VIRGINIA — Just thinking about a phishing scam that cost her nearly $3,000 brings Lisa Fabish to tears.
The monetary loss is just one part of the money order scam that has also made the Embarrass woman more fearful and less open as a person.
“I feel like my whole life has changed,’’ Fabish said at her home last week.
Law enforcement officials say similar scams have totaled about $50,000 in the last two months, in the Virginia area alone. They also ask area residents to be aware and contact law enforcement first if an offer is too good to be true.
Fabish wants to make others aware of such scams and still wonders how this could have happened.
“I ask myself, ‘Why’d they pick me?’ ” The sad part is, she added, that “I’ll never know.’’
The ordeal for Fabish, owner of Black Wolf Kennels, started about one month ago when she was called via tele-relay by a man who wanted to buy a AKC-registered St. Bernard puppy from her.
However, the deal was that Fabish would have to cash three U.S. Postal Service money orders for the man supposedly from London and in Illinois at the time. From there Fabish was to send $2,075 to a woman in London (one of his representatives) via Western Union and she would keep the remaining $895.
Fabish added that the puppy cost $750 and the man gave her the rest for her troubles. Luckily, she said, the puppy was never picked up and now lives with a new owner in the Twin Cities.
While she “always had a feeling something wasn’t right,’’ she didn’t go with her gut feeling and went through with the transaction.
Just to make sure, she checked with her bank to see if the money orders were authentic. The bank, a large national company that has a local branch, told her to sign them and that they were good.
She would find out a short time later, the money orders were no good and the funds were taken out of her account.
She would also find out later the tele-relay calls were costing her money every time she accepted one. She said tele-relay is primarily for the deaf, but scammers are now using it to type messages on the Internet and relay them through the operator. The calls are not very traceable, she added.
Fabish believes she was targeted after the suspect saw her advertisement in the newspaper.
St. Louis County Sheriff’s Investigator Steve Heinrich said the kennel’s web page with puppies for sale was also looked at. “That’s the route they were using on her.’’
Heinrich said the money orders were shipped to her door through DHL, but they were actually issued last September for $129 each. In the following months, he said they were apparently changed to read $990.
Heinrich backtraced the man to Nigeria and said the package of money orders was originated and first shipped from Madison, Wis.
“These cases (referred to as phishing scams) are very hard to investigate,’’ he said, based on the numerous locations involved. “Most times you won’t get a conviction out it because they are out of the country.’’
Internationally people won’t touch it, Heinrich said, because extradition and travel costs for witnesses often exceed what the scam was worth.
While each scam can be small in the nationwide totals, but Fabish had plans for that $3,000.
It wasn’t for her, she said. It was to provide an improved kennel for the dogs and her customers. She had plans for an indoor play area and storage, running water and other items, she said as her eyes filled with tears.
The man, who claims he is “filled with cancer,’’ didn’t stop with the original scam either.
After the first transaction, he asked Fabish to cash $18,000 in money orders from his friend so he could get surgery for “cancer of the heart.’’ He even provided her a lost of places to cash the money orders.
She knew right there and also found it odd that the supposedly well-to-do man now couldn’t afford surgery.
Through numerous e-mails that keep on coming daily, Fabish said he also asked her to pay for his brother to go to college in Nigeria.
Fabish is keeping the communication lines open to get as much information on the suspect as possible, but it has her concerned for the safety of herself and her family.
The scammers have directions to the kennel to pick up the dog, which has Fabish locking her doors at all times now.
“I hope it doesn’t change me as a person,’’ Fabish said, but it probably already has.
The man will probably find out she’s on to him through this story, too, but she is OK with that.
Fabish just wants others to avoid the scams that are becoming more and more prevalent.
Heinrich, who has received training on the phishing scams and Internet crimes, said most originate in Nigeria and the scammers make it look like they are from London or Canada.
Local residents are reporting other scams, as well, he said.
He cautioned on credit card fraud, identity theft, ticket purchases for events far in advance and look-alike websites that seek updated personal and financial information.
Both the elderly and younger people are also receiving cashier’s checks made out to the victim, he said. The victims are told to keep some of the money for their troubles and send the rest to two or more others.
Heinrich said residents should go directly to local law enforcement if they have any doubts about being scammed.
He also had several strong words of advice.
“If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.’’ |
