Any business owners here?

[Hawkeye21 2,457]

If you are a business owner or work in a management position, have you been dealing with a lot of fraud lately?  The past few months we have been dealing a lot with it.  The scammers are pretending to buy a large item, like farm equipment.  They mail a check that looks to be real from another business, using their actually banking information.  They hope you deposit it right away and then they cancel the purchase shortly after and ask the have the funds wired back to them.  They try to do this before your bank notifies you that the check is bad.  Not only have we received these checks but they have even issued checks with our name and recently closed account.

[posty 2,824]

That sucks…. If everyone that tries to scam people out of money would put these talents to good use imagine how much better this world would be…

I guess you will have to take payments that will give you instant feedback if it is good or not, especially on big purchase items... It sucks for the customers the are legit, but you must protect your business…

[Gladiators 2,035]

Nothing out of the ordinary. People try to cash fraudulent checks, but we have positive pay on our accounts, so the bank rejects the checks.

Your situation isn’t applicable to my business. We work on large projects, with large companies that, for the most part,  have a long history. 

[Gladiators 2,035]

I may, technically, have an instance of fraud going on. End customer on a project is a publicly traded company. They have initiatives to work with small businesses. They hired a small GC to manage our company for work at one of their manufacturing facilities. That small GC owes us $220k because they took the funds obtained from the end customer and, illegally, used those funds for something else. Small GC is now working to secure a $5M contract with a with another publicly traded company. As soon as they receive the $2.5M deposit, they will finally pay us.

I’ve gone back and forth with our law firm on whether to file lawsuits against the company and perfect a lien on the property (end customer) for the work we did. I’m holding tight right now in hopes that we get paid in the next week. If I pursue the lawsuit route,  it’ll put them out of business. Part of me wants to do that because what the owner of that company is doing is criminal.

[Mark Davis 427]

2 hours ago, Hawkeye21 said:

If you are a business owner or work in a management position, have you been dealing with a lot of fraud lately?  The past few months we have been dealing a lot with it.  The scammers are pretending to buy a large item, like farm equipment.  They mail a check that looks to be real from another business, using their actually banking information.  They hope you deposit it right away and then they cancel the purchase shortly after and ask the have the funds wired back to them.  They try to do this before your bank notifies you that the check is bad.  Not only have we received these checks but they have even issued checks with our name and recently closed account.

I used to deal with a lot of it taking online credit card orders.  I now just wholesale to other companies who take that risk.  I have been told by others that the bank scams are getting more sophisticated.  It seems like there are so many more data breaches today where your data is prone to being compromised.

[Alias Detective 1,463]

The ole Nigerian Price scam.

[Hawkeye21 2,457]

The check I got today looks legit. It’s for $33,500. I got a hold of the company whose name was on the check and they said it was fraudulent. It’s crazy how much of this happens.

On top of that, I have an actual local customer that got a bunch of product from us and is refusing to pay. It’s over $300k and he’s got it protected in a way that I can’t collect the money or the product. 

[Mark Davis 427]

3 minutes ago, Hawkeye21 said:

The check I got today looks legit. It’s for $33,500. I got a hold of the company whose name was on the check and they said it was fraudulent. It’s crazy how much of this happens.

On top of that, I have an actual local customer that got a bunch of product from us and is refusing to pay. It’s over $300k and he’s got it protected in a way that I can’t collect the money or the product. 

God man, that's awful.  I feel sick for you on that one.  I have a deal with a customer across the country that is on a large scale too.  We have legal proceedings going on but the guy stole from lots of people.  He's going to end up in jail but the scraps we are collecting are barely keeping the attorneys paid so I have my doubts this is going to be anything more than something large I have to learn a lesson from and consider a cost of business.  Hope yours turns out better.

[EternalShinyAndChrome 4,339]

Just picked up some nice equipment for $33,500 today.

[weepaws 3,366]

2 hours ago, Hawkeye21 said:

If you are a business owner or work in a management position, have you been dealing with a lot of fraud lately?  The past few months we have been dealing a lot with it.  The scammers are pretending to buy a large item, like farm equipment.  They mail a check that looks to be real from another business, using their actually banking information.  They hope you deposit it right away and then they cancel the purchase shortly after and ask the have the funds wired back to them.  They try to do this before your bank notifies you that the check is bad.  Not only have we received these checks but they have even issued checks with our name and recently closed account.

It’s been getting worse.  I know a buddy who is the lead manager at a Home Depot here in Reno, he’s been with the company for 16 years, says he’s never seen so much thief, and attempted thief.   And they are not even hiding their intentions.  

[Hawkeye21 2,457]

3 hours ago, Mark Davis said:

God man, that's awful.  I feel sick for you on that one.  I have a deal with a customer across the country that is on a large scale too.  We have legal proceedings going on but the guy stole from lots of people.  He's going to end up in jail but the scraps we are collecting are barely keeping the attorneys paid so I have my doubts this is going to be anything more than something large I have to learn a lesson from and consider a cost of business.  Hope yours turns out better.

We’ve already sued him and won but have no way of recovering the money. He doesn’t have any in his name. This isn’t his first time. 

