Woman nearly falls victim to money order scam

COEUR d'ALENE - She just wanted to sell a pair of bunk beds, but Pam Wilde came very close to losing $1,500 instead.

The Dalton Gardens woman nearly became the victim of a multi-layered scam after placing a classified advertisement in The Coeur d'Alene Press offering the beds for sale for $750.

Wilde, in her 40s, called the deal off after she received a pair of phony money orders from the man who responded to her ad, but she came close to putting them in her bank account.

"When you get a U.S. postal money order, you think it's official," Wilde said. "That's how it used to be."

It started when Wilde received a phone call from a "Jack Wilson." For his initial contact, he used a relay operator using TTY, or Telecommunication Device for the Deaf.

"He had his story pretty polished," she said.

Now she's not even sure "he" was a man, because she never heard his voice.

He told Wilde he wanted to see the beds, so she e-mailed photos to his Yahoo e-mail address. They continued communicating about the transaction through e-mail.

The potential buyer told her he was purchasing other farm equipment in the area and wanted to ship everything together and he would send her money to pay for the beds and the shipping.

Wilde said it didn't seem like an unreasonable request since people frequently sell farm equipment in this area.

"The whole time, my boyfriend was telling me, this stinks," Wilde said.

Then she received two money orders for $750 each with instructions from the buyer to deposit them in her bank account and send half the money to a shipper in Wisconsin.

"They looked pretty legitimate," Wilde said.

By this time Wilde was listening to her boyfriend, so she decided to confirm the instruments were authentic before depositing them and becoming responsible for them.

They looked so good, the people at the bank were unable to tell if they were fakes.

Since the documents were United States Postal Service money orders, Wilde went to the Coeur d'Alene post office.

The postmaster, Dave Hoover, confirmed they were counterfeit.

"He was not at all shocked," she said.

Hoover said different customers come to him with fake postal service money orders roughly two to three times per month.

"I've seen them for other reputable companies also. This isn't just happening with the post office's money orders," Hoover said.

Hoover takes them and sends them to the postal service's criminal investigator in Spokane.

"This is huge. It's a federal crime," said Zan Deery, spokeswoman for the Better Business Bureau covering North Idaho out of Spokane. "This is an overpayment scam. What the scammers are hoping is that she will cash these money orders via the U.S. bank system !uc!2026 launder them."

Deery said unscrupulous scammers have been using telecommunication relay services for the deaf or speech-impaired for about six years. It's a way to shield the caller's real identity, and legitimize the call while evoking sympathy.

Mike Alexander, manager of The Press' classified advertising department, said he seldom hears stories like these from people who buy and sell items using Press classifieds.

It's likely because Press ads are not self-published like free ads found at some of the larger online services.

"Ours are quality ads. We have the upper hand there over Craigslist because we act as gatekeepers for our readers," Alexander said.

Every classified ad is manually placed by a person on Alexander's staff, even those that are ordered online at www.cdapress.com.

"We've become so good at identifying bogus ads," Alexander said. "I must receive at least 20 e-mails a week that I know are bogus. I just hit delete, delete, delete."

It's the people who respond to classified ads that neither The Press nor anyone else can control.

"We can't prevent a buyer from doing some of these things, especially in these economic times. Scams are dramatically increasing. There's a scammer lurking around every corner," Alexander said. "And you have aggregators. They scrape your site for information. There is no way to avoid that."

Personally, he said he would be hesitant dealing with anyone outside the area through a classified ad.

"Even if I was selling a dog kennel to a guy coming from Post Falls, I still wouldn't leave my wife home alone when I knew he was coming to the house," Alexander said.

Deery said all buyers and sellers should beware.

"It's a constant reminder for anyone placing an ad in the paper or online, consider that there's a very good chance you're going to have someone attempt to scam you," Deery said. "If someone starts to "play bank" with you, and begins giving orders, asking you to jump through hoops, that's a huge red flag."

Fakechecks.org, a project of the National Consumers League, warns that variations of fake check scams pop up regularly, but they always entail a realistic-looking check or money order and a request to send cash in return.

The Web site provides the following tips to prevent becoming a victim:

n Think about it. There is no legitimate reason why anyone would give you a check or money order and ask you to send cash anywhere in return.

n Be aware that just because you can get the cash quickly, usually in one to five days, doesn't mean the check or money order is good. Crooks take advantage of the fact that counterfeits can take weeks, even months, to discover. By then you've sent the money and have to pay it back to your bank.

n Only cash a check or money order for a close relative or someone you've met in person and known for a long time, since you'll be responsible if it's phony.