Raymond Prentiss Shaw Scam
This is a warning to all music teachers. If you receive an email like this, it’s a hoax:
Hello Teacher,
Good day to you.
My name is Raymond Prentiss Shaw based in Netherland.My son(20years of age) will be coming to the state for a 3(Three) month holiday but will stay with my elder brother.While he his there,i want him to attend your teaching class on any of the instrument you could best teach .I want you to e-mail me the modalty of the programme,rate/hr,number of hours a day,your location ,duration of the lesson and other things necessary for a smooth learning.Please get back to asap.Send your reply to my eramail box .
Raymond Shaw.
We bought it and quoted the guy a price. As the emails got stranger and stranger (“Raymond” refused to send info on his son, etc) we received a cashier’s check in the mail for $2,400 more than the quoted price of the lessons. Suspecting that something was rotten as hell in Denmark we held on to the check (that was dated 2004) and tried calling the bank and googling. “Raymond” suggested that we cash the check and send him the difference.
It is definitely a hoax and apparently all kinds of music teachers are getting these emails.
The check and story will be going to the Feds.
3 Comments
Ahh the old he sends you a cheque, which will then bounce about 5 days later, thinking you already have the funds (banks show any money you’ve paid in, not cleared funds you actually have) you send him the "difference" which he then pockets and dissapears, leaving you without the money when the cheque does bounce.
Yep. That old chestnut.
Except the idiot sent us a worthless cashier’s check (which is supposed to be pre-paid) and dated it for 2004.
Obviously we cottoned right away to the fact that something was seriously hinkey, and I don’t think we would have been able to cash the thing anyhow, but still…
“Raymond Prentiss Shaw”? That’s the name of Liev Shrieber’s character from the film “The Manchurian Candidate”.