Description

A man posing as a marketing and delivery agent for sellers of used equipment emailed me a bill of sale from his imposter company. He then emailed an invoice from his imposter company. The invoice named a third party as the beneficiary of the sale. The named beneficiary was TMN Logistic Consulting LLC and instructions for wiring payment to TMN Logistic Consulting LLC followed. Six days after my bank wire, my bank notified me that the wire receiving bank suspected a scam. My bank immediately collected additional information from me, confirmed the scam, and notified the wire receiving bank that all unwithdrawn funds should be returned to me. The next day the man who had instructed me to wire the funds emailed that the equipment was in transit for delivery the following day, but the equipment never arrived. Three days later the man emailed that the delivery truck was back en route for delivery the following day after having experienced a breakdown. Again, the equipment never arrived, but this time I received no further communication from the man. Ten days later I learned from my bank that an as yet undisclosed sum would be returned to me by the wire receiving bank after that bank completed its processes. Over three weeks later my bank received a check payable to me for approximately one-fifth of the amount I had wired; the remainder of the funds had been withdrawn prior to the account freeze.