I was contacted via e-mail (foreign ISP- Brazil On Line-BOL) regarding a bird I had for sale. The buyer asked for a photo to be faxed (the area code was Arizona). I e-mailed the photo rather than faxing it. I also gave my phone number and asked that the buyer call me. During e-mails I asked 'small talk' questions (i.e. what species do you have?, etc...). The buyer never answered any of those questions and only wanted to proceed with the purchase quickly. I asked about shipping the bird and the buyer said he would have a 'shipping agent' pick up the bird at my home(this was a red flag-who really has a shipping agent?). I cautiously proceeded, thinking perhaps he knows someone in my general area and giving him the benefit of the doubt at this point.

We agreed to a price and the buyer asked for my address to send a money order. I received the money order (with no return address on the envelope). The amount was for three times the cost of the bird (another red flag). I e-mailed him and asked what was going on and asked for him to call me. The buyer replied and asked that I deposit the money order and forward the rest to his shipping agent which was in London (serious red flag). He asked that I proceed quickly with the transaction (red flag).

At this point I e-mailed him back saying if we can not discuss this over the phone then the deal was off (obviously at this point I wasn't going to proceed with the deal but just wanted a phone number recorded on my caller ID). The buyer did call once (Maine area code) and left a number for me to call on an e-mail (New York area code). I held the money order for a few days. Each day I received an e-mail from him asking why I was delaying the transaction to send the money order to the London address. He always want this done quickly so the shipping agent wouldn't get mad.

I e-mailed him to say that unless someone shows up with cash then the deal was surely a scam. I also told him that if his money order wasn't a fraud he would be wanting it back in a bad way. He did e-mail back asking me why I was doing this (playing innocent) and demanded his money back. Every few days I get an e-mail asking for the money order back and threatening to come to my home (bring it on). I asked for a physical address to send it back and have not gotten one yet.

This Money Order scam is very popular with internet fraud. The money order looks legitimate but is bogus. Your bank will gladly deposit it but find out days or weeks later that it is a fraud. In the mean time, the money you forward on comes out of your personal account and you are out that amount.

I'm sure the buyers name isn't real, the e-mail address was set up just to scam folks and with three different area codes given to me it all was just too fishy. The scammer typed and spoke (the one message he left on my answering machine) in broken english.