This scam has been summarised by the Police as follows:

POLICE ISSUE WARNING ABOUT INTERNET SCAM

Members of the public are asked to be on the alert when advertising on the Internet following reports of fraudulent cheques and credit transfers being used to book accommodation.

Officers from the Police Service Fraud Squad have issued another warning about this form of Internet fraud similar to other recent Internet fraud scams following a number of recent reports by members of the public.

This scam, which has been dubbed ‘criminal cashback,’ involves the buyer booking accommodation via the Internet and then sending a fraudulent cheque or draft made out for a much higher value than the agreed cost.

The purchaser tells the recipient to go ahead and lodge the cheque and then asks them to make a credit transfer for the outstanding amount. The purchasers cheque is eventually processed and it will either turn out to be a stolen or false cheque and will inevitably be rejected by the bank.

However, the credit transfer has already been sent and the cash is untraceable.

Police would urge members of the public to use caution before sending money to unknown persons as a result of an Internet booking or telephone call.

One of our advertisers recently received an interesting email from a 'Pastor Katherine Low' at katherinelow1_brook@yahoo.com. The initial email displays all the warning signs that accommodation providers should look for when receiving requests for bookings ( click here for another version of the scam)

• No mention of the name of the Cottage, the accommodation or even the country. The message is deliberately vague so the same message can be sent to anyone in the world.
• Often sent by someone pretending to be a Doctor, a Pastor or some other respected professional.
• Usually a long stay is suggested, but the precise dates are seldom initially given.
• Despite being a 'professional' person, the spelling and grammar is usually bad.
• They will always use a Yahoo, Hotmail or Gmail email address or similar. Anyone can set one of these up in minutes using a false name and address and the ownership is quite untraceable.

Good Day,

I am pastor Miss Katherine low,i will like you to know that i am interested in renting your room for 2Months because i am coming for a business conference in set and i will like you to tell me how much it it will cost me to rent the room and all the bill i have to pay when i get there .Get back to me asap.
Thanks And God Blees You

Miss Katherine low............

Our advertiser, sensing a scam was afoot,  replied using the name of a fictitious property,  "Honeymoon Cottage" and also, like Pastor Low, used a fictitious name and an untraceable Yahoo email address. Her reply was:
 

Hello,
Thank you for your enquiry. Honeymoon cottage is available for 2 months at a total cost of  £800. This includes electricity, gas and all taxes.
 
Regards

To which 'Pastor Low' replied:

Hello ,I have seen the details and i will make it very fast to send it to the church co-dilator so that they can make an arrangement of sending the cheque to you as soon as possible,However...When you got the cheque kindly e-mail me,so that we can progress because i am coming for a conference and to stay for the minimum of 2 months in your room but you will deduct the full 2months and and make sure you e-mail me once the cheque confirmed received,so that you can bank the cheque to your bank account which it's take 3-4days before the money available in your account.Kindly e-mail me once you have confirm the message as soon as possible.Regard...Katherine low................

...and another in which we learn that a cheque for £3,000 is being sent instead of the requested £800:

Hello,
and Thanks for the mail,I will like you to know that my mode of payment is based on certified cheque which i am goimg to inform my church co-dinator to issue you the cheque because i am coming over there for a church confrence so as soon as you have recieve the cheque you pay the cheque into your account then as soon as it clears you deduct the cost for the room and western union the excess funds to my personal assistant which is going to use to take care of my travels ticket and visa and the cheque of £3,000 will be issue to you as soon as you have forward me all your contact details that is the;
Name........
Contact Address..........
Zip code.............
State...........
Phone Number..............
As soon as you have got me this details the cheque will be made to you immediately
N.B
By the way i am coming in the next two months and i am going to pay for two month rent so the remaining balance i will want you to send it to my Personal Assistant which is going to use to take care of my travels ticket and visa.........
Thanks......
Katherinelow...............

This scam is going to form. The advertiser then asked Pastor Low exactly when she was coming so she could have the cottage ready. Pastor Low replied and at the same time reinforced the idea that she is a Christian ( and therefore an honest and reliable person).

Hello ,
Thank you very much for the email,I will like to tell you that I will be coming for the stay by the 2-Nov-2007 but I won't be able to come for the check up of the cottage until my arrival date due to some circumstance pertaining to my profession and at the same time I have no one that will assist me for the viewing but provided the cottage is very neat,nice and at the same time that it is in a cool and well environment,I will really appreciate it.in short,I will be glad you hold the big cottage .

