Last Updated on 3 December 2009 by gerry
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According to Hoax Slayer, such scams usually target “high-ticket” items like cars and electronic goods. In my case I was contacted by someone in Dubai, purrporting to be:
Mustapha Habib
AL Garound Marketing Services
Plot 12 Shekh Quassim Way
Jebelalli Industrial Estate,
P.O.Box 14053
Dubai UAE .
Email: moozety101@yahoo.com
who wanted to purchase 120 Dovado USB Mobile Broadband Routers from me. From the outset my suspicion antennae were twitching for all of the following reasons:
- he was using a Yahoo email address
- he showed no interest in technical details about the product
- from an early stage he was eager to get hold of my bank details including telephone number and address
- he did not engage in any haggling over the price, quite the opposite in fact giving the impression he was prepared to pay over the odds for a large quantity
- the manufacturer of the product is actually registered in Dubai – why deal with me instead of dealing with Dovado directly?
- he told me he would be able to organise the shipping, which made the deal all the easier to conclude
Indeed although I quoted him a unit price of €75 per router, he sent a purchase order citing a unit price of €130. Nonetheless I invoiced him for €9,000 (120 routers at €75 each). On 28 September 2009, a postbank cheque for €55,500 arrived at our bank in Ennis.
As they say: “if something seems too good to be true, then it probably is”, so I googled Overpayment Cheque Scam and discovered that the above sequence of events fitted perfectly with the usual overpayment scam scenario.
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Furthermore my contact in Dovado shared a useful anti-scam resource with me: http://whocallsme.com – it’s a site where users can log details and telephone numbers from attempted scams and dodgy telephone marketing practices.
When I enter the phone number from the fraudulent purchase order (+971 553655906) into this website there are reports of almost identical scams originating from that number.
As soon as I sussed that the whole affair was a scam I ceased responding to emails from the fraudster and I have forwarded all the salient details to the Dubai police…without any response from them as yet, I might add. As is routine procedure with such large cheques, the forgery was inspected by the bank’s fraud department, confirmed as a dud cheque and returned unpaid. At this stage I will not find out what tall tale was in store for me at the end of the scam, but I don’t care. I just wanted to document the experience to alert others.
Update 18 Oct 2009
The Dubai Police did respond and have said that they’ll take the “necessary action”.
Update 3 Dec 2009
Many thanks for all the comments posted so far. Given the steady stream of reports of attempted fraud from the same source and the fact that the fraudster(s) have a physical presence in the countries they are targeting, I passed on the details of this particular fraud to the UK’s National Fraud Authority by telephone (0300 123 2040). Eventually some arm of the law might take an interest in apprehending some of the individuals involved. Maybe. There’s a slight chance.
You should reply back and say yes I have refunded the money and go along with it! So he’s the one that’s taken for an id*ot!
They make me so angry.
He had the cheek to say to us I need the funds sent back today and a copy of the transfer emailed to me! Dream on!
Hi – We have just had contact with this guy, we are based in the UK and his emails are below
—————————————
Hello Dave,
Thanks for the price quote,may i have the invoice for 4 units with the banking details for the payment.The shipping will be arrange by us.
Regards,
Terry.J
——————————-
When I asked for the invoice address he replied
——————————–
Hello Dave,
Here is the Invoice address:
EMIRATE MARKETING LLC
PLOT12 AL KARAMAL INDUSTRIAL ESTATE
JEBELLALI,
DUBAI.
UAE.
Company registration number AE1983425
May i have the account name?
Looking forward to read from you soon.
Regards,
Terry.J
May i have the account name?
—————–
Thanks for all your comments, as he is waiting for a response any ideas on how to set this guy up, especially as he seems to be in the UK ?
He’s not in the UK. It’s the same company name he used when he tried to say £55,000 was transferred into our account. My Bank advised a barclays bank which was a uk chq was banked into our account in Dubai. But it obviously bounced after 3 days so that’s why he will be anxious for you to transfer funds b4 the chq bounces.
He rang the office and spoke very professionally.
Sometimes they are using ligit companies that do exist in Dubai from the directory but they actually have nothing to do with that company.
