Laptop repair scam

Scammers typically do not live in the same country as the people they contact.

If you have received a check from this person, do NOT put it into your bank account. It is a forged check and you will end up with the consequences of depositing a forged document.

If you have deposited the check, speak to the manager at your bank immediately and take the emails you have received.

If you have only given him your street address, you are rather safe. Scammers want money the easiest way possible. Knocking on doors does not get them money. If you had done something to cause the scammer to lose a large sum of money, they might try to make some trouble for you.

If you are still nervous please send a PM to one of us Moderators or to an Administrator and we can help you with more details.

The bank is assuming that they will eventually confirm the fraud in the normal check clearing process, and they will automatically reverse the deposit once that happens. With most banks, that is really the only way to do it--since you are not the owner of the account the check is being drawn on, you can't put a stop payment on the check.


Just make sure you keep records of everything--save all emails, and take notes on any conversations with the bank, so that it is clear that you were not knowingly involved in fraudulent activities.

Thanks for all of your help... The bank called this past friday to report the check did not clear. Thank god I found out about this before I followed through...how long do you think I should hold on to all of the info and such before trashing... I am thinking at least 7 years...

Thanks again

So what happens if I go to another bank and try cashing the check?

Never mind, got a check in today from these people and the check is so obviously fake it hurts.

[AlanJones]

That was quick, 9 minutes for you to receive the cheque and change your mind.

Assuming you are for real and not just lining up for spamming, then if I was you I wouldn't even consider cashing the cheque.

The bank you cash it at will know your name and will pass the details over to Law Enforcement and you will then be left trying to explain why you are passing fake cheques.

The only person who loses will be you as you will have to pay the funds back and may be facing criminal charges.

i have also been affected by this scammer. he is very convincing but the key is (to convincing) here is his current name and email used for the past 3 days atleast.


current name used (Dale Sempek [email protected]) this scam has been around a while but i spent Hrs researching this info to find anything on it until this site. he will even respond to all of your question including name, place of buisness, and address along with phone number. (after searching i found the buisness loced in one state, the address located in another city and the phone located 4-5 states away.
the first contact email you will receive will look close to this.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Good day in response your your add on Criagslist I need your service.I have 4 Pentium IV Dell laptops, . Below is a list of work needed to be done on each PC.

1 Format Hard Drive
2 Install Win Xp with Service Pack 2
3 Install Microsoft Office Package
4 AVG Virus Software
5 Adobe Acrobat Reader
6 diagnose Hardware. Hard drive, video card, processor and what not.

Get back to me with your total cost for the service
I await your urgent response.

Best regards,
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

I see this format has been around a while

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index ... 441AAFS4Q6

I've posted a comment in that Yahoo answer pointing back to this thread to raise the level of public awareness to this type of scam.
The more out in the open this sort of thing gets, the less chance there is of a scammer being successful.

From: michael mullen - [email protected]

Hello,

I have 7 of my company's laptops (HP dv2500)for upgrading/reformatting, advice if both is part of your service line . All i need is you to remove Trojan virus that attacked all seven computers and re install avg free anti virus, And i want you to upgrade all computers from window vista Business to windows 7 professional. i have back up files for all computers,They have been attacked by various Trojan. Kindly advise the service charges for all the 7 laptop computers either by flat rate fee or total cost of the whole hours to get all 7 units repaired asap.

All computers are the same model,i want AVG home edition free anti virus,I will be providing windows 7 Professional Cd and License keys.


Looking forward to read from you.
Regards.

CEO

Michael M Hullen
WISDWED OFFICE O Computer Systems, Inc

hey, i just got this email last night, asking for a repair. let me copy paste the mail:

I am in need of a good technician who can handle and help with the
problems am having with my Laptops.I have so many Laptops that I
receive from companies to get them repaired or formatted, but i need a
deligent and very honest Technician who will repair the
Laptops.Currently :


I have 7 Pentium IV Dell laptops, Below is a
list of work needed to be done on each Pc.
1 Format Hard Drive
2 Install Win Xp with Service Pack 2
3 Install Microsoft Office Package
4 AVG Virus Software
5 Adobe Acrobat Reader

Get back to me with your total cost for the service

Thank You.
I await your urgent response.
Best regards

i thought its someone from craiglist so I replied and got this reply:

Thanks for the reply.I have all the necessary soft-wares needed for the
service installations...Let me know the final asking price of my
jobs.. I will instruct my secretary to prepare a check for you on your
name and address . Do send me the details below :


Full Name:
Physical Address:
City:
State:
Zip code:
Cell phone #:

So as to prepare the Cashiers check and shipping of the laptops to your
address. i have a reliable shipper that will pickup the laptops when
you are done with it.I am looking forward to hear from you,so we can
have payment and shipping asap.
Thanks

Welcome faihasan, and thanks for posting the script this scammer is currently using. Could you post the email address this scammer used?

