Scam Warning

[Charley 2]

I recently received an email from a prospective student wanting more information about training..this is about how it went down:


I received your message, thank you.

Let me make things very understandable to you. I am here in Nevada.

What I want is some introductory or discovery flights. That is what I want please. This will be part of my vacation and I will like to enjoy it.

I will want such flight to be like 3 times per week depending on your convenient time. I will like it to be a period of 3 weeks.

I know this is what you can handle privately for me. So please let me know what it will cost me for those introductory or discovery flights so that my associate in US can make payment to you.

On the issue of payment, I like to handle it very private with you because I am a very busy person, and always like to settle every expenses ahead of time. This I believe you can help in any way you can please.

I will present requirement (if any) upon arrival as I will not like to transmit such via email.

Please let me know what the cost will be.

Thank you,
Mr. David Smith.



On 15 July 2013 18:30, Charley Shumaker <cshumake@live.marshall.edu> wrote:

On 7/8/2013 9:19 AM, Mr. David Smith. wrote:

I am David L. Smith. I write to let you know that I am interested in your flight instruction.

Please reply urgent for more details.

Regards,
David Smith.


​

Sorry for the delay, my e-mail has been backed up for some time. I currently teach at Ona Airport here in western West Virginia between Huntington and Charleston. Currently I have a few private students. If I take on any additional students at this time, I will be using the facilities of Hangar 9 Aviation here at Ona. You may check them out at their website here: http://hangar9aviation.com/.
If you have any questions about the Private Pilot Program, please feel free to call me at .........

Thanks for you interest,

Charley Shumaker, CFI


After thinking about it for a minute, and after receiving his reply, I researched his mail server and found that it was one of the largest emailers of Nigerian money scams. The payment in advanct thing was a trigger in this case. His less than familiar (shall we say) language skills..
This whole thing has red flags all over it..
Don't fall for it and pass it along to every CFI you know!
​

 

[DaleB]

These are generally ridiculously easy to spot. For one thing, anyone who refers to himself as "Mr. David Smith" is most likely a Nigerian scammer. The whole "I'm a very busy person and like to blah blah blah" is utter nonsense. Even busy people don't pay in advance. They have credit cards like everyone else.

 

[JeffDG]

Well, there's also the fact that what he proposes would be flight instruction of an alien without AFSP approval.

Yes, you can do a "discovery flight" with someone without asking if they are a US Citizen, but beyond that, you need proof-of-citizenship, or an AFSP approval from the TSA to give instruction.

 

[weilke]

The fact that they are targeting CFIs and FBOs suggests that at least one of them must have been successful at least once. Greed and ignoring signs of a scam if there is opportunity for a payoff is not limited to retirees in West Palm Beach.

Those guys obviously didn't drop out of rocket surgery school to pursue a career in the advance fee fraud field. If they were just one notch smarter, they might be able to snag someone.

 

[Banjo33]

It's like cold-calling in sales. You may dial a hundred phone numbers, but eventually you'll hit one that has someone ready to part with their money.

 

[JeffDG]

It's like cold-calling in sales. You may dial a hundred phone numbers, but eventually you'll hit one that has someone ready to part with their money.

'Cept it takes 100x the effort to cold-call 100 people as 1, but takes maybe twice the effort to e-mail 100,000 people than it does 1

 

[wsuffa]

'Cept it takes 100x the effort to cold-call 100 people as 1, but takes maybe twice the effort to e-mail 100,000 people than it does 1

Not much effort with robo-dialers.

 

[N747JB]

'Cept it takes 100x the effort to cold-call 100 people as 1, but takes maybe twice the effort to e-mail 100,000 people than it does 1

And the labor cost of sending these emails is pretty low!

 

[comanchepilot]

Dear Mr. David Smith:

I am glad you found me. I am a CFI of some note and offer these types of rides all the time to vacationers here in the middle of nowhere in Nevada. You will find Fallon to be an interesting town. Send me your bank details so I provide you mine. I presume you wish me to accept a check far in excess of your needs, and then give you cash for your vacation in repayment. We do this all time - we also provide lodgings for those who participate in this program. I'm sure you will find them clean and the meals filling.

