During the last couple of days I worked at the bank before committing to being a kept woman I had this young man come in telling me that his aunt died and he was going to get a large inheritance. This young man (lets call him Larry) wanted to talk to me particularly because the other lender there was a cow and wouldn’t give him the time of day before when he was having issues with his $500 limit credit card, whereas I was able to fix his problem and he trusted me. So he comes to me telling me that he was about to inherit six million dollars. My first reaction was shock, and then the sales person in me sprung into action. We needed to make sure Larry invested his money wisely, and with us. I didn’t question the amount initially because it was in Alberta and large fortunes are amassed in the oil industry. So as I am telling him some options for him to invest his money, and the importance of investing, he tells me that he will need ten thousand dollars to pay the lawyer to execute the will. At this time I become hesitant. I asked him why he has to pay the lawyer up front, and shouldn’t the lawyer take any fees from his inheritance? Larry tells me that the only way that he will get the money is if the lawyer gets the money upfront. Sadly I realize that this whole situation is really suspicious and I ask to see some documents, because there would be no way to lend him anything unless I am sure without a doubt that this is legit. So Larry produced a letter explaining that his aunt died a couple of years ago and the lawyer was happy to have finally located a living relative. Also enclosed was a copy of the bank draft in the amount of six million American dollars, made out to Larry, with instructions to send the lawyer the 10K to finish the proceedings. At this time I don’t want to upset Larry and his lunch time is nearing to an end so I asked to keep the documents. I wanted to fax them to the fraud department and show them to my manager, so she could back me in declining him.
Larry leaves my office and I fax the documents to the fraud department and send them an email about what is happening. I leave the documents on my manager’s desk with a letter what they were and I go to lunch. When I come back she tells me that she’s okayed me to allow his account to be overdrawn 10K. I was shocked because this boy would not be able to pay that back, and I am most certain that it is fraud. I tell her that I think it’s fraud and tell her that I’ve already emailed the fraud department and am awaiting their response. Luckily when I checked my email they tell me that it is fraud and to not release any money to Larry. I tell my manager this who tells me to shred the letter she’d written me instructing me to release the 10K to him. (I will give her credit, she was busy and I don’t think she read my whole note to her, just saw that he needed 10K and there was a potential for 6 million coming into the branch, which would be a huge coup for her.)
Later that afternoon Larry comes in to see what the manager said. I take the time to ask him some questions. I find out that he received an email and responded to it. The fraudster instructed him what to say and what he needed to do to get the money. Larry was also told that the fraudster worked at a foreign bank and stumbled across this money and just wanted to help someone out. I tried to explain to Larry that he would send the 10K and either never get the bank draft, or get it and deposit it, with a hold, and then find out that is wasn’t a real draft and now he would owe the bank 10K. Larry was upset, and just did not believe me that this lawyer guy was lying to him. I tried logic, I asked him why this guy would just give him 6 million, but Larry still didn’t see it my way. Finally I just told him straight out that I was not going to lend him the money, and that I was going to keep the documents he gave me.
I think that he understood and knew that it was too good to be true, but he was mad. At this point I directed him out of my office and said my goodbyes to him in the middle of the branch. He was balling his fists, speaking to me through gritted teeth, and acting quite aggressive towards me. The branch manager noticed this and also came to wish him a Merry Christmas and say good bye. Once he left she asked me what happened and why he was so upset. I told her that I declined him and he didn’t take it so well, and no amount of explaining would settle into him that I was protecting him.
Anyhow it was only a couple of days later that I was finally done at the bank and I wouldn’t have to deal with fraud like this again.
Except I get these emails all of the time. Enticing me to take drafts, or cheques for a company from overseas and deposit them into my account and send them a draft in American funds and I will get to keep a portion for my troubles. I am really shocked at how many of these emails I have received in the past year. I have saved them all to post here, because they are so obvious to me. However I am not their typical target, guys like Larry are. Young, not educated and anxious to make a quick buck. The really sad part was that Larry was a good guy, a truly good guy. He had all of these plans to buy his family a house, and go to school. I really hated to dash his hopes, but I hated more that there is scum out there that will prey on people.
