OK.....this is some sort of scam, but I have yet to figure out how it could benefit the scammer. This is very strange to me, but a couple of weeks ago an overnight FedEx envelope arrived at my parents house addressed to my brother (who hasn't lived there in ages). My mother signed for it and called my brother to let him know he got something from a guy in California. He stopped by and opened it up to find two Money Gram money orders made out to him for $970 apiece ($1940 total). He had no idea why he got them, who they were from or anything. He didn't recognize the senders name or address (Oakland, CA) and when we tried to research the name and address we got nothing.....obviously fakes.

He brought them to his bank and they said they were counterfeits. OK....figured as much, but being that they were money orders sent out of the blue, how could this benefit the person who sent them? If he had sold something on eBay and received these as payment I could understand, but he got these for no particular reason. Has anyone ever heard of this before?

Nobody is out any money, but we are very curious to find out what the deal is. Why would someone spend the money on overnight shipping for something like this......what were they trying to gain? Any insight would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Maybe he's assuming you cash it and send him back a check?

Or........ your brother was playing with a nigerian scammer?

quote Originally posted by ryan.hess: Maybe he's assuming you cash it and send him back a check? Or........ your brother was playing with a nigerian scammer?

There was no note or letter or anything in the envelope other than the money orders though. Very odd. I thought the same thing, but without any instructions, per se, from the sender it just didn't add up.

reminds me of something equally strange I.... well actually my girlfriend went through a few months back, but I'm not gonna highjack your thread. ...so I'll save that for another time.

...despite my ramblings, I'm actually no help to you, sorry.

Your brother probably got an email from a would be scammer, and played along and forgot all about it...

Ask him if he was selling anything recently that his address might have been on. Especially anything worth less than the $1900. They like it when you send your merchandise with cash from their "overpayment"

Still you're right, it is pretty weird not to put a note in. Maybe he didn't speak english?

quote Originally posted by ryan.hess: Your brother probably got an email from a would be scammer, and played along and forgot all about it... Ask him if he was selling anything recently that his address might have been on. Especially anything worth less than the $1900. They like it when you send your merchandise with cash from their "overpayment" Still you're right, it is pretty weird not to put a note in. Maybe he didn't speak english?

Hmmm....I'll talk to my brother about this. It's possible that it is something he has forgotten. What is really odd is the use of my parents address with his name attached......he hasn't used this address in a long time, so why send it there?

Anyway, I appreciate the input. I'll talk to my brother and try to get more info from.