# We have a mystery brewing here at work … **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 28, 2006, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-a-mystery-brewing-here-at-work/346506 "2006-02-28T20:09:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Avarie537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/48db29/32.png) [@Avarie537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avarie537)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-a-mystery-brewing-here-at-work/346506/1 "2006-02-28T20:09:20Z")
My coworker Jason signed for a FedEx envelope this morning. It was addressed to our boss – by name, not as a representative of the company. That’s not unusual, since he has a lot of his personal mail sent here instead of his home. (He certainly wouldn’t want our clients or tenants knowing where he lives.) When our boss opened the envelope, he came out of his office and asked if there was any additional information on or with the package. Nope – that’s all we got. Inside the FedEx envelope was a plain white envelope – no markings at all. Inside that envelope were four money orders - $950 each – made out to him personally (Jon Smith, not Jonathon Smith or the business). There’s no indication on them as to what they are supposed to be for, and the signature of the purchaser is almost illegible. We can make out the first letter (it’s an A), but that’s it. So I called FedEx to try to find out who mailed the envelope. It was picked up in Michigan, but billed to an account located in Connecticut. No dice there - The Boss doesn’t recognize the name on the FedEx account (frankly, it sounds fake), and hasn’t done business with anyone in Michigan recently. I tried calling the money order company, to see if I could find out the specific location of the store that sold them, but I was told that my wait time could be up to 19 minutes, and I didn’t have that kind of time, and didn’t want to tie up one of our two phone lines for so long. So, we’re at a dead-end. He’s not going to deposit or cash $3800 worth of money orders when he doesn’t know what they’re for or where they came from. Does this sound creepy / weird / suspicious / fraudulent to anyone else?? ---
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-a-mystery-brewing-here-at-work/346506/2 "2006-02-28T20:30:36Z")
someone came into a lot of money and is randomly giving away chunks of it to unsuspecting individuals? Maybe it’s Mob money and he doesn’t any on him when they catch up with him. If he doesn;t have it, they can’t prove he took it. And money orders are all but untraceable. All they will tell you is where they were purchased ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-a-mystery-brewing-here-at-work/346506/3 "2006-02-28T20:39:07Z")
There is a scam floating around where someone will pay over the amount due for an item with bogus money orders, then ask that the difference be refunded. I would suggest having someone call the money order place. A 19 minute wait is nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-a-mystery-brewing-here-at-work/346506/4 "2006-02-28T20:46:49Z")
That _is_ weird. Is it close to his birthday? Anniversary? Is he having trouble with money? Anything? If it’s not a scam, the next most realistic conclusion, IMO, would be that it’s a surprise gift from somebody… maybe they were anonymous b/c they thought he might not accept such a large amount if he knew who it was from. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-a-mystery-brewing-here-at-work/346506/5 "2006-02-28T20:51:00Z")
He’s blackmailing a group of people who did a murder at a summer camp years ago. This is just the first installment. God help ya. ---
**Author:** ![Plynck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Plynck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plynck)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-a-mystery-brewing-here-at-work/346506/6 "2006-02-28T20:51:23Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > There is a scam floating around where someone will pay over the amount due for an item with bogus money orders, then ask that the difference be refunded. > > I would suggest having someone call the money order place. A 19 minute wait is nothing. First thing that went through my mind. A typical scheme would be: You receive the money orders. Later today you get a call that the money had been accidentally sent without the order form and the caller wants four computers/MP3 Players/mountain bikes/easily fenced goods. Your boss tells them that the price is not $950, but in fact $750. Your boss is instructed to put a money order for the difference in price with the goods and ship them off to some location. Where no one will be found a few weeks from now once the money orders turn out to be worthless. Or then again, it could be from a customer about my age who just gets forgetful sometimes… ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-a-mystery-brewing-here-at-work/346506/7 "2006-02-28T20:52:47Z")
Does a money order higher than $1,000 trigger some sort of tracking mechanism? It seems that the sender didn’t want to send a solitary large money order. Or is that already obvious to everyone? ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-a-mystery-brewing-here-at-work/346506/8 "2006-02-28T20:54:11Z")
