Fake check Scammer - [email protected]

I posted an item on CraigsList for $100 on 11/16/2011 and I got this response on 11/17/2011. Even as I was reading it, something didn't seem right. I Google'd her name, and found this site. So, "Laura" is making her rounds. Here's the entire email she sent me:

Hello,

It is me Laura thanks for getting back to me i want to buy this but the only way i can pay you is via a Bank Certified Check that i would mail to you using the FedEx overnight delivery,

To make sure that everything goes smoothly i would wait for the check to clear before the pickup is done, I would be responsible for the pickup and it would be done by the movers and their payment would be included in the check i mail to you and this is all due to my disability (am deaf) and it makes it hard for me deal with this and it makes the transaction better and quicker.

I know you were not expecting this and I would have loved to come for the viewing but i cant I really want it and am offering an extra $50 for you to delete the posting to show i want it as i am just settling into my new house i want good deals to furnish the apartment i stay in.

if you are okay with this please send me extra pictures and get back to me with the following

Your Full name
Your Physical address (as FedEx does not deliver to P.oboxes)

I await your response . thank you and stay blessed

Laura McCray


Beware!
Craig (Pittsburgh, PA)

Welcome to ScamWarners cml1230 . Thank you for posting this information and please let us know how this works out.

I don't think FedEx will care that the document was a forgery. They will most likely discover that the package was paid with a stolen credit card. Scammers don't use their own money to do these things.

I posted an item on CraigsList for $400 on 11/15/2011 received a response from "Laura" within a couple hours. As I was reading through the email that this "Laura" character sent, red flags went off, so I decided to do some research and found this site. So, whoever "Laura" is, is making her rounds. Sad that she is still at it and wish there was more we could do to stop her/them. Fortunately, due to so many people having the same scammer issue and my red flag warnings when she asked me to pay others from what she was going to be paying me, I was able to avoid payment. Unfortunately due to the holiday season this type of crime is seen a lot.

Emails this person used:
- louisekelseyx55 McCray <[email protected].
- Laura McCray <[email protected]>

Here are some of the emails I have received:

Letter 1:
Hello [name],

How are you doing today? It is me Laura sorry for my late response this is my main email thanks for getting back to me with the details I just wanted to let you know that the check would be delivered to you on Friday definitely. Please do not forget to delete the posting

thank you for your consideration I await your response thank you

Laura McCray

Letter 2:
Hello [name],

How are you doing today? I just wanted to let you know that the check is getting delivered via Fedex today thanks for your honesty towards this transaction so far. Well, the overpayment is meant to cover the cost of shipment for the item alongside my other properties including tax and insurance plus the movers and agent fees.

Please deposit the check today so that it clears tomorrow after the check has cleared,All you have to do is go the bank and have the rest of the money withdrawn in cash and have it sent to the movers via Money Gram

Name : VIRGIE HARRIS
Address : 112 W. Ocean Blvd
City : Long Beach
state : CA
Post code : 90802

Do let me know your schedule for the week regarding pickup as i have some other properties to be moved alongside the item. Please do act accordingly as agreed after deducting your money for the item, make the rest fund available to the movers via money gram at any of their outlet around
you or check on http://www.moneygram.com {click find location} and check for their outlets around and get back to me with the transfer details below (as it appears on the receipt) so i can contact the movers for the pick-up at your location ....Deduct the money gram money transfer charges from my fund also $50 for yourself (meant for any hassle or run around).

1}Sender's name and address
2}Refernce number (pls send a scanned copy of the receipt if possible)
3}Actual amount sent after the fee had been deducted

Hope i can trust you with the overpayment? Your Honesty and transparency will be appreciated


I await your response thank you

Laura Mccray

I just got an email from this person when trying to sell a day bed on craigslist, he email is the same as OP's. You can tell a scam from the person not mentioning the item your selling at all in any reply.



