Crane Brain

I know this dates back to June 19 2008 but I've only just seen it, poring nostalgically over old Police Blotters.

It is sooo sweet that there are still dinosaur saps out there to be duped.

This has everything:

The tax avoidance line

The Afro name and address

Request for money

The perfect victim

No wonder these frauds go on - the greedy gullibles are still with us.

"1:19 p.m. A Bainbridge man came to the station to report himself as the victim of Internet fraud.

He said he had received an email message from a “Lemmens Crane Systems” company. The email said the company needed to avoid taxes and would send him a check for $4,500, and asked him to wire back sums of $2,500 and $1,550, keeping $250 as profit.

The man deposited the check in his bank account and, as directed, wired $2,500 through Western Union to an “Akwetey Elijah” in Ghana, Africa.

The company’s “representative” soon emailed back demanding the $1,550 be sent. The man sent the $1,550, but then became suspicious [my itals] and requested the transaction be canceled.

The man’s bank advised him that the check was fraudulent, and that he would have to repay the bank for the wired money. The case was recorded."