I would send him your account details, let him put the payment in, then he will say he has overpaid. then reply back saying you have refunded the funds but you need his mobile number and let him sweat it out!!
he sent the below email then another email with a personal name and diff account details on it. If you do find a dept of fraud or something we can complain to and action will be taken then do let me know. Scotland Uk
_____________
Dear Sir
Good day and how was the weekend?The payment in the amount of 55,500.00 pounds has been errorneously made into your account as against the invoice amount by our finance department with the reference EMIRATE.
Kindly acknowledge the payment as soon as possible to enable us proceed, and hope to have a successful deal in future.
Waiting to read from you soon.
Regards,
Nino.G
The main man may not be in the UK but the cheque that was paid into my account was paid in at my local branch in Notts. I did point out to the bank that they might just have taken a little more interest when someone paid in a (fraud) cheque from P&O Ferries for over £50k, used a counter slip and didn’t even wait to take the stub as a receipt…..
Oh gosh really. From Notts. Then you should def tell some fraud etc authority. they may check the cctv cameras? or helps et him up.
You could say that I need you to go back to the bank and pick up the cash instead, hehe but be careful these people can be dangerous so try not to do anything that will cause you any danger. But if money laundering or anyone was willing to help you do this then go for it. and get him caught!
They make me so angry! argh
See previous posts, I went down that route.
To be honest I haven’t got the time to involve the authorities who will treat me like I’ve done something wrong and waste even more of my time.
But I have and will continue to raise this very strongly with the bank. If they had been more vigilant they had the perfect opportunity to at the very least secure an image.
Hi
They are at it again, Empire llc Nino emailed my manager jsut deleted them.
And now I got the same thing from
I told them I cannot do this until they send me a photo i.d. Which they did!
The credit appeared in the bank as voce and watts as they got hold of a missing cheque from many years ago and keep trying this. I know this as I rang Voce and Watts, they said it keeps happening. And the police have been involved.
I wish these people get caught!!! arggh
This same chap just tried it on us as well. was trying to find his details on the web and found this. funny old world.
Anyhow here is the proof
Dea Dorothy Crookenden,
Good afternoon, the Client informed that the payment in amount of £52,900.00 was moved from his account believes should have been received in your bank. This he claims is in accordance to the total quotes i supplied him on payment of orders he placed with our company while some were purchased from other companies.
Need you to contact concern persons in confirming the payment at your ends and get me informed upon its receipt for further directives to be then supplied.
Sorry for the inconveniences this time and hope we do more successful purchases in future. Do get an urgent response supplied today.
Warm Regards,
Ghassan Al Habuby
We have a similar experience. A large order from Ghassan Al Habuby followed by a phone call from our bank to say that a cheque for GBP52,900 had arrived. We refused to accept it.
@Dot Hunter
Had an online enquiry from a Guy called Raymond Haastruup from a company Called Dubai Marketing LLC. Wanted to buy some goods which totalled £13,000
The bank recieved a locally paid in amount for £45,000 but saw it was a dud.
This guy keeps calling to say he has paid in £53,000 and we are to let him know if it appears in our account. The accountant ask me as the owner how come the sales value is £53,000 surely the goods he is taking are only £13,000
Now i read this scam on checking his address on the net and know its a scam.
He rings each day to see if the £53,000 has arrived yet.
We have his phone number and he is availbale on it as our accountant rang him today to say its not in the accounts yet.
Can the police check a position of a mobile phone even though its a Dubai no.
Hi @Sales , there’s a fair chance these fraudsters are based in the UK or elsewhere in Europe rather than Dubai. Their Dubai number could be routed anywhere I suppose. The level of fraud they are attempting is far from small beer so it would be great to hear that some police force is investing resources in going after them.
It seems there is a lot of this going on
I had emails regarding a nice order of our equipment… no haggling just send pro forma for the full amount – was rather skeptical at this stage
then an email to say:
I just received notification on the payment of £57,450 you received was from our financial department, they issued the shipper’s payment along with your payment due to the instruction of your payment and shipper’s payment forwarded to them.
