CHEQUE mates

I was fortunate enough yesterday to get a slot on 2FM's Gerry Ryan show yesterday morning with his stand-in presenter Eoin Sweeney. One of the issues that a number of people contacted the show about was the level of cheque fraud. A lot of Irish people have been caught out by fraudsters using fake money drafts. Usually they are contacted about an item for sale on a website. The fraudster offers the seller a cheque for more than the asking price with the request that the excess be wired to their 'shipping agent.' It can take up to ten days for the bank to clear a money draft event though it is immediately credited to their account. Unfortunately people may not be aware of this and wire the 'excess' cash only to later find the cheque was bogus and the buyer has disappeared. Another version of the scam involves the fraudsters advertising some big ticket item like a car for an unbelievably low price. They'll spin a story to interested buyers such as: "My brother loved that car before he died of cancer. I just want to get rid of it- too many memories." But then because they have been let down by other buyers they want a small deposit up front ... Cue the disappearing act.

SWEET talker

When it comes to being a con-artist some people are just naturals. The Leinster Leader ran a court report on Paul Delaney from Kildare town, Ireland, who, despite the previous convictions for fraud, was able to persuade a number of business people to pay cash deposits for non-existent equipment. It was a classic advance-fee fraud in which he took around €1,000 from each of his targets.
The Garda officer who prosecuted the case commented in court: "I've known the defendant for the past 15 years and if he had to go to work as a salesman he would be the country's number one salesman if he slapped a suit on himself."
Delaney (44) claimed in court the money went on booze and asked for help in dealing with his drink problem. The judge told him he could find out about that in jail and sentenced him to two years.