Police investigating fake African money orders

As the old adage goes, if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.
A Williamsburg man learned this the hard way last week after being stuck with nearly $100,000 worth of fake money orders.
Williamsburg Police Officer Jason Caddell said he received a call Friday from a man, who had been dealing with a woman reportedly from Nigeria on the Internet.
Caddell said the man didn’t say how much money he sent the woman in Nigeria, but he suspects it was probably about $2,000, and that man was expecting to make several thousand in return.
“She was sending money orders to him, and he was supposed to turn around and send them back out to people in the United States. He was supposed to get a certain amount of money for doing this. He took his money order, tried to cash it, and the bank told him it was fake,” Caddell said.
“He had probably a little over $100,000 in counterfeit money orders from probably eight or nine different banks. He got duped basically. He said, ‘I should have known that it was too good a deal to be true.’ Getting so much money for mailing something back out, common sense will tell that something is not right.”
Caddell said he has turned the case over to the secret service, but that he doubts much will come of the case since it is difficult to catch scam artists working outside the country. Chances are the person sending the money order will never be caught.
“Basically, these people will use counterfeit money, and get in touch with people on the Internet, and say to them, ‘If you will send me $2,000, I can make you $4,000 during the week.’ That is basically what people are doing. They are sending in money, and getting back counterfeit money orders.”
Caddell said a good general rule for people to remember is that if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.
Kentucky State Police Detective Colan Harrell also warned that many people are getting taken through a different form of Internet scam.
Harrell said he has received reports of people bidding on items through Ebay or other on-line auction sites, then sending off their money only to receive nothing back in return.
He said people buying things through on-line auctions need to remember they’re not dealing with stores like Sears or Penney’s where they can return something if there is a problem.