Finally,Regard the cottage,I want to tell you that I am a born again christain and I don't smoke as well.but all what you mentioned below doesn't disturb or even distract my attention and I am sure you will know me very well when I get to the state.So,I will be looking further to hear from you that you receive my mail and hope to meet soon...Regard and God bless and your family in Jesus name(amen)
Miss Katherine low............

A few days later and the cheque is on its way:

Hello
Just to inform you that the checque is on the way and you are to receive the checque very soon and i will want you to pls notify me when you have the checque so that will can move to the next step and i will like to know if you have any western union outlet within you and i will want you to ask for the charges,Thanks i await your urgent reply,Regard.Katherinelow..........

A cheque did arrive - but not for the promised £3,000, but for £4,000. The cheque was from a British company and drawn on the NatWest Bank in Birmingham. The signatures were printed directly on the cheque, not signed, and the watermark was not a watermark, but printed on the back of the cheque. A scan of the cheque was then sent to the company who apparently issued it. Interestingly, the letter with the cheque was evidently posted in Manchester with a British First class stamp. Apparently the Nigerian scammer has a colleague in Manchester!

At this point emails were being returned as Pastor Low had evidently changed her email address. The next email was from a Danish Yahoo address - katherinelow1_1brook@yahoo.dk . Now she's getting impatient:

Hello Mrs *******
I wait to reading get for you but you don't e-mail back why
Thanks.....
Katherine low...........

..and another ridiculous email. There is no way that the scammer could have been told that the mail has been delivered unless 'she' is a personal friend of the postman!

Good Morning,

I am checking to confirm if the payment has reach you because i was told that it has delivered...please check and e-mail me right away because we have no time to waste this moment.

thanks!

Katherine.

The advertiser is evidently tiring of this game, and sends the following email:

Good morning,

I have received your cheque. Unfortunately I have some bad news, yesterday, a tree has fallen on to the roof of 'Honeysuckle Cottage' and the repairs will take several weeks so I will not be able to rent the property at that time. Please give me your address so I can return the cheque to you. My apologies for this unfortunate and unforeseen situation. I hope you will be able to find somewhere else to stay. Let me know your address as soon as possible - because - as you so very rightly say - we have no time to waste this moment.

Regards

Interestingly, the advertiser has changed the name of the cottage from 'Honeymoon Cottage' to 'Honeysuckle Cottage' but 'Pastor Low 'does not notice. Still the scam goes on with 'Pastor Low' introducing some emotional leverage with a fictitious story about her 'financial difficulties':

Dear ********,

I understand your present situation...I have spoke to the Organising Committe regarding my coming and they have re-schedule my date till next week tuesday so i will be very happy if you can go and encash the cheque and i will wait for it to clear under 2-3days. I want you to know that I m in financial trouble this moment have no money to purchase my flight ticket and travel health insurance if not i would have be in UK.

Kindly try to understand and get back.

Katherinelow.
 

Our advertiser once again offers to post the cheque back to Pastor Low, so she will 'have all the money straight away', but Pastor Low really does not want the cheque back - knowing of course that it is forged and worthless, and continues with the 'paying in' line!

Dear ******,

I am mailing to know if your have paid the cheque into your bank account? Thanks so much for your understand! also i would love to have your mobile phone number.Thanks for your help.

Katherine.

Meanwhile the company who 'issued' the cheque have replied. The reply from their Group Treasurer is below:

Dear Mrs ******,

Firstly thank you for bringing this cheque to our attention. The cheque you have received is clearly fraudulent, but it is such a poor attempt that it would not have been cleared by the bank due to some very obvious shortcomings.

We do unfortunately suffer attempts at fraud on our company accounts from time to time and are constantly striving to improve our controls on cheque issuance to prevent these. In this case we have satisfied ourselves that there was no internal lapse of control that enabled the fraud to be attempted.

Fortunately neither party has suffered a loss, however you may wish to inform the police of the attempt to defraud you. We do appreciate your bringing this to our attention and should you receive any further cheques that are purportedly issued by our company we would be happy to assist in verification of their authenticity.