Due to erroneous blunder made by the financial department they issued your payment and the shipper’s payment together as we have other goods with the shipper, in a single payment £44,864 forwarded into your account, instead of £12,586 as agreed.
We have other goods with the shipper and they will commence the inspection and handling as soon as possible the shipper will do the freight handling to us in Dubai ,U..A.E.Kindly acknowledge the payment as soon as possible to enable us proceed..
Sorry for the inconveniences this time and hope we do more successful deal in the future.
the day later:
Thank you for confirming the payment you will be transferring the excess of £44,864.00. less express Bank transfer charges by MT103 EXPRESS TRANSFER(URGENT SWIFT) to the below listed account details today. The reference or message to the receiver should also please read . DENNIS
Account Name :- ELIJAH OLAWALE OKESHOLA
Bank Name :- CBI, COMMERCIAL BANK INTERNATIONAL
Branch :- DUBAI BRANCH,
DUBAI, UAE
Account No.:- 20001048950
Swift Code : CLBIAEAD
Account Holder’s Address:
83 Al Maktoum Road,
00971 DEIRA, DUBAI,
United Arab Emirates.
It seems the address is the same as others mentioned on this site.
Luckily I checked this site and common sense without falling victim
I can’t believe people havent fallen for this!!! If you fall victim there is no avenue for remimbusement!
The key was that they said they were wiring the money but I contacted my bank who said they received a cheque not a wired payment
This cheque turned out to be a cloned cheque
I have reported this to the relevant body
hi I just got a Barkleys bank cheque £3000 issued by P&O Ferries Limited and sent to me from South Africa – there is no sender name on the envelope nor return address and more than that I never dealed with anybody from that country. Well I receive a lot of scam mails requesting my personal detailes but never answered them.I DONT KNOW WHAT TO THINK ABOUT IT? ANYBODY GOT AN IDEA?
Hi @JAKOB – well the sender knows your address and maybe it’s another way operating a similar scam. They’ll follow up requesting partial repayment of “mistake” payment.
Please tell me do you know anything about ELIJAH OLAWALE OKESHOLA
1212 SHEIKH ZAYED RD
JUMEIRAH
DUBAI
UAE
they have sent a checqu to my bank.
Hi @Beta That was the name reported as the account name for a refund, so it’s definitely dodgy. Ignore or report.
Hello, thanks for your reply. But I was checking the Chegue through their Bank as well as in my place. All seem fine. What aren’t they cought?
I mean why?
We reported it to the Police and they took 3 weeks to come and visit us about the scam. No wonder it is so easy for the scammers to make money it makes you wonder if its worth working hard!!
hi I have contacted p&o asking what the payment was for- they say that Im not the first recevied this kind of money from them and that account was closed 4 years ago = nobody got anything , more than that some people losted thousends of £ – how I did not ask. Greetings J.J.
WE also have sold a rolls royce to the following person but we do not receive any money
This is no fair business partnership !!!
ELIJAH OLAWALE OKESHOLA
1212 SHEIKH ZAYED RD
JUMEIRAH
DUBAI
UAE
28. Mai 2010
Rechnung/Invoice No.: Dubai 04/2010
As agreed we allow ourself to send you the invoice
1 Limousine Rolls Royce EWB armoured to Level B7
Price 850.000 euro net
but we are happy that we still have the car !!! ;=))
greetings john
different problem with this guy
asking for invoice – no payment grazy people
ELIJAH OLAWALE OKESHOLA
1212 SHEIKH ZAYED RD
JUMEIRAH
DUBAI
UAE
28. Mai 2010
Rechnung/Invoice No.: Dubai 04/2010
As agreed we allow ourself to send you the invoice
1 Limousine Rolls Royce EWB armoured to Level B7
greetings john
Ive just recieved an e mail from a jose de covey he sent me a cheque for just under 2000 pounds its a p&o ferries barclays cheque can anyone tell me about these he first told me to cash it at the western union now hes telling me to cash it at my bank
Hi @Darren unless Jose de Covey is legitimately representing P&O Ferries in whatever business transaction you have with him, this cheque is likely to be a dud.
@gerry
Cheers Gerry so what if i took it to get cashed in and its a dud does that get me into bother?
