New CVS moneygram scam for website development project

New CVS Moneygram scam

A new scam that is brand new and as far as our bank said it has never been detected yet by them in this fashion.

We are a web development company of course so we were contacted by a potential new client from the UK that was so called working on a new project to stop malaria etc etc in Africa so needed a new logo, website, etc. etc built.

We proposed the project and sent out the contract and everything seemed legitimate just like normal at that time.

We then received not only the deposit for the project but almost $1,900 in additional funds. We thought the client was just paying us almost the full amount for the project.

We were paid with actual moneygrams that looked 100% legitimate and they sort of were. I took them to the bank, deposited and they actually cleared and looked like the money was in the account.

Apx. 2 days later the client asked if we could just take out our deposit amount but send the rest of the money to his so called photographer that will be supplying us the photos we need in Nigeria?

Instantly I knew something was weird. I went to the moneygram website to verify the numbers and sure enough the money grams had actually already been cashed a month prior and were only worth $30 dollars each.

It would have taken the bank at least 7-10 business days to detect this and we would have been out almost $2,000 in this scam.

So be sure anyone offering money or telling you to send money out of the country even after paying with a money gram, make sure you check the number online via their website or wait at least 3 weeks to make sure it clears.

We see at least 2 normal scams a day via email, phone and websites so we are pretty used to spotting scams but this one was so good and I can see others falling for it that I thought I better put online for future reference.

If you have been scammed by this contact your bank asap, but odds are you are out of money =(

Here is all the info we have on this guy:

Tony Wright or Anthony Wright
barry_legallawfirm@yahoo.co.uk

The scam address for the check delivery was:
Dada Olaleye
Imagery Photography
20, Broad Street, Marina, Lagos State, Nigeria, West Africa

The money grams actually came from CVS in Texas, we cant read the actual name or address on the fedex envelope

Hope this information helps stop this person in the future? Thanks for reading, Will


update: he is also using emails and words related to barry_php berry bary, payment on behalf of his client, art, murals, commissions, products, consulting agents, shopping, he is always in a hurry, will mention something about god or prayer, nigeria, south africa, israel, uk, @yahoo.co.uk .