[Gladiators 2,035]

6 hours ago, Hawkeye21 said:

If you are a business owner or work in a management position, have you been dealing with a lot of fraud lately?  The past few months we have been dealing a lot with it.  The scammers are pretending to buy a large item, like farm equipment.  They mail a check that looks to be real from another business, using their actually banking information.  They hope you deposit it right away and then they cancel the purchase shortly after and ask the have the funds wired back to them.  They try to do this before your bank notifies you that the check is bad.  Not only have we received these checks but they have even issued checks with our name and recently closed account.

This seems like an issue on the banks end. Are they doing anything about it? Also, how is the guy not in jail. Clearly you know who it is if you’ve sued him and won.

[Hawkeye21 2,457]

I'm still working on getting my money from this guy.  We've taken him to court and he shows that he has no money.  Him home, vehicle and the business are all in his son's name.  He has zero income and said he hasn't paid taxes in 10 years.  I know he have a carp load of cash.  My lawyers have not been much help and it looks like I'm just stuck with our legal system right now.  I don't plan on giving up that easily and letting this a**hole get away with this.  His balance is currently over $425k with me.

Anyone have any suggestions?  I've been thinking of hiring a private investigator so I can prove that him and his son are running an illegal business and committing tax fraud.  If I'm never going to get my money then I want him in jail.  Fock this guy and his family.

[MikeMatt 422]

I’m on the board of a local charity we put together (15 years and we raised over a million bucks in those 15 years) and this year after our yearly benefit concert our bank  caught a check thought to be a scam and it was for $12,000. Don’t know the logistics of how it went down but reported to us by Pres and treasurer. We changed to new accounts (again). Who the FOCK steals from a charity. Karma biotch. This focker will get his !

[Hawkeye21 2,457]

1 minute ago, MikeMatt said:

I’m on the board of a local charity we put together (15 years and we raised over a million bucks in those 15 years) and this year after our yearly benefit concert our bank  caught a check thought to be a scam and it was for $12,000. Don’t know the logistics of how it went down but reported to us by Pres and treasurer. We changed to new accounts (again). Who the FOCK steals from a charity. Karma biotch. This focker will get his !

People from India mostly.  Nigerians as well.  Lately I've been getting some local scammers calling me.  They call and say they are from my bank.  They are clearly American and sound official.  Even the number they call from is local.  They want to text me a link in order for me to log into my account.  It's at that point when you know it's a scam because no bank would ever do that.

[TimHauck 3,341]

27 minutes ago, Hawkeye21 said:

I'm still working on getting my money from this guy.  We've taken him to court and he shows that he has no money.  Him home, vehicle and the business are all in his son's name.  He has zero income and said he hasn't paid taxes in 10 years.  I know he have a carp load of cash.  My lawyers have not been much help and it looks like I'm just stuck with our legal system right now.  I don't plan on giving up that easily and letting this a**hole get away with this.  His balance is currently over $425k with me.

Anyone have any suggestions?  I've been thinking of hiring a private investigator so I can prove that him and his son are running an illegal business and committing tax fraud.  If I'm never going to get my money then I want him in jail.  Fock this guy and his family.

I assume you don’t have it, but isn’t there insurance for this type of stuff?

[Hawkeye21 2,457]

2 minutes ago, TimHauck said:

I assume you don’t have it, but isn’t there insurance for this type of stuff?

I don't believe we have insurance that covers this.  This is not something I want to make a claim for either.  This is personal right now and I'm not letting this go.

As for now, this money will stay on our books until he pays me back in some way.  That, or we use it as a write off during a very profitable year.

[edjr 6,932]

Used to own a fake bar  

Does DJing count as a business?

[Hawkeye21 2,457]

11 minutes ago, edjr said:

Used to own a fake bar  

Does DJing count as a business?

Yes, being a DJ can be a business.

What I've found out is that this guy and his son don't even have their "business" registered.  He says they just sell a few things on Facebook.  Everyone knows he sells hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of product.

[TimHauck 3,341]

13 minutes ago, Hawkeye21 said:

I don't believe we have insurance that covers this.  This is not something I want to make a claim for either.  This is personal right now and I'm not letting this go.

As for now, this money will stay on our books until he pays me back in some way.  That, or we use it as a write off during a very profitable year.

I would think someone stealing $425k would be exactly the type of thing I’d want to file a claim for, you must have almost as much money as RealTim.

Is this a previous customer that used to actually pay their bills?

[Hawkeye21 2,457]

4 minutes ago, TimHauck said:

I would think someone stealing $425k would be exactly the type of thing I’d want to file a claim for, you must have almost as much money as RealTim.

Is this a previous customer that used to actually pay their bills?

One combine can sell for over $750k and that's not even with the corn head.  We deal with high dollar items.  Last year we did over $31 million in sales.

The point is, I don't want this jack ass thinking he can get away with this.

[TimHauck 3,341]

4 minutes ago, Hawkeye21 said:

One combine can sell for over $750k and that's not even with the corn head.  We deal with high dollar items.  Last year we did over $31 million in sales.

The point is, I don't want this jack ass thinking he can get away with this.

Have you talked to the police about criminal charges?

[Hawkeye21 2,457]

1 minute ago, TimHauck said:

Have you talked to the police about criminal charges?

There's nothing they can do.  I've even contacted the Iowa State Attorney General.  I have considered filing a report with the IRS so I can get him for tax fraud.