them out but all you've achieved is that they'll change their email address and alias and will scam even more people than they would with their old email and name.
If you ever get a scam email again, don't do this.
[Edited at 2020-02-22 15:06 GMT]
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