Well obviously his future self has sent him the money so that he can build the components for a Time Machine so that he can sell them for $3800 so that in the future he can come back and pay for the first time machine. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-a-mystery-brewing-here-at-work/346506/9 "2006-02-28T21:15:27Z")
Yep. Definitely check that the money orders are real. If you get a call as **Plynck** describes, tell the caller that no money will be forthcoming until the money orders are verified in full. If the caller doesn’t like that, the money orders will be returned. ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-a-mystery-brewing-here-at-work/346506/10 "2006-02-28T21:32:57Z")
> [@Plynck](#): > > First thing that went through my mind. > > A typical scheme would be: You receive the money orders. Later today you get a call that the money had been accidentally sent without the order form and the caller wants four computers/MP3 Players/mountain bikes/easily fenced goods. Your boss tells them that the price is not $950, but in fact $750. Your boss is instructed to put a money order for the difference in price with the goods and ship them off to some location. Where no one will be found a few weeks from now once the money orders turn out to be worthless. > > Or then again, it could be from a customer about my age who just gets forgetful sometimes… Brilliant! ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-a-mystery-brewing-here-at-work/346506/11 "2006-02-28T21:33:12Z")
Assuming there is no “From” information or contact # on the exterior Fedex address slip, ask Fedex for a contact # for the Conn. account, or if privacy isses are involved & Fedex refuses ask Fedex to call them and forward the request for them to call you as there is a serious issue to be attended to. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-a-mystery-brewing-here-at-work/346506/12 "2006-02-28T21:41:08Z")
[Money order scam](http://www.bankofcolorado.com/content.asp?id=627&cid=5) as noted by the Bank of Colorado: > [@](#): > > Most counterfeit’s [sic] have been supposedly issued in even dollar amounts ($900.00/ **950.00** etc). ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-a-mystery-brewing-here-at-work/346506/13 "2006-02-28T21:49:13Z")
Since you’re in the rental-housing industry, here’s a feel-good possibility: Somebody whose rent was $950 a month and skipped out on four months’ worth of payments a while back finally had a great enough amount of money and/or guilt to allow/impel him/her to make good on the debt. Yet there’s still embarrassment and/or fear of prosecution – hence the anonymity. ---
**Author:** ![Plynck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Plynck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plynck)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-a-mystery-brewing-here-at-work/346506/14 "2006-02-28T22:01:07Z")
> [@Mr Bus Guy](#): > > Brilliant! Yeah. If only I’d thought of it first… 😉 Try googling for scam baiters; there are a lot of these stories out there. [This](http://www.419eater.com/html/joe_eboh.htm) is one of my favorites; it’s the Nigerian money scam. It’s quite long, but one of the funniest things that I have read. > [@Sternvogel](#): > > Since you’re in the rental-housing industry… Oops. Hard to fence a lease, I’d guess. :o ---
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-a-mystery-brewing-here-at-work/346506/15 "2006-02-28T22:04:53Z")
Actually, this happened in my company years ago. Every month, for about 3 years, we would get a (valid) $20.00 money order from the same source - a bogus name and address with a non-matching zip code (the zip code wasn’t even in our service area). We figured out it was guilt money for having stolen service, or having skipped out on a seriously delinquent bill. We never did find out who sent them, but since they were valid (with proper codings and watermarks and such) we deposited them to an account we had for posting unidentifyable monies. Sometimes these funds were claimed and we gave the customers their proper credits but to date this account still holds several thousand dollars unclaimed ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-a-mystery-brewing-here-at-work/346506/16 "2006-02-28T22:10:38Z")
Report the whole thing to the cops - they can hold the orders in escrow and if the law’s the same as the UK, if nobody claims them they become yours after six months or a year or something. (Disclaimer: the last time I had occasion to do this was when I was seven years old and found a five pound note on the floor. Advice may be out of date. And foreign.) ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-a-mystery-brewing-here-at-work/346506/17 "2006-02-28T22:32:50Z")
So that’s where my $3800 went. OOPS! My bad! It was all just a big mistake. Too many gin 'n tonics the other night. Have him email me, and he can send my money back, and we’ll just forget the whole thing happened, ok? oy, am I embarrassed. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-a-mystery-brewing-here-at-work/346506/18 "2006-02-28T23:23:31Z")
