The Liberians Are Back!

[McChuch]

You all may remember the laundered black money scam a couple of years back......a couple of Liberians conned unsuspecting people of hundreds of thousands of Baht to buy chemicals to "clean" black painted money "smuggled" out of Liberia. The Liberians got the cash for the chemicals, leaving the scammee with worthless, US currency-sized paper. Well, they are back with a new scam (we suspect). Beware if you are a FSBO (for sale by owner). We had a young couple call us out of the blue, claiming that "someone" in a black, 4-door pickup truck had recommended our flat to buy. "William" claimed to be the son of a General in the Liberian army, who was shot 4 months ago and had left US$ 3 million in a metal box (he has seen it with his own eyes) and William, the son, is now buying real estate in order to invest this money (as well as go to south Korea "to buy some stocks" ). He offered cash. We could go to Liberia with him to collect it or else he could go with us to our country of choice to make the deal. Yeah, right...... so we requested that the money be sent via telegraphic transfer (no chance of receiving counterfeit money or a fake money order or a fake cashier's cheque). Well, this was most difficult.....perhaps he can contact his Swiss banker friend and then they can transfer the money to an account of our choice. Beware this ploy as well. They may ask for a "processing fee" before they can transfer the money.....you send the fee and you will never hear from them again.

This was last night. My husband and I just wanted to get rid of the guy and told him "no deal" and all of a sudden the money is here in Phuket. "Let's do this in installments".....ah, NO.....telegraphic transfer and that's it.

So, just a head's up.

[zoltannyc]

This appears to be one of the so-called advance fee scams.

Invitation to visit the country

Sometimes, victims are invited to a country to meet real or fake government officials. Some victims who do travel are instead held for ransom. In some rumored cases, they are smuggled into the country without a visa and then threatened into giving up more money as the penalties for being in a foreign country without a visa may be severe.[29] Sometimes victims are ransomed or killed.

Wire transfer

A central element of advance-fee fraud is that the transaction from the victim to the scammer must be untraceable and irreversible. Otherwise, the victim, once they become aware of the scam, can successfully retrieve their money and/or alert officials who can track the accounts used by the scammer.

Wire transfers via Western Union are ideal for this purpose. The wire transfer, if sent internationally, cannot be cancelled or reversed, and the person receiving the money cannot be tracked. In fact, that person often does not have to provide identification; they only have to know the identifiers of the transaction such as the control number and secret question. Thus, the overwhelming majority of scams involve making payment via wire transfer. Other similar uncancellable forms of payment include postal money orders and cashier's cheques, but as wire transfer is the fastest method, it is the most common.

Read more at:

http://www.sec.gov/answers/nigeria.htm

http://www.ustreas.gov/usss/faq.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance_fee_fraud

[jackyseymour]

You all may remember the laundered black money scam a couple of years back......a couple of Liberians conned unsuspecting people of hundreds of thousands of Baht to buy chemicals to "clean" black painted money "smuggled" out of Liberia. The Liberians got the cash for the chemicals, leaving the scammee with worthless, US currency-sized paper. Well, they are back with a new scam (we suspect). Beware if you are a FSBO (for sale by owner). We had a young couple call us out of the blue, claiming that "someone" in a black, 4-door pickup truck had recommended our flat to buy. "William" claimed to be the son of a General in the Liberian army, who was shot 4 months ago and had left US$ 3 million in a metal box (he has seen it with his own eyes) and William, the son, is now buying real estate in order to invest this money (as well as go to south Korea "to buy some stocks" ). He offered cash. We could go to Liberia with him to collect it or else he could go with us to our country of choice to make the deal. Yeah, right...... so we requested that the money be sent via telegraphic transfer (no chance of receiving counterfeit money or a fake money order or a fake cashier's cheque). Well, this was most difficult.....perhaps he can contact his Swiss banker friend and then they can transfer the money to an account of our choice. Beware this ploy as well. They may ask for a "processing fee" before they can transfer the money.....you send the fee and you will never hear from them again.

