Newspaper Classified Ad Used for Internet Scam

The "Nigerian Scam" is alive and well. People have to exercise extreme caution when adding their personal contact information to a classified ad.

Salem-News.com

(SALEM, Ore.) - An Internet scam based on classified advertisements in Salem's local newspaper should raise the alarm flags for anyone planning to place an ad, anywhere online. Fortunately there are a few simple things a person can do to stay safe from what has become known as the "Nigerian Scam."

Kurt Mohs tells Salem-News that it began when he went to sell his car. "I put an ad in the Statesman to sell a car; the ad automatically goes on their web site. I did not receive any calls until after the ad stopped running when I received a text message at 3:00 AM on the phone number that I had used in the ad, the text asked if the car was still available and could I e-mail them if it was."

Mohs says he noticed that the e-mail address had a UK sub-address. "The next day I emailed that the car was still available. The following day I received an email written by someone who did not understand common English grammar and punctuation."

"My name is Edward Kingston, I am located in 21 cassidy drive plainville,ct,06002.I am a private auto dealers"

A "private auto dealers?" Not very convincing Edward.

You could say Kurt Mohs' radar went on at that point. This man calling himself "Edward Kingston" missed some key points in delivering his scam, and it was obvious that he had only a limited grasp on the English language.

"The email really made me suspicious" Mohs said. "So I looked on the Internet and sure enough, there were many stories about people being contacted by 'private dealers' after putting a car on the Internet for sale."

The person identifying himself as a private auto dealer located in Connecticut told Mohs that he might have a buyer, and that he wanted a little more info on the vehicle.

But Kurt Mohs had discovered through his research that this looked like a Nigerian Scam, where con artists send the victim a cashier’s check for more than the asking price, then ask the person to cash the check and send the overage back to them via western union to cover shipping charges.

"So you cash the check, wire them back four or five thousand and a couple days later the bank calls you to say the check was bogus and they want all the money back," Mohs said.

This scam took an even more elaborate route too; Mohs was told that "Edward Kingston" wanted the car for a church pastor. He wanted to send Mohs a check for $9,000 to cover the $5,000 car, as well as shipping and taxes.

The person using the name Kingston actually said a church donation was the reason for his unusual request. He wrote:

"My client explained to me that why you are to receive this payment in this amount is because the money being used for the payment was a donation made to the church by a christain organisation in support of his celebration on his golden jubilee."

He told Mohs that all he had to do was deposit the check and wire $4,000 to the shipping agent; who would make all the arrangement.

Mohs wasn't falling for it, so he tried to get in touch with the Statesman Journal newspaper to let them know about it, hoping that he could help people avoid a similar experience, "I emailed the Statesman to see if they wanted to alert their customers but received no response."

Salem-News contacted the state Attorney General's Office for a comment but have received no response as of yet. We expect that there is little for them to add, the Nigerian Scam is a problem and criminals use these techniques to trick people into committing illegal activity, very possibly incurring large financial debts that have to be instantly repaid.

People have to be extremely cautious when even placing their telephone number on a public advertisement, and they also need to pay attention to crime trends. Police agencies have to work with the media to keep people updated on new developments.

Salem Police have issued a number of scam warnings that we have published on Salem-News.com, here is a link to many scam reports: Salem-News.com Fraud and Scam Articles This is a link to a Salem-News report by Salem Police Detective Paul Henninger on this exact subject: Salem Police Warning About Vehicle Sale Overpayment Check Scam