@Darren no you wouldn’t get in bother. The article and comments here are about being aware of cheque scams so that people don’t get caught out by paying out a partial refund based on an uncleared dud cheque or supplying goods based on such a cheque.
Hi there, I asked my Bank to verify the checque we have received, however they confirmed the checque looks good but there can be no money – they are still ckecking on it, However I did not send him any machines he asked, and now he became a rude person!!!
By the way – I am from Poland 🙂
From: decovey@researchfamilygroup.com
To: darren_carroll@…
Subject: LITTLE FAVOUR (REPLY NEEDED)
Date: Wed, 2 Jun 2010 05:35:23 +0000
Thanks for the mail , I have gotten your info and am happy to take you as my driver , i have forwarded your information to my associate to make payment out to you , I will like to say some little things about my self , talking about my self , i am Creative. Swan-like. Deep. Gentle. Brilliant. Quiet. Patient. Thoughtful. Poised. Hard-working. Thorough. These words have been used by others to describe me. Writing, watching movies, attending church, reading, enjoying long weekends .
Attached below is my picture for you to know who you are expecting to work with.
Concerning our movement during the week , I will provide that upon my arrival so that you can have it scheduled ,and for the gas and tax , i have proper arrangement for everything , your £330 will be yours straight , and concerning the car rental company , i have spoken with them , they said they will make the car of my choice available , the car will be drive to your house before my arrival , I contacted my associate because he’s the one that wanted to pay for my research trip and he told me that my flight fee was included in the cheque made out to you , So as soon as you receive this cheque , you will deduct your own £330 for the first week and help me forward my own flight fee , Get back to me with confirmation that you understand my email .
You can kindly attach your picture in your reply to my email for me to know whom am expecting to work with .
I await your response soon .
Thank you .
Regards.
Jose De Covey
That is what this guy emailed me does this sound like the same scams as yous folk have been getting on here?
Yes @Darren looks like a text book overpayment scam.
@gerry
Thanks is there any way of setting these people up? or just contact authorities?
I just got a job offer from somebody called Jose de Covey, as a chofer and he offers to hire me as a driver as described bellow, and he says something about a cheque… s there a way to try catching him?
And the letter who wrote me is:
Jose De Covey para usuario
mostrar detalles 11 jul (1 día antes)
Thanks for your response to the advert , To start with , i will like to know if you have a present job you are doing , if so kindly let me know the time factor as this is a part time job . I need a driver that will work for me privately this will not stop you present work , a driver that will be taking me around Barcelona , i will be flying into Barcelona about 2 weeks from now,i will keep you informed on the specific dates and time i will be arriving. I am coming around Barcelona on a research project which will last for about 3 months . I will be needing your service 3 times in a week, 3 hours per day . I am offering to pay you 390Euros per week . I am a very straight forward and principled person and i hope you driving well and keep to time because that is very important to me.
I have found a car i want to rent during my stay in Barcelona , i will make arrangement with the car hire and I will let you know when it will be brought to your house. Concerning the payment, my associates will be sending you an overdraft cheque which will cover your first weekly pay and the cost of the car hired , i will want all arrangements to be sorted out a week before my arrival. If you are ok with my terms and condition,i will need you to provide me with the information stated below;
Full Name:
Address(No P O Box):
City:
State:
Zipcode:
Phone number:
Sex(M/F):
Age:
Present Job :
A brief description about yourself , am sure you have a drivers license?
If interested a swift acknowledgment of the receipt of this email will be appreciated.Thank you and have a nice day .
Regards.
Jose De Covey
Hi @Daniel you could consult your local anti-fraud police, I suppose, but the Jose De Covey driver thing appears to be an international overpayment cheque scam, so it might be easier and it might waste less of your time just to ignore it or respond that you’re not interested.
I replied him that I am happy to work for him, gave him some data, so I am following his instructions.
Ghassan al habuby strikes again !
received payment today of £52k,instantly picked up by the fraud department at the bank.
came across as a decent chap with a real requirement,fortunately my company does not ship products without payment being cleared for a month on proforma’s,and no accounts nationally or internationally are opened like in the old days.