> [@anyrose](#): > > to date this account still holds several thousand dollars unclaimed Actually, those funds belong to me. I’m sorry for the inconvenience, but I was feeling _really_ guilty… ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-a-mystery-brewing-here-at-work/346506/19 "2006-03-01T00:44:02Z")
Weird that there was no contact made before the money orders were sent out of the blue. Usually, there’s _some_ sort of explanation for the transaction before the cheques/money orders are sent – although they’re usually so bizarre that they seem purpose-built to weed out. I let rooms to students and advertise on craigslist and elsewhere, so I get people fishing for suckers for this scam all the time. Usually, they’re so obvious that you can tell what’s coming before they actually get around to mentioning the “I’ll send you a money order” bit. My favourite one purported to be a successful American fashion model who was coming to Vancouver to work – but was prepared to take shared accomodation in a house and neighborhood she hadn’t seen or even made any inquiries about. The first e-mail hinted that she might be sexually available: > [@](#): > > Hello, > I am interested in renting your room.Here is a little info about myself. I am Morine Richard and i am 27 years old.Am a American but at present i’m in Athens, Greece, but will be coming over to canada in a couple of weeks. Consequent to this and in order to make settling in much easier and quicker i am searching for an accomodation early and i saw your ad on the site and i want to make reservations for your > apartment. > I can assure you that you will not have any regrets letting out this apartment to me & having me as a room mate.I am an introvert by nature & i get along much easily with most people.I will becoming over alone,with no family, pet, or boyfriend. I do not smoke nor drink. > My reason for moving is because i have three job offers which i am undecided which to choose & the pay is very good. I’m a model and just got some new contracts and dont intend to spend more than 2-3 months in canada. > Please reply me as soon as you read this email.I ll be waiting to hear from you. > Kindly contact me via email. Also if you have a yahoo messenger you could add me.My yahoo id is sweetangel1234u and email is [sweetangel1234u@yahoo.com](mailto:sweetangel1234u@yahoo.com) so you could add me. > Thank you once more > Yours sincerly > Morine I larfed my ass off at the ridiculous implausibility of it, and knew what was coming. For fun, I sent “her” a reply which (enthusiastically) described the place as an overcrowded, crumbling dump next door to a fish cannery in the worst part of town. No worries, of course! > [@](#): > > Thanks for your reply, the information the place will be just fine, i intend to move to Canada before end of May.My contract starts by june but i’d love to settle and make all nessacary arrangements before then. I assure you wont regret giving out the room to me. > Well i’ll need your favour on something which would also serve as my means of payment. My Boss owes me some funds and i told him that i’ve secured a room in canada, he agreed to pay up and said he’ll inform his partner in Canada to send a money order to you to be sure i was telling him the truth. All i need from you now is your information (name$address) so he can send the payment to you. I’ll give him your phone number if he needs to give you a call. Kindly take them to your bank & have them cashed. From this you can deduct the totall amount for the room & in due course of time i will forward to you my name & address to have some of the balance sent back to me. With this i will be able to buy my ticket & pay for freight fee that will be bringing my things over. The remaining i will pick up when i arrive. What I usually do with these people is send a reply that makes a false claim of poverty, some oblique appeal to conscience, and a cryptic hint that I know exactly what they’re about. Here’s my reply to this one: > [@](#): > > Hi. Sorry, but the room is vacant now and leaving it open for the > remainder of the month will be too much of a **f** financial ha **r** rdship **a** at > this time-- I s **u** ublet and am obliged **d** to pay full rent for any vacant > rooms. I’m way overbudget this month and need to get someone in right > away in order to get the bills paid. > > Thanks for your interest anyway, and good luck finding something for > June. In this, the best of all possible worlds, everybody gets what > they deserve. (Emphasis added to “typos.”) I figure if they’re stupid and evil enough to pursue it any further after that, I’ll take the time to go through the motions of being a total rube and get the appropriate authorities involved. So far, it seems that these people aren’t nearly as dumb as they like to represent themselves, because they’ve _always_ dropped it. ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-a-mystery-brewing-here-at-work/346506/20 "2006-03-01T01:28:09Z")
It’s hush money. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-a-mystery-brewing-here-at-work/346506.md?page=2)