Here's the email they used: Laura McCray <[email protected]>,

I got a reply from a craigslist ad from lauraloves sitcoms" [email protected] today. The first email seemed legit until I got the second one. The second one went to my spam folder on yahoo, maybe the address has been flagged. Can someone explain to me how this works? My thought is that if I take the check to my bank and cash it I will be held responsible for the amount if they check comes back fake. Shouldn't my bank decline payment if the check is fake? I googled that email address and found this website, so keep up the good work. Thanks!!!!

Shouldn't my bank decline payment if the check is fake?

Yes, but this is the part that most people don't realize:

Sometimes it can take weeks, even months for a bank to realize a check is fraudulent, but by law, the bank cannot hold the money back for that long. The law requires that banks give you the cash after a certain number of days (depending on the type of deposit) if they haven't established that the deposit is fraudulent.

But--and this is where things get complicated--if the bank later finds that the deposit is fraudulent, they have the right to take the money back, and charge you their standard fees for bad deposits, as well as fees for any checks that bounce as a result of the money being pulled back.

Hi! I received the exact message over the weekend from this "deaf" person who can't communicate with me. Wanted to buy my soft and chair and then pay the movers. I almost bought it then I got a hunch to check the internet for a scam. I wanted to be helpful to this "deaf" person. If I send the emails to the police, would they be able to do something out this predator?

Hello,
It is me Laura thanks for getting back to me sorry for my late response I want to buy this but the only way i can pay you is via a Bank Certified Check that i would mail to you using the FedEx overnight delivery,

To make sure that everything goes smoothly i would wait for the check to clear before the pickup is done, I would be responsible for the pickup and it would be done by the movers and their payment would be included in the check i mail to you and this is all due to my disability (am deaf) and it makes it hard for me deal with this and it makes the transaction better and quicker.

I know you were not expecting this and I would have loved to come for the viewing but i cant I really want it and am offering an extra $50 for you to delete the posting to show i want it as i am just settling into my new house i want good deals to furnish the apartment i stay in.

if you are okay with this please send me extra pictures and get back to me with the following

Your Full name
Your Physical address (as FedEx does not deliver to P.oboxes)

I await your response . thank you and stay blessed
Laura McCray

I just had a buyer with the phone prefix 44 70 try to buy a horse off me from dreamhorse.com.. I played along with him for a while because I wanted to make sure he was a scammer and I wasn't just being biased towards someone with not-so-great English skills...

Take a look if you're interested. This is the 3rd email in my correspondence with good ole Nick.

Name: Nick Woodson
Email: <[email protected]>
Phone Number: +4470274755950

Ms Beth,
Well thats is not a problem, i will get my agent whom will be coming to get shipped my horse for me, Thank you so much for your mail, please i want you to know that cheque of $15,000.00 USD will be issued to you and the $11,500.00USD will be sent to my Agent account for his flight ticketing, Motel bills, shipping fees, ticket back to England, with the horse and vet fee inclusive too once the cashiers check clears in your bank account.. So let me know what the next thing to do as i am really interested in on how my Horse will be here with me. The estimated cost wish me and my agent planed increases and it gonna cost me much for this to be shipped, i just want you kind trust on this okay? I hope i can trust you on this favorable deal huh Ms Theresa? Im sure this is not a stress to you..?
If your okay with this can you kindly send me the full contact information to whom will be cashing the check and the address that the check will be sent to, where and when do i send you the cashiers check and where is the check going to you, please provide it because i do not want any one to get this from me. Thanks in bunch.... I hope you had a wonderful weekend?
Best of luck, Nick

In a previous email, he had kept asking how much the total cost of the horse would be with shipping and the vet check included.. I told him he had to do his own research with international shipping and he was more than welcome to call my vet to get an estimate for a vet check - but the total cost really didn't concern me because he'd be paying 3 separate bills anyhow, and that his only cost with me would be the cost of the horse.

I figured he'd try to do the massive overpayment.. so I just responded that it was against our company policy to accept any payments over the listed sale price, and he could contact me if he chose to re-assess his buying technique.