Yours Truly,

Winston Smith
US Department of the Treasury
Financial Frauds Division
email: 419scams@treas.dhs.gov

 

[douglas393]

Dear Mr. David Smith:

I am glad you found me. I am a CFI of some note and offer these types of rides all the time to vacationers here in the middle of nowhere in Nevada. You will find Fallon to be an interesting town. Send me your bank details so I provide you mine. I presume you wish me to accept a check far in excess of your needs, and then give you cash for your vacation in repayment. We do this all time - we also provide lodgings for those who participate in this program. I'm sure you will find them clean and the meals filling.

Yours Truly,

Winston Smith
US Department of the Treasury
Financial Frauds Division
email: 419scams@treas.dhs.gov

OR:

Dear Mr Smith,

I am quite happy to hear you are interested in our flight school. We require a nonrefundable deposit of $5,000 US. Please send a certified check for the depost, and once your check clears my bank I will be more than happy to make arrangements with you on starting your flight training.

Sincerely,

Charley Shumaker, CFI

 

[N747JB]

OR:

Dear Mr Smith,

I am quite happy to hear you are interested in our flight school. We require a nonrefundable deposit of $5,000 US. Please send a certified check for the depost, and once your check clears my bank I will be more than happy to make arrangements with you on starting your flight training.

Sincerely,

Charley Shumaker, CFI

That's the rub, it MAY clear, or at least for a while, it can take 2-3 weeks for these to bounce or be discovered as fraudulent.

 

[Dave Theisen]

I used to work with David Smith, he's a great guy. Don't think he had any interest in taking flying lessons in Nevada though.

 

[marcoseddi]

I've been selling online for over. 15 years and seen it all I wouldn't have even responded to that it was suspicious the first read , paying in advance, so busy, and not sending info through email please.

 

[douglas393]

That's the rub, it MAY clear, or at least for a while, it can take 2-3 weeks for these to bounce or be discovered as fraudulent.

Possibly, but if you have the money in hand, and have not sent anything to Mr. Smith, and wait until your bank has assured you the money is good, then you have not loss anything. How much does it cost to fax Mr Smith some paper for him to fill out, after his check "clears." You just got to play the game by their rules, and use those rules against them.

 

[Charley 2]

The more I read his reply, the funnier it gets.

 

[DaleB]

Possibly, but if you have the money in hand, and have not sent anything to Mr. Smith, and wait until your bank has assured you the money is good, then you have not loss anything. How much does it cost to fax Mr Smith some paper for him to fill out, after his check "clears." You just got to play the game by their rules, and use those rules against them.

It costs whatever your bank will subsequently charge you for a bounced check deposit. Naturally you'd expect to be charged for a check *you* bounce, but if you read the fine print on your account fee schedule you'll probably find a "Deposit Item Returned" fee. My bank charges $25 for that.

Since the chances of any check you receive from a scammer being good are close enough to zero not to quibble over, I'd say you're just about as close to guaranteed to lose money as if you were dealing with the IRS.

 

[douglas393]

It costs whatever your bank will subsequently charge you for a bounced check deposit. Naturally you'd expect to be charged for a check *you* bounce, but if you read the fine print on your account fee schedule you'll probably find a "Deposit Item Returned" fee. My bank charges $25 for that.

Since the chances of any check you receive from a scammer being good are close enough to zero not to quibble over, I'd say you're just about as close to guaranteed to lose money as if you were dealing with the IRS.

You got a point. So change certified check with western union wire money, and you got a deal. Once western union gives you the money I do not think they can take it back.

It was also my understanding that there is a way to check with your bank to determine if the check is legit before cashing it, and I believe this is free. I know when I purchased high price items with a cashier's check, my bank was called to confirm the legitimacy of the check.

 

[weilke]

It was also my understanding that there is a way to check with your bank to determine if the check is legit before cashing it, and I believe this is free. I know when I purchased high price items with a cashier's check, my bank was called to confirm the legitimacy of the check.

With a legit cashiers check you can contact the bank it was drawn on.

 

[marcoseddi]

They make fake western union money orders that was a huge thing in early 2000's on eBay.