Scam artists target county residents
By Sylvie Belmond belmond@theacorn.com

When Robert Raser's classified ad to sell bedroom furniture for $125 appeared online, he got much more than he asked for. Raser received a $3,900 cashier's check from a buyer who wanted the excess funds wired back to him via Western Union.

"I smelled a rat," said the Westlake Village resident who opted not to cash the check, which turned out to be counterfeit.

Most people aren't fooled by such enticing offers, but enough individuals do get caught in the trap to encourage scammers to continue their efforts.

Such was the case for a Thousand Oaks resident who recently sold an iPod through an Internet classified ad.

When he received a $5,000 check, the man trustingly mailed off his iPod to the foreign buyer and agreed to send the excess money back via Western Union.

A few weeks later, the man learned that the check he had deposited into his account was fraudulent, and it bounced. So the resident lost his iPod and several thousands of dollars in cash.

The incident was reported to the Ventura County Sheriff's Department. Sheriff's investigators and federal law enforcement officials found that the Western Union wire sent by the Thousand Oaks resident had actually gone to an Oxnard location.

Investigators then targeted a woman they suspected was manufacturing and distributing counterfeit checks from an Oxnard motel room.

Counterfeit check schemers typically pose as buyers from outside of the U.S. and ask sellers to cash a check for far more than the value of the item purchased. As long as the seller agrees to deposit the check and wire the difference back to the customer, the transaction is usually complete.

In the Oxnard case, authorities believed West African culprits were using a local woman to help them commit crimes.

In a threemonth period, authorities estimate the woman sent out at least 3,000 checks to people who responded to the scammers' offer. She also had checks totaling $475,000 waiting to be sent out.

The woman may have been caught in the middle of a fraud scheme that funnels millions of dollars every year out of American bank accounts to support foreign criminal enterprises, which are mostly based in West Africa, said Detective Erik Bushow.

Authorities said she was supposed to receive 10 percent of the check amounts in exchange for her work but told investigators that she didn't get the money. She was arrested but released because prosecutors had not made a decision about the charges, Bushow said.

"The unfortunate thing is that now she will be held accountable but the Nigerian scammers won't," said Bushow, adding that several West African governments won't cooperate with U.S. authorities.

Generally Internet crimes originating outside of the U.S. are difficult to investigate, but authorities are working to fight the growing trend, said Dep. District Attorney Jonathan Fairtlough, who works with the Los Angeles County district attorney's High Tech Crime Unit.

Everybody is vulnerable to Internet scams because thieves design deals that appeal to the greedy nature of just about anybody, said Jeffrey McGrath, another L.A. deputy district attorney with the unit.

Counterfeit check schemes are only one of many forms of Internet fraud. People need to do their homework before they make transactions online, McGrath said.

Fairtlough and McGrath, who live in Ventura County, warned people to be wary of deals that seem too good to be true.

Since checks are easy to counterfeit, people should wait at least 10 days before they make any transactions based on out-of-state checks. "Even when something deposits, that doesn't necessarily mean it's going to clear," Fairtlough said.

Banks can't immediately verify every transaction, and customers are liable if they deposit bad checks, Bushow said.

People must protect themselves, said Fairtlough. They should always keep good records of the transactions they make online and should report questionable incidents to local authorities and to the Internet Crime Complaint Center, www.IC3.gov.

Authorities do not recommend that people try to lead on suspected crooks, attempt to get more information from them or make any attempt to solve crimes.

"Although it seems fun to play a little James Bond, people may provide vital information to the scammers unintentionally," Fairtlough said.