Here’s a unique twist to those scam email that you receive. I live in the USA. Someone with my last name died in London, Ontario, Canada, with an estate of $9.2 million USD. The mail purports to come from Sam Avis, an account manager from TD Bank. If I claim the money, then we’ll share the funds. There is no request (yet) for any “fee” to cover expenses.
While probably just a coincidence, the person who died was Gifford (my last name). My great-grandfather was Clifford (my last name) and emigrated to the USA from Quebec in the 1830s.
Unlike eMail, which costs nothing to send, this came in my mailbox with a postage-meter stamp. Now, it either cost the sender a dollar or so, or he/she forged the postage. There is no return address or postmark so I have no idea from where it was actually sent. A google scan shows similar emails from Canada with and estate of $9.2 million, so it’s gotta be a scam.
The guy’s going old school. These scams used to be done via snail mail. I had a friend who received one back in the early 90s, that was addressed to his father’s business.
I suppose there’s an untapped market in old people who aren’t using e-mail, who might fall for this.
While not as common, snail mail scams do still exist in the wild.
3 years ago my sis-in-law recieved an unsolicited check for US$5000 from one of those “secret shopper” deals with instructions on what to do with the funds as soon as she deposited the check.
She checked with her bank, yep it was a real check, drawn on a real account at a real bank, did she want to deposit it? Can’t guarantee it isn’t a real check written on rubber.
She took it to the Postal Inspector instead who verified it was a scam, part of a mail fraud case they’d been working that year.
Couldn’t she still have tried to deposit the check? If it bounces, no harm done - if not, she isn’t obligated to follow the instructions in the letter, and is legally entitled to keep anything mailed to her unsolicited. Free money!
Scammers these days, boy they don’t know how lucky they have it. We used to have to type those things out by hand, put them in a real envelope, put a real stamp on and then through six feet of snow uphill to the post office. And then back uphill through the snow again.
Get off my lawn.
Actually, when I worked for an import company, before the widespread use of email, we would often get snail mail versions.
Interesting - bank account managers obviously have no claim on such funds. So this is a curious up-front admission by the guy you’re supposedly dealing with that he’s crooked.
Two problems with that: (A) it was from Canada, not USA, and (B) no return address and I’m gonna guess that the postage meter number is a forgery so there is no way to identify the sender unless I respond to him via eMail as suggested.
I think I’ll string this guy along and see what happens.
And Sam purports to work for the “TD Bank.” Only problem is, in Canada, the “TD bank” (note the use of lower case) is a colloquial term for the organization known as “TD Canada Trust.” Any investments would be held under “TD Wealth.” Looks like Sam, supposedly based in Canada, does not know the name of his own employer.
Yes, it is known as “TD Bank” for consumer banking in the United States, and I might tell a friend that “I’ve gotta get to the TD bank before it closes,” but as a Canadian who has accounts with TD Canada Trust, and who has invested through TD Wealth, all my statements come from those organizations, but they do not come from “TD Bank.”
All my dealings with the TD, in whatever form, have been honest and ethical; and I have dealt with them for maybe fifty years now. Nobody has ever offered to “split the proceeds.” My advice would be to simply ignore the scamster, but put the RCMP fraud people on his trail. I’m sure that the RCMP would be very interested to know about this. A starting point:
A better resource for reporting: the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, which is run by the RCMP. Even has a toll-free number (not sure if it works from the US, though). I should have looked into this before my previous post. See here:
Most banks charge a returned check fee in the vicinity of $35 to the depositor. Not all banks, but most banks.
And if the check is fake and law enforcement becomes involved, you may be considered a person of interest in the check-forging scheme. Just like if a baggie with cocaine is found in your car, you will be the first person the cops suspect despite the fact that someone walking by may have thrown it in your open window. Yeah, you will probably be able to talk your way out of it after you pay a lawyer a few thousand and pay the bail bondsman a hefty fee to bail you out, but who needs the hassle?
And it is a crime in most states to knowingly pass a counterfeit check. The police may become interested in finding out whether your involvement was done knowingly.