Man uncovers internet scam
mdislander.com
SOUTHWEST HARBOR — Bob Shields has been selling bicycles from his downtown shop for 23 years. This summer, he experimented with selling some bikes over the Internet and nearly became the victim of international scammers seeking to bilk him out of thousands of dollars.
In late July, Mr. Shields, owner of Southwest Cycles on Main Street, listed two expensive bikes in the classifieds section of the cycling Web site roadbikereview.com. One was priced at $1,575 and the other at $2,400.
He quickly received an e-mail from a man claiming to be in the United Kingdom who said he wanted to purchase both bikes. The man later changed his request and wanted only the less expensive bike.
Mr. Shields and the man, who used the name Jerry Diko, corresponded for several days, confirming the logistics of the sale. Mr. Diko used a web-based e-mail account through the search engine www.netpiper.com. He told Mr. Shields that a friend owed him money and that the friend would be sending the bike shop a check for $5,000. The buyer requested Mr. Shields wire the difference in the cost of the bike, a total of about $3,400, to him. Mr. Diko said the check would be coming from a friend in China.
After the initial e-mail, Mr. Diko did not ask any additional questions about the bike — not about its size, color, or components. He also told Mr. Shields that he would have an associate pick up the bike at a later date, never giving a shipping address.
Mr. Shields said he suspected the buyer was scamming him when he brought up the notion of paying more than the bike was worth and asked for cash back. Also, “the guy had no interest in the bike,” he said. “He was more interested in getting the money.”
When Mr. Shields received the $5,000 check, it was postmarked in an envelope from Nigeria, yet it had a return address that simply said “Maryland.” The check was drawn from a credit union in Phoenix, Ariz. When Mr. Shields took it to Union Trust Bank in Somesville an employee confirmed, by checking the tracking numbers, that it was fake.
Mr. Shields said the whole ordeal made him angry. Not only was someone trying to scam money from him, but also they tied up the sale of the bicycle for more than six weeks. He had turned down another offer for the bike that came shortly after the first offer because he was committed to the initial sale.
Thia Embers, Mr. Shields’ wife, reported the scam to both the state attorney general and the district attorney’s office but representatives at both places told her to contact her local police department. Dismayed at the lack of support she encountered, she finally contacted the U.S. Justice Department’s Bangor office. There, she said, employees not only were helpful but also were familiar with the popular “Nigerian scam,” as it has come to be known. They directed her to an office in Tennessee that the Justice Department set up to combat the fraud.
Mr. Shields sent the Justice Department copies of all his e-mail transmissions with Mr. Diko as well as copies of the fraudulent check and the envelope in which it came. He contacted the Web master at www.roadbikereview.com to warn them of the fraudulent buyers and wrote to www.netpiper.com to say that an account on their system was being used for dishonest business transactions.
Mr. Shield’s first foray into e-commerce has made him leery of doing more cyber-business. “It doesn’t make me want to launch into it,” he said.
If they do continue to sell items online, Ms. Embers said they will stick with sites like eBay.com that regulate sales, rather than sites that simply offer classifieds. But before they go back on the Web they want to be sure they’re not scammed again. “It will take some education on our part,” she said. |
