Health, Safety & the Environment

Earlier this month, I discussed the dangers of a Phishing scam.  Another increasing popular internet scam involves a would be purchaser of an article you have posted for sale on Ebay or Craigslist mailing you bogus money orders for more than the purchase price and requesting a refund via wire transfer for the difference.  The only problem is that after you have wired the excess funds to the purchaser you discover that the money orders you received and deposited in the bank were counterfeit. This was the scam that ALMOST victimized Mark Friedman of Dobbs Ferry, who thought he had found a buyer for his mother’s necklace.  His story in the The Journal News makes for compelling reading.  In Mr. Friedman’s case, the money orders looked like the genuine article.  By the time that the bank would have reported back (days later) that the money orders were counterfeit, the scam artist would have made off with Mr. Friedman’s wire transfer.