Beware all ! a 1% success rate puts a good wage in these fraudster’s pocket’s
Hello Daniel, i read your story and i have the same story but in berlin. The man is Jose Covey and i accepted the job. Now he sent to me 3190 € by check and i have put today in my bank account but without send to him my bank data. Now i wait an answer from him and tomorrow i will go to deutsch police.
Hi (11/08/2010 )
I have been the victim of an attempted Overpayment cheque scam. yet again, as you said they wanted £ 12,000 goods from us. we send invoice and our Bank details . we recived £54,900 cheaque at our Bank.
The wanted the difference – the cost
copy of their email
*************************
Thanks for acknowledging the receipt of the fund,it was our account department that made the mistake in paying you the amount you received (54,900.00 pounds) as against the invoice amounts of (12,895.63 pounds) based on the quotation supplied to them they thought your company is the only one supplying all our UK order.Here is the account details for the transfer of the difference (42,004.37 pounds)today via CHAPS (SAME DAY CREDIT) less bank charges of (25 POUNDS) to the below account details:
BENEFICIARY ACCOUNT NAME: ELIJAH OLAWALE OKESHOLA
BENEFICIARY ACCOUNT NUMBER: 002520017861501
BANK NAME: DUBAI ISLAMIC BANK
BANK ADDRESS: AL SOUQ BRANCH, DUBAI ,UAE.
SWIFT CODE: DUIBAEAD
As soon as the transfer is done please kindly email me the copy of the confirmation slip.
NOTE: THE BENEFICIARY ACCOUNT NAME IS ELIJAH OLAWALE OKESHOLA AND YOU SHOULD MAKE THE TRANSFER REFERENCE TO BE KLSBIZ.
Regards,
Douglas Cicero
**************************
We went to the Bank and Police and informed them accordenkley.
As they say: “if something seems too good to be true, then it probably is”
jeff
i just replyed to this is it a scam
Thanks for your response to my advert , My name is Jose Covey , 47 yrs old business man , am in United Kingdom for business trip and am through with it now,so i will be traveling from UK to Atlanta, GA for some business convocation which will be keeping me extremely busy everyday , I’ll be coming in about 2 weeks from now and I’ll be staying up to 5 months , i have a twin, a boy and girl , Am a single father ,there mom is late ,so i have no choice than bringing them alone with me ,they are just 3years old , i need dedicated and reliable person who will be taking good care of them while am out of the hotel room , I’ll be needing your service from 10am to 2pm Monday, Wednesday and Thursdays , I’ll be willing to pay you 330$ weekly for this job , Concerning the payment , my associate will be the one that will be paying for my trip down to Atlanta, GA and other expenses , my associates will be sending you an upfront cashier’s check before i arrive which will cover your first week payment, bcos i wont want us to start waiting on this payment after my arrival before i pay for your first week payment , i will want all arrangements to be sorted out a week before my arrival. If you are OK with my terms and condition,i will need you to provide me with the information stated below;
Full Name:
Address(No P O Box):
City:
State:
Zipcode:
Phone number:
Sex(M/F):
Age:
Present Job :
A brief description about yourself ,If interested a swift acknowledgment of the receipt of this email will be appreciated.Thank you and have a nice day .
Regards .
Jose Covey
Hi @Que looks like a variation on all the other Jose (De) Covey scams. Don’t waste your time on it.
I rec’d Jose Covey mail too regarding chaffeur position on craigslist.. here is his response as follows:
___________________________________________
Thanks for your response to the advert on CL , Am sorry for getting back to you late , To start with , I’ll like to know if you have a present job , if so , kindly let me know the time factor as this is a part time job . I need a driver to work for me privately this will not stop you present work , You’ll be driving me to my work location and drop me back home , i will be flying into San Francisco CA about 2 weeks from now,i will keep you informed on the specific dates and time i will be arriving.
Am coming to San Francisco CA on a research project which will last for about 3 months .
I’ll need your service 3 times in a week, 4 hours per day , Am offering you 390$ per week . I am a very straight forward and principled person and i hope you driving well and keep to time because that is very important to me.