So all in all. Fraud sucks, but there’s a lot of it. Be careful!
Archive for the ‘finances’ Category
Holy Fraud Baman!
Friday, October 19th, 2007Loonie Trumps the Greenback
Friday, September 21st, 2007November 25, 1976 was a historical day in Canada, it was when the Canadian dollar closed higher than the American dollar. Nearly 31 years later, September 20, 2007 the Canadian dollar again is higher than the American dollar. At one point during the day the Canadian dollar was $1.0002 American dollars. However by the end of trading the Canadian dollar did drop to $0.9981 American dollars.
The article quotes Canadian strengths from our exports to promote the jump in the dollar, but I honestly think that it’s from the drop in the American dollar. As the war wages it’s sucking America dry and weakening it’s dollar, which makes the Canadian dollar appear stronger.
(This article backs my theory. Interestingly it is a Canadian source whereas the first is from an American source.)
Now while I would LOVE to gloat, it’s really not that great for Canada’s economy. Canada does best when it’s around $0.80ish to the American dollar because then exporting from Canada is cheaper and a lot of our economy is export. I understand that I am no economist but I did grow up in BC in an area who’s main industry was lumber, and growing up I could see the effects of the rising and falling dollar on the local economy. It was really apparent as I was bussed to school passing the local lumber mill, or waiting at the bus stop watching the logging trucks lug on by. When the economy was strong there was a neverending line of logging trucks and the mill had lots full of fresh lumber and the whole area around the mill smelled of woodchips. (Which to this day still reminds me of home.) However when the economy was struggling there were less trucks to entice to blow their horns; the mill lot was full of old lumber and the sweet chippy smell was less intense.
So while yesterday was a great day for Canadian Pride, and really nails home to Adam and I that this is the best time for us to buy a house as large amounts of money will be crossing the border down to us, it does worry me a little. It’s best for Canada’s economy for our Loonie to be slightly under the Greenback, because that is when we’re strongest.
Banks are businesses, they want to make money.
Wednesday, May 30th, 2007I was reading this blog today and it really bothered me. He has no clue what he was talking about regarding credit cards. I would like to say he was an idiot and talking out of his butt, however he is really just relaying the general consensus regarding credit, banks and credit cards. I know I can’t educate the world, but I can put some truth out there.
While at the bank I had several customers who would complain about their monthly dues, or various handling fees. My standard response was to smile and see how I could get them into an account that better fit them, and see how I could reverse the handling fees. I did this because it was easier than telling them that the fees were just. When someone writes an NSF cheque I had to search the bank for other accounts of his to see if I could make a transfer to cover the NSF. Then I had to check to see if there were any comments about not transferring for him, then finally I transferred the money, which was a 60 keystroke process (yes I counted, it was on an archaic system that they have since replaced). I think that the customer should be more than happy to pay that $5.00 handling fee. The alternative? I could have bounced the cheque, I would have been in my right to do it. He wrote a cheque on an account that didn’t have the funds…. Bounce baby, bounce! Anyhow I would reverse the fees the first time, I wouldn’t do it again though. And I would only track down other accounts so many times too. It took a large part of my morning and I had other things I needed to do. Mortgages don’t write themselves…. I would undo fees for customers because it was easier than arguing and my time was worth more than the $5.00 we charged them, but I would also educate my customer. I told many of them that banks are businesses, they want to make money too. Often many of them understood that and didn’t complain as much.
When I was in the credit card department I would often get people calling in complaining that their card had been “turned off” and they had no idea why. Sure enough when I would pull up their account they hadn’t made a payment and were 60 days past due. To clarify 60 days past due is 60 days since their due date, which is roughly 3 weeks from when they receive the bill. So they have known that they have had a payment for close to 90 days, but didn’t make one and still expect to use their card. When I would explain this to someone they often said that they didn’t receive their bill and it wasn’t their fault. However it was their fault, bill or not they spent the money and they know that they have to pay the money back.