This guy almost got me... till the check came. For one I don't have '2450$' nor an account open so these road blocks prevented me from actually going through at all. Anyway I came home after picking the check up at the post office and did some research and came upon this website/forum post.

This fool is still out there and he's hungry. I'll paste details following my rant. Anyways, I want to thank everyone on this site for making this information available. If he wasn't so greedy sending $2000+ checks he would prob get more people. Hope nobody else comes upon this. The main thing that blinded me through all this was my ignorance of craiglist scams. I mean shit the employment section is being targed... you wouldn't think so out of all the other places to go, but ya its happening to us potential employees ect.

Email Address of the creep: [email protected]

The ad he used is pretty much the same, 7 laptop repair, format, virus definition installation, ect.

Correspondence to my reply to his Craig s list ad:

I have made out a Check to you in respect of the computer Reapair Job, I WANT YOU TO GET THE CHECK DEPOSITED in your Account and After deducting your Final Price Labour
,I want you to Forward the Balance to the Shipper, ,All the Laptops
are with her, So once you have forwarded the Balance she will ship the
Laptops to you and also ship it back once you are done with the
installation.....The Balance have to be forwarded Via Western union to
the Shipper so that she Can get the Laptops to you in Time.
SHIPPER INFORMATION'S FOR WESTERN UNION
Receivers Information:
----------------------------------

Receivers Information:
----------------------------------
Receiver's Name: Byron Joseph
Receiver's State: NY
Receiver's City: Bronx
Receiver's Zip Code: 10468

The Western union charges are to be deducted from our funds, When the Money has been transferred Let me have the information's Below

10 digit MTCN Number:
Amount Sent:
Amount Charged By Western Union :
Your Full Name and address as on the Western Union Slip:

I will be waiting to read back from you ASAP today and i also have some other assignment for you to do by next week.
I want you to be rest assured that I'll never stress you at all in any assignment given to you and i promise to pay your fees weekly as we both agreed.

Take good care of yourself and have a blessed day.

GL to all the potential targets


Added quote box for clarity and removed offensive term. ~Bubbles

Hi me too Is a victim of this scam. But I deposited the check and the funds are there, idk what to do please help, I did contact the bak to let them kno wassup, somebody please respond tonight.

Do NOT take out any of the money.If you have taken the money out, you will have a much bigger problem on your hands.
Make sure the bank understands that you have discovered this is a scam.
Save the emails, in case there is an investigation later.
Drop the scammer like a hot potato. Ignoare threats, including threats that they have or will contact the police or FBI. The threats are as phony as the check.

The bank will discover the check is fraudulent. When they do that, they will reverse the funds, which is why you need to leave them intact. They may charge you fees for a bad deposit, but if you have been proactive, you might be able to avoid that (depends on the bank and the people).

Thanks man, ima leave it there, ima save the emails...

Hey Everyone.
I too got hit up by this scam. The only difference is that I am a graphic designer, and advertise as such on Craig's List. Anyhow I googled this guys name and email address and havent been able to locate either associated with any scams. Just for the sake of the "what if" factor I let this guy keep going, but asked several questions and made a spacific request for his mailing address. I will post the emails. He is going by the name Aaron Gibson, and using the email address [email protected].

Aaron Gibson

I will like to know if you can get this work done for me, I have 7 Pentium M HP laptops, Below is a list of work needed to be done on each PC.

1.Format Hard Drive
2.Install Win XP with Service Pack 3
3.Install Microsoft Office Package
4.AVG Virus Software
5.Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Get back to me with your total cost for the service........I await your urgent response

I'll put his emails in italics for clarity

Hello Mr.Gibson
Please accept my apologies for the delay in returning your email, I changed my Craig's List email last week, expecting my email to go to my business address, however any replies to that post are still coming here.
I'm not sure how my ad ended up in "Laptop Services". I am a graphics designer, and an animator, and I'm not too much into the IT side. It's not to say I cant do IT, I do have a BA in computer science, but with an emphasis in CG graphic design.
In short if you are still in the market for someone to do the restore on your laptop I'll be able to get it done for you provided you have the correct software you need for the job. You will need the restore disks for that computer, A copy of WinXP if its not already on the restore disk. Your MS Office Suite disks with your activation number. Acrobat and AVG are both downloads.
My fee would be $100, and baring any unforeseen issues, I should be able to have the computer back to you no later than 48 hours from the time I receive it.
Once again I apologize for the delay. If you no longer need assistance then simply do not reply to this email. If you do, then I look forward to hearing from you

Thank you for your consideration

Note: don't ask me why I thought he said there was only one laptop

Hello,
I got your Response .I have all the necessary software needed for the service installations of the Laptops, there is no any Hardware problem and they are working fine but need those upgrade...Let me know the final asking price for everything including your mode of payment so i can commence with the payment.

