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Can anyone tell me how to get an e-mail scammer caught in the act?

I posted an ad on my local classifieds that I had 11 american pitbull terriers for sell and this guy has responded that he wanted to buy one and send me a walmart money order. When he sent me the next e-mail, I immediately realized something was not legit, so I let a friend of mine read it and they said one of her cousins got an e-mail just like that and responded to it and they sent her a money for more than the item was priced and cashed it and was told to send the rest pay for the delivery charges (which is exactly what my e-mail says to do) and several days later the bank contacted her and held her responsible for paying the amount of the money order because it was a fake. She ended up losing close to $3000. I figure this is exactly what this person is trying to do. He has contacted me again today and wants me to give him all the details and how to make the money order out and for how much. If someone would let me know how to catch this person in the act, I would love to.

Public Comments

1. Hi I got a walmart money order too that I found out was a counterfeit. People that try to scam other people are a scourge. I went to https://complaint.ic3.gov/Default.aspx and placed a internet crime complaint. I'm not sure what if anything can be done if no actual crime has been commited yet, but its worth the 2 minutes to fill the form out. At least it lets a company that can handle this better know who is trying to scam you, and hopefully they can be stopped before someone else looses thousands of dollars they really cant afford to loose. Good luck selling the terriers, I know I had a hell of a time selling my ring online. Hope that helps a bit.
2. YES!!!! As you have figured out this is a scam. Some scammers go as far as to trawl advertisments for puppys to scam the owners. I am afraid that there is no way to catch them. The email addresses they use are free (eg yahoo,hotmail) And the phone numbers are cell phones. If you DO want to make their life miserable do an internet search for "scambaits" Once you bait safe (set your self up so you cannot be traced) You can mail him again and ask if he still wants to buy your "pedegree chumbeker puppies" Ask him to send the check to an nonexistant address (no not give an innocent third parties address) When you "recieve" the check tell him you have cashed it and on your way to Vegas... As long as you can be a convincing "victim" they will do anything to get your money....anything. Of course you can tell him that you "won big at blackjack"etc The FBI will not get involved unless you have lost over $100,000...sad but true. It is a good idea to inform your local police, if nothing else it will raise awareness of "advance fee" fraud
3. Pass this info forward to the police. They have a dept that works on internet stuff.
4. I like all of the answers. Crime does not pay. When there is a will there is a way.
5. there isn't anyway that it can happen i am sdo sorry