My first scam clue was the .ph in his email address, which is indicative of a Philippines address..let's face it, it's highly unlikely that someone overseas is going to want to buy my horse. Shipping is outrageously expensive. His listed phone number is: +4470274755950, which was my second clue. The third clue was that he wanted to buy the horse without asking for ANY additional information, photos, videos...nothing. If you're from the Philippines - or England, as he later claimed - you're going to ask a heck of a lot of questions before you throw money at me for an animal.

I really hope people do their due diligence and don't fall for scams like these.
Cheers.
-Beth.

Welcome to Scamwarners Beth.
It is certainly a scam for the reasons you have already identified. I'm glad you didn't fall for it.

I received the same from Laurais Mcray tonight. Her first email was [email protected] the 2nd email: [email protected]. Almost word for word. Saying she is "disabled" (I am deaf) as if that keeps someone from buying an item cash and carry. If it looks like a skunk, smells like a skunk.....
Thank you for having this website! I googled her name and this site came up first!

So, this is all good information but no one says what to do if someone ACTUALLY falls for the scam.

What do you do?

(yes... I was stupid and did fall for it... but I am talking to the police)

Welcome to Scamwarners, rlynbook!
I'm really sorry that you were scammed. Talking to the police is exactly what you should be doing. Also, posting the emails, name the scammer was using and his email address, to warn other potential victims. I'm sorry that this happened to you and hope that it works out o.k.

Received this email from --> [email protected]

=======================================================

Hello,

It is me Laura thanks for getting back to me I want to buy this but the only way i can pay you is via a Bank Certified Check that i would mail to you using the FedEx overnight delivery,

To make sure that everything goes smoothly i would wait for the check to clear before the pickup is done, I would be responsible for the pickup and it would be done by the movers and their payment would be included in the check i mail to you and this is all due to my disability (am deaf) and it makes it hard for me deal with this and it makes the transaction better and quicker.

I know you were not expecting this and I would have loved to come for the viewing but i cant I really want it and am offering an extra $50 for you to delete the posting to show i want it as i am just settling into my new house i want good deals to furnish the apartment i stay in.

if you are okay with this please send me extra pictures and get back to me with the following

Your Full name
Your Physical address (as FedEx does not deliver to P.oboxes)

I await your response . thank you and stay blessed

Laura McCray

Just got a message from "laurasxmccrayx" looking to buy furniture from me off of Craiglist. The increased payment, the "bank certified check" thing, the spelling errors, the claim of a disability to avoid contact - all seemed fishy. My wife felt something wasn't right - I was too eager to go along. Glad I googled it first and saw the scam detailed on this site. Thanks Scamwarners!

Basically, the scam is that the scammer sends a victim a fake check, which the victim deposits. The scammer provides "extra" money in the check, including a "payment for the movers" - so when the movers show up to pick up the item (in my case, a table and chairs) the victim gives them the cash - the aforementioned "payment" - and then the movers take the cash and the item. Then when the check invariably bounced, the victim would be out the cash, the furniture, and in trouble for the bad check (owing fees on the bad check too).

The moral always is that if something is too good to be true...

Here's the email in its entirety:

"Hello,

It is me Laura thanks for getting back to me I want to buy this but the only way i can pay you is via a Bank Certified Check that i would mail to you using the FedEx overnight delivery,

To make sure that everything goes smoothly i would wait for the check to clear before the pickup is done, I would be responsible for the pickup and it would be done by the movers and their payment would be included in the check i mail to you and this is all due to my disability (am deaf) and it makes it hard for me deal with this and it makes the transaction better and quicker.

I know you were not expecting this and I would have loved to come for the viewing but i cant I really want it and am offering an extra $50 for you to delete the posting to show i want it as i am just settling into my new house i want good deals to furnish the apartment i stay in.

if you are okay with this please send me extra pictures and get back to me with the following

Your Full name
Your Physical address (as FedEx does not deliver to P.oboxes)

I await your response . thank you and stay blessed

Laura McCray"

Welcome to ScamWarners newyorkcitydan and thank you for posting this information. If the scammer used a different email address, please post that up for the search engines to be able to find. We are pleased you didn't lose money to the scammer.