I have found a car that will be use during my stay in San Francisco CA ,the car will be brought to your house upon my arrival . Concerning the payment, my associates will be sending you an cheque which will cover your first weekly pay and the cost of the car hired .
I want all arrangements to be sorted out a week before my arrival. If you are ok with my terms and condition,i will need you to provide me with the information stated below;
Full Name:
Address(No P O Box):
City:
State:
Zipcode:
Phone number:
Sex(M/F):
Age:
Present Job :
A brief description about yourself , am sure you have a drivers license?
If interested a swift acknowledgment of the receipt of this email will be appreciated.Thank you and have a nice day .
Regards.
Jose Covey
Just got this fraud mail yesterday 08/05/2012.
Decided to google gah.tradingllc instead because we have never done any business with such persons.
The name ELIJAH OLAWALE OKESHOLA is a Nigerian (Yoruba Tribe) name.
The scammers are most likely Nigerians based in the UK & Nigeria making use of some fake or stollen documents from Dubai. They could also have partners in Dubai but I doubt this because of the stiff Sharia penalties applicable in Dubai for such crimes.
Any other view?
I am glad to have fond this site. We have just experienced the same scheme. We thought that is is something new, but as I see , it’s been around for a while.
The details given by the person who contacted me are:
Mr. Abdullah Al Hassan
3A Al Ittihad Road, Dubai-Sharjah Road Al Quoz, Between 3rd & 4th Interchange
AD01, Deira, DubaI, United Arab Emirates.
Contact Phone +971 4 271 1863 / +971 55 286 6967
He said he wants to buy some of our products for a client of his. Then a cheque arrived at our bank for almost double the amount of the invoice. The balance was to be returned to him by “tomorrow morning” as his commission.
The whole thing seemed too fishy, so I did some digging. Couldn’t find any info about the company name. Something similar came up, but it was a shipping company. There were also other strange things about the whole story.
So, thanks to all of you for sharing your experience.
Looks like we’ve got one of these scams starting. Sent in an enquiry for 30 office chairs for tall people and when this was questioned told me to quote for 30 standard size, so we did. Strange thin is he has used a google and yahoo mail address and the telephone is a mobile. Really glad I found this site when researching this as my manufacturer is keen to go with this order if it arrives, so I am now treating this as a scam.
Details of person contacting us are:
Tom Parks
Golden Valley LLC
78 Al-Saif Road, Bur-Dubai,
Dubai 20331, UAE.
Tel: +971-505-785-601
VAT No: AE874713792
When you google Golden Valley LLC it brings up a restaurant in Dubai, somehow I would be surprised if they wanted to put their customers onto office chairs.
Many thanks for the info
@Peter Holdstock
Always suspicious when the enquiry changes from a quantity of one product to a quantity of a completely different product for no apparent reason. We got an enquiry last week from Singapore that switched products in this way on their firm order but was looking for a proforma invoice. When advised they could make this purchase directly on the website without the need for a proforma invoice due to problems with overpayment scams, they mysteriously stopped communicating.
@gerry
We are intending to string this out, and that sounds like a very good idea asking for payment via website so will save this until the very end.
Aha, Tom Parks is still active…..
We have had him trying to buy 100 expensive lighting units from us, from a website enquiry he pushed to buy the goods for a cost way above their actual worth.
On the face of it we were quite excited about a new customer based in Dubai but, as has been said on this site a few times, if it appears too good to be true then it probably is.
I wish I had more time to play with characters like this, they make for good sport as they persist with their story for way longer than anyone with an ounce of intelligence would do.
@Anglia Lighting This could end up being a new Olympic sport, ‘Scammer Baiting’
Would have though Mr Parks would have changed his name by now, but well, he must not be that bright.
Well well well,
Isn’t Google great. After 3 days of weird activity via a shitty name gmail account a managing director from Dubai orders 16 of my most expensive orders. I entertained it for the craic and low and behold 57,000 euros attempted lodgement. Bank were like its a scam, I was like, Lodge it, I wont be sending the goods anyway.
Agh fun times
@Shanners The bank will likely charge you when the cheque bounces. Was the cheque presented in person at the bank?