I'll look forward to hearing from you to assure me you can handle this with all perfection.

Thanks

Hello Mr Gibson,
Provided you live in the greater (HOME TOWN DELETED) area, at your earliest convenience, I'm willing to either meet you somewhere, or you can bring the items to my home, which for the time being is also my place of business.
Payment is due upon completion of the upgrade and I will accept cash or money order. Ive had a few issues with NSF checks, so unfortunately I have had to stop taking them. The price I quoted in the last email was for 1 laptop. Provided I'm reading your last email correctly, you seem to have several. The base price remains $100 per computer, however depending on how much I can do simultaneously, I may be able to give you a discount.
Multiple laptops will also affect the completion time, so if you could please send me a list of how many laptops you have in mind, and which ones have their own restore disks, I'll be better able to give you a final price and completion time.

Thank you again for your consideration

Note: I lied about the previous NSF problems, but when you own an upstart small business it's never a good idea to take checks from anyone you dont know. This way you protect yourself without alienating a potential customer.

Thanks for the reply, i really understand you and what your'e trying to protect here and i just want to you to know that i'm not one of those whom rip off people's properties which you can also hold my laptops even if there'll be problem but am assurring you that there's nothing of such,i do have other items with the shipping agent and i want him to pick up the last items which are the laptops your'e repairing.so i decided to pay you and the agent together which after i send you the Check with the excess funds on it then you cash it and you deduct your own payment for the repair then you send the rest funds of the money inorder for the shipping agent to come pick up the laptops from you after repair.so do reply me back with your name and address to know if i should still go ahead and send you the Check thanks and reply me back asap

This is when I started to suspect something wasnt quite right, so I turned up the heat A litle.

Mr Gibson,
I see that you are obviously not local. The terms you set forth in your last email are acceptable. For the sake of clarity between us let me repeat them back to you. You will send me the laptops, along with the software necessary for the upgrade, plus a check in the amount equaling $100 per laptop plus the cost of shipping to return them to you.Once I receive and have inventoried the aforementioned laptops and software, I agree to provide you with time until completion, plus an itemized list of the items received. I will also at that time provide you with my personal cell phone number. I agree to upgrade and test each laptop to ensure that each is working properly. . Once the upgrades are completed I will ship them back to you with the funds you provide for shipping, above the cost of the upgrades.
Consider this email a contract between you Aaron Gibson and myself xxx to commence upon receipt of the items in question.

OK now that the legal stuff is out of the way here is my address

Yes just in case he was legit I gave him my address. Considering how much the biker type dudes next door and across the street love my wifes cooking, i would truly feel sorry for anyone stupid enough to come to my house and cause trouble.

Aaron Gibson [email protected]
Thanks for the reply,like i said earlier that i do have a shipping agentwhich will be used for the shipping of the Item from you,but i'll besending you an excess funds of $2450 on the Check which the restbalance on the check will be sent to my shipping agent through theWESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER OUTLET after the money has been cashed forthe shipping of the laptops to you ,so you don't have to bother for theshipment ,i'll handle and take care of the shipping ,so kindly reply meback to confirm finally if i should go ahead with the transaction so ican send out the check to you tomorow morning then you receive itlatest by tuesday morning and reply me back also if you have a bankaccount which you'll be using in depositing the check .Thanks

Mr Gibson,
By my understanding, you will be sending a check in the amount of $2450 USD. Once i receive the check I am to cash it, then I am to send funds in the amount you will provide to your chosen shipping agent via Western Union.
This seems fine to me, however it could take as much as 7 to 10 days for your check to clear my bank. Until it does I cant access the funds. If that time frame is acceptable, then I am willing to proceed.
Let me know what you decide

Thanks for the mail,you got everything right but it takes just 24hours for a check to get cleared and i'll commence with the payment and will reply you back with the tracking number which i used in mailing out the check to you including the shipping agent information whom you'll be sending the rest funds of the money to through any of the WESTTERN UNION TRANSFER OUTLETS around your home.

At this point I was 99% sure it was a scam, but just in case I sent the following, not really expecting a reply

Mr Gibson,
Due to the amount of money involved, I will need you to provide me with your mailing address for verification please.
Like I mentioned before I have had problems with NSF checks in the recent past and my bank insists on full verification before it releases the funds on any account not previously verified. If you are correct that it only takes 24 hours, then there shouldn't be a problem.
On the other hand, if it turns out that it will take longer, I will inform you right away

And to my utter amazment I recieved this..

i'll send you the tracking number which i use in mailing the check in my next mail ...Thanks

I understand the lure of gaining new customers, especially in the current economy. So I have posted this not only to get one more scammer name and email posted on the web, but to hopefully give an example of how to weed out the scammers without chasing away potential legit customers.

I havent recieved any check yet, but when I do you can bet I'll be turning it and all the emails over to any officials I can get to listen

I do hope this helps
The Grandude