Man mails $10K cash to Benin, gets fake travelers checks

[NNN0LHI]

http://triblocal.com/joliet/2010/10/07/travelers-check-fraud/

By Dennis Sullivan

Special to Tribune
at 6:00 a.m.

<snip>According to an Oct. 1 complaint to Will County Sheriff’s police, the 62-year-old resident of the Fairmount subdivision said he mailed $10,000 cash to a post office box in the Republic of Benin on April 5 after finding a West African company that converted U.S. currency to American Express Travelers Checks on the Internet.

Within a month, he received an envelope from the Republic of Benin containing 20, $500 travelers checks.

The man was planning a trip to Africa, but had to cancel. He set the checks aside. Then on Sept. 10 he took the checks to his bank where he learned they were forged and worth nothing.

[LeftinOH]

1. "A fool and his money...." Seriously, dude.

[hobbit709]

3. Exactly!

[RockaFowler]

2. Why??

Why would someone do this?? How many times do people have to hear about these scams??

[CanonRay]

4. Cheap idiot didn't want to pay for real Traveler's Checks

so he outsmarted them!