Yours sincerely

****** **********

Group Treasurer

********** Group PLC

At last the final act approaches. Pastor Low tells us our advertiser where to send the non-existent money:

Dear Mrs *******,
How are you doing today?I got your email and I want you to know that I have been calling you to confirm things from you,but I can not speak to you on phone because you weren't available to pick my call,just want you to know that things will be taking good care of and that is why I want you to know that you'll need to go to your bank for confirmation of funds in your account and as soon as the cheque is cleared,I would like you to deduct the sum of 200 GBP to yourself and the remaining balance of 3,800 GBP will have to be send through western union money transfer to below name and address:

Name:- BOLA OJO
Address:- 23 Lad Rd,
Lagos Nigeria,23401

and immediately you have send the money to the name (BOLA OJO)I will be waiting for the western union money transfer details such as
SEDNER'S NAME AND ADDRESS
MTCN NUMBER(10 DIGITS FROM WESTERN UNION)
TEXT QUESTION(SON OF GOD?)
TEXT ANSWER(JESUS)
So immediately you have the money sent through western union,I would like you to email me the details immediately,also the western union transfer charges should be deducted from my money,because western union charge money for the transfering of funds,so make sure you deduct the charges from my money,and I pray my lord jesus christ will be with you for the rest of your life,God will guide you and provide all your needs,please make sure you have things done immediately the cheque is cleared.
I await your email as soon as you get my email to confirm to me the clearance date for the cheque.
Regards
Miss Katherinelow...

Now, the advertiser writes to say that unfortunately the cheque is a forgery, and there would be little point in banking it. This email goes astray as Pastor Low - or more likely Mr Bola Oju in Lagos Nigeria has changed his/her email address again:

Dear Mrs *******,
 How are you doing? I am very sorry for my late in getting to you! I had a slight problem with my Yahoo email since last week and im using this opportunity to introduce to you my hotmail ID katherinelow05@hotmail.com. also let me know the status of the cheque because i was told that it has cleared to your bank account.

Kindly get back to me so that I can send you the details where you will send the money to but you have to deduct the sum of 350Pounds out of the money for your effort. Thanks so much.

Expecting to hear from you.

Katherine.

Once again, the fraudster is informed the cheque is worthless, and now at last Mr Bola Oju or Pastor Katherine Low,  seems to have given up as there are no more emails.   

More recently another rather less sophisticated criminal tried the same thing. Here are the emails:

Hello,

I will like to book a reservation for some guest that will be coming for a vacation in your area on the 20th of march to 30th 2008. If you have vacancy for the specified period, give me The TOTAL COST +APPLICABLE TAXES for the whole period of 10 nights for 4 occupants, (2couples) and Please get back to me with your rates in Dollar or Pounds, confirm if you will accept major credit card for your payment. Looking forward to hearing from you soon.

MICHEAL WEST,

Hello Micheal West,

Honeymoon Cottage is available at that time. The 10 day stay would cost £400 to include electricity, gas and local taxes. I cannot take a credit card as I do not have an account, but can take a personal cheque or bankers draft. Please let me know if you would like to book that period.

Regards

Hello ,
Good to read from you.I am glad to tell you that we have concluded all payment arrangements.I will send to you my account details that will cover the cost of our accommodation,and the necessary arrangement for the guests. Moreover,we also made an arrangement with a Transport Consultant who will take care of all the guests transport logistics to include.
1)International Visa Arrangements
2)Medical Bills
3)Insurance
4) International Airport transfer
5)Transportation logistics during their stay However,because of security reasons and confidentiality reposed on you and because they do not have account facility,we have decided that only YOU will have to handle the credit card information.So,once you receive account details information,you are required to charge the total amount of {4,000.00 pounds}+ your bank charges then deduct your 100% charge for our reservation which is {400 pounds}and send the balance of (3600 pounds} via bank transfer,to the Transportation Consultant whose information will be forwarded to you once this is confirmed. So confirm this and provide me with your
1. YOUR FULL NAME
2. ADDRESS
3. PHONE NUMBERS for office records. You are also to deduct the visa fees and taxes involved in processing this amount. PLS CONFIRM IF THIS ARRANGEMENT IS OKAY AND REPLY PROMPTLY TO ENABLE US PROCEED. Looking forward to a warm hospitality!
BEST REGARDS.
MICHEAL WEST.
+447045752551

THANKS FOR YOUR MAIL I WILL FORWARD MY CREDIT CARD DETAILS SO THAT U CHARGED FROM IT.YOU ARE TO CHARGED THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF 4000 POUNDS FROM IT AND DEDUCT THE PAYMENT OF 400 PONUDS AND TRANSFER 3600 POUNDS TO MY AGENTS WHO WILL GET BACK TO YOU WHEN THIS IS COMPLTED.

I have still received no payment. Do you wish to go ahead with this booking?

The criminal seems to have given up now as no more emails were received.