Another issue that customers like to whine about it when their low interest rate card increases in rate. There are several reasons for this. First the interest rate was introductory and it was supposed to change, but the customer didn’t know. Second a company may increase their rate if the customer is late on a payment. This is common on the low interest cards. To combat this I really encourage people to read the fine print, if it seems so great, check it out and make sure you are comfortable entering into that contract, because as soon as you use that card you are entering into a contract.
Finally the best way to preserve your credit rating is to make at least your minimum payment on time. We would say at the bank that a minimum payment on time is better than a full payment late. Also paying an amount which isn’t the exact minimum amount won’t help or hurt you, as long as it’s over the payment amount. My mom once told me to get a credit card and make payments over the minimum, but make them not even numbers, like if the minimum was $10.00 to pay $11.63 so that the credit card company had to reassess your amount and your new minimum. Unfortunately this isn’t true, it’s all automated and the amount is treated just like the minimum. My mom was right though, always make your minimum payment.
(Okay Adam’s home and it’s date night, I’ll edit this later and add to it.)
On buying Costco gas….
Thursday, May 17th, 2007Tonight we went to Costco and then we bought gas. We only bought it there because Maggie-Car needed gas, and conveniently there were gas pumps there. However, as we were sitting in the gas line up for an insane amount of time I wondered if Costco gas is really a good economical choice.
I rationalize:
An average car holds about 12 gallons.
Costco gas is about 10 cents a gallon cheaper.
Therefore, you save about $1.20 per fill up.
However, if you are in line to fill up for over 15 minutes (like we were), leaving your car idling, I am sure that you have wasted close to what you will save just waiting. Furthermore, I am adamant that my time is worth more $4.80/ hour! So unless I need gas, (like tonight) I won’t wait in line at the Costco gas bar to save a little money.
I also wondered about the people who are waiting to buy cheaper gas. If they are like any other Costco shopper they went with a list comprised of frozen chicken breasts and toilet paper, which would come to a grand total of maybe thirty dollars. However they left with the chicken, the toilet paper, a bouquet of sunflowers, a giant watermelon, a package of Costco sized muffins, a movie, a camping stove, a infrared garbage can (we have that one, it’s great), a carton of Twix and a carton of Trident. Grand total $200.00, net over spending, $170.00. I can see why saving $1.20 at the pump is so worth it!
Moving on to bigger savings. When we bought Maggie-Car the dealer told us the price (which was in the tens of thousands) and then when we began the haggling process he dropped a couple hundred dollars. To which I replied that a couple hundred on tens of thousands isn’t really anything to be proud of. I told him that we needed to talk in terms of thousands, or we would leave. He gave me an utterly blank stare and went to “telephone his manager” to see what he could do. He came back with another offer of a measly couple hundred. I countered again saying that it was an unacceptable offer and that we couldn’t even consider it. He went again to speak to this manager and came back, sullen. This time I asked if I could speak to the manager, as I saw this back and forth continuing all day and I didn’t have the patience for it. The sales guys was shocked that I would suggest it and had no idea what to say. Apparently no one has ever asked to explain their argument to the manager before. So long story short I got my way. My theory was that it’s a waste of time to haggle over a small amount relative to the total amount. Much like a couple cents on a gallon is a small amount, hardly noticeable in the grand scheme of things. Now a couple cents on a litre would be more noticeable, but only barely.
Maybe when our parents were younger and gas was under 40 cents a litre or $1.50 a gallon a couple of cents was a much larger portion of the total. I think that we’ve picked up budgeting from them and have it ingrained into us that a couple cents really makes a difference, when in reality not buying the carton of Twix, Trident, the flowers etc. is what will make the difference. But now I am getting onto another subject for another day.