People fall for big scams every day
just read this. Amazing anyone falls for this.
Crime
Woman loses clients' money to hoax
``Anybody that falls for a Nigerian Letter scam deserves a whack with a stupid stick. That scam is as old as fax machines.'' - Ray Lauer, FBI spokesman
John Craig
Staff writer
A Republic, Wash., real estate title company owner allegedly has lost almost a half-million dollars of her clients' money to a well-known scam known as the Nigerian Letter.
One of the ripple effects is that a contractor who is doing site preparation work for a major Wal-Mart store expansion in Omak, Wash., may have difficulty paying his employees.
The FBI is investigating Ferry County Title & Escrow Co. owner Donna Burbank's alleged embezzlement from trust accounts. She is suspected of sending about $486,000 of her clients' money to international con artists who duped her with a get-rich-quick scheme.
No criminal charges have been filed, but an Omak contractor has filed a lawsuit to recover money he lost in an allegedly looted trust fund.
Burbank declined to comment to The Spokesman-Review or in a court hearing Friday in which Omak contractor Robert Tollefson tried unsuccessfully to recover about half of the $140,441 he says Burbank took from him.
"The loss of that amount of money endangers his financial situation and his projects, not the least of which is the Wal-Mart expansion," Tollefson's attorney, Richard Price, said in court.
Authorities don't know who got the money, but an accountant told a judge Friday that at least some of the allegedly pilfered trust fund money was wired to a bank account in Brussels. Details of the scam were sketchy, but Burbank is believed to have been tricked into sending the money in hopes of earning a multimillion-dollar reward.
"It's a really sad situation," Republic Police Chief Nick Merritt said.
He said Burbank reportedly received a request by fax from someone claiming to be a Nigerian doctor who said she needed help getting $35 million out of that country.
Another source who has investigated the situation told a judge Friday that Burbank apparently was hoping to receive a 20 percent reward for helping get $33 million out of Nigeria.
"Basically, it's `Pay us some money now and you'll get rich later,"' said Jim Tomlinson, internal auditor for a title insurance underwriter that may have to reimburse some of the Ferry County Title customers' losses.
FBI spokesman Ray Lauer said he couldn't comment on the case, but he said "anybody that falls for a Nigerian Letter scam deserves a whack with a stupid stick. That scam is as old as fax machines."
The con game began in Nigeria, and many practitioners still operate there, Lauer said. It has spread around the world and has a number of variations, he said. But the basic idea is an offer to reward foreigners lavishly for help in getting millions of dollars out of Nigerian control by putting it in the foreigner's bank account for safekeeping.
Sometimes the perpetrator simply gains access to the victim's checking account and empties it. But variations often employ elaborate ruses to persuade victims to pay various charges supposedly necessary to complete the transaction.
Occasionally, Lauer said, a con operator encourages a victim who has run out of money to engage in illegal activity to try to recoup losses.
"It's amazing how many people are still falling for this," Lauer said. "Every time you see one of these things, it's like those cartoons you see on Saturday where the guy's eyeballs bulge out with dollar signs."
The Ferry County Title problems surfaced earlier this month when Tollefson filed a lawsuit in Ferry County Superior Court to freeze all of Burbank's remaining assets and to try to recover some of his money.
The court case focuses on one of two trust funds under Burbank's control, one used to collect money from land buyers and pass it to sellers once the sellers have satisfied their obligations to the buyers. Only $72,541 remains in that account.
It was not clear Friday how much, if any, money was taken from another trust fund used to pay home buyers' mortgage and tax payments. Nor was there any discussion of how much of her own money Burbank may have lost.
The Republic police chief said he believes Burbank lost more than $200,000 of her own money.
Her frozen personal accounts are nearly empty, and her business operating account contains only $729.
So far, Tollefson's lawsuit has been heard in Okanogan, Wash., by Okanogan County Superior Court Judge Jack Burchard. One of Ferry County's judges is on vacation and the other, Rebecca Baker, declined to hear the case because she once owned another title insurance company in Republic.
Burchard froze all of Burbank's personal and business assets on Thursday and renewed the order in a hearing Friday. But Burchard rejected Tollefson's request for trust fund money still in Burbank's possession.
The judge said other victims should be notified before any money is distributed. He also said he needed more information on what Washington law says about several possible ways of distributing the money.
Lawyers couldn't agree on what murky case law requires, but said the possibilities range from first-come, first-served to a prorated distribution to all of the victims. One of the issues is whether the remaining money can be traced to a specific victim.
Price argued that whatever remains in the trust account that Tollefson's $140,441 went into on July 10 is his because the last of Burbank's allegedly improper withdrawals apparently was on July 3. About $227,000 was removed on that date, Price said.
Tomlinson said his examination of Burbank's records indicates Burbank made five or six illicit withdrawals, starting last October. He said it appears Burbank was duped by a Nigerian Letter scam, but told Burchard he doesn't know for sure that Burbank doesn't still have the money.
Tomlinson's company, Stewart Title Co. of Seatac, Wash., is the underwriter of title insurance policies Burbank's company sold. The two companies have no other connection.
Ultimately, Stewart Title may have to reimburse missing escrow money if the deeds to property it insured are clouded by the alleged misappropriation. Stewart Title's attorney, Paul Kube of Wenatchee, argued that money remaining in Burbank's trust funds should be apportioned among all of the Ferry County Title customers with money in the account.
"We think it's the right thing to do," Kube told Judge Burchard.
Omak attorney Scott DeTro also argued against letting Tollefson have all $72,541 remaining in the trust account Burbank used for one of Tollefson's real estate transactions. DeTro represents Coulee Dam Federal Credit Union, which has two customers facing mortgage foreclosures because of large losses similar to Tollefson's.
The difference, according to Price, is that Tollefson has no title insurance to cover his loss. Price said all 15 other companies and individuals with money in Burbank's escrow trust fund had title insurance.
Tollefson was buying land and selling a portion of it to a third party. His buyer made a final payment of $140,441, and Ferry County Title wrote a check for that amount to Tollefson. He, in turn, paid off the underlying seller, but the Ferry County Title check bounced.
Price said Tollefson's bank covered his check to the underlying seller, and gave him until Friday to reimburse the bank. Failure to get the money he sought in court Friday could affect Tollefson's ability to make his overtime-heavy payroll on the Omak Wal-Mart project, Price said.
Burchard acknowledged that Tollefson may be facing a "business disaster," but said there were too many unanswered questions for him to grant Tollefson's request.
So Burchard continued his freeze of Burbank's assets and left the other issues for Ferry County Superior Court Judge Larry Kristianson to sort out this month when he returns from vacation.
Meanwhile, the FBI asks any Ferry County Title customers who think they may have been victimized to call the agency's Spokane office at 747-5195. |