This was last night. My husband and I just wanted to get rid of the guy and told him "no deal" and all of a sudden the money is here in Phuket. "Let's do this in installments".....ah, NO.....telegraphic transfer and that's it.

So, just a head's up.

Indeed. If one were needed for the truly stupid.

[McChuch]

Indeed.....how many people would turn down cash for their property in a depressed market?????

Many people become "truly stupid" when it comes to money.

This guy couldn't continue whatever scam he had planned when we turned down the offer of cash and demanded a transfer of funds.

As far as "truly stupid" people go, there was an Italian in Bangkok who lost 2.6 million baht in the "black money laundering" scheme, also countless Koreans and Thais. Usually if one has been scammed, one doesn't want to admit that Greed clouded their judgement.

[LivinginKata]

Indeed.....how many people would turn down cash for their property in a depressed market?????

I have no sympathy for anyone loosing money in an obvious (to me) scam. Equally I have no sympathy for anyone caught out in a dodgey deal or stock market gambling.

[Master Chief]

A couple years ago two italian pizza brothers got scammed in Patong with the black rocks deal, and lost several millions of baht.

They also went to the police and cried out in the local newspaper

I just cannot feel sorry for such!

[huggybear]

So, just a head's up.

Indeed. If one were needed for the truly stupid.

I agree, as soon as someone mentions Liberia or Nigeria, or any other African nation for that matter, you have to be a complete idiot to think anything is on the level

[jackyseymour]

Indeed.....how many people would turn down cash for their property in a depressed market?????

Many people become "truly stupid" when it comes to money.

This guy couldn't continue whatever scam he had planned when we turned down the offer of cash and demanded a transfer of funds.

As far as "truly stupid" people go, there was an Italian in Bangkok who lost 2.6 million baht in the "black money laundering" scheme, also countless Koreans and Thais. Usually if one has been scammed, one doesn't want to admit that Greed clouded their judgement.

I don't know if you are aware, but there are an awful lot of scam artists running around attempting to dupe people in a 'depressed market'. They're usually very easy to spot - They hail from such places as Liberia and Nigeria, and they suggest you accompany them to Africa to seal any potential deal.

[Wellington]

Indeed.....how many people would turn down cash for their property in a depressed market?????

Many people become "truly stupid" when it comes to money.

This guy couldn't continue whatever scam he had planned when we turned down the offer of cash and demanded a transfer of funds.

As far as "truly stupid" people go, there was an Italian in Bangkok who lost 2.6 million baht in the "black money laundering" scheme, also countless Koreans and Thais. Usually if one has been scammed, one doesn't want to admit that Greed clouded their judgement.

I don't know if you are aware, but there are an awful lot of scam artists running around attempting to dupe people in a 'depressed market'. They're usually very easy to spot - They hail from such places as Liberia and Nigeria, and they suggest you accompany them to Africa to seal any potential deal.

I think the original posters point was to WARN that these guys are about again in Phuket and was virtually a public service as such.And they quickly got rid of the scammers;

so they are certainly not "truly Stupid" but very astute indeed.

[Wellington]

Indeed.....how many people would turn down cash for their property in a depressed market?????

I have no sympathy for anyone loosing money in an obvious (to me) scam. Equally I have no sympathy for anyone caught out in a dodgey deal or stock market gambling.

You never been caught by the Three Card Trick?

I bet all of us were once!

[McChuch]

Sorry, I "mis-spoke" in the initial post.......when the payment terms were presented, we were to receive cash here, in Phuket. It was not until we made it clear that we didn't want to deal with cash here, that the travel options were given.....knowing full well that no one would want to go to Liberia, the scammer figured that we would relent and agree to the original terms.

Wellington, thank you for your comments......you try to do some good and you get these smart alecks with their useless posts.

Dos Vedanya.