Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast - I Caught A Scammer...

Episode Date: August 18, 2023

I Caught A Scammer...

When I got this, I read it and I looked at it and I thought, this is a scam. And then I read it to Jess. And Jess is like, she's like nodding her head like, okay, okay. And I went, you know, like, what are you thinking? She's like trusting of her. Like, okay, that was, that's trust. You know, she trusts you to mail her the money back. Like you'll mail the money back.

And I looked at it. It's a scam. And she goes, how? You're going to wait for it to clear. And I went, no, no, no. Here's what happens. Hey, this is Matt Cox, and I'm going to be doing a video about basically getting scammed or somebody trying to scam me. So I have, I'll get into it real quick.

I have an Etsy account, right? So I sell Marilyn Monroe paintings, which are, you know, on my set. And I sell, you know, I sell everything. I sell, you know, Biggie Smalls paintings. I sell all kinds of different, different type of pop culture, pop art style paintings. With that said, I was contacted through Etsy and then through my, got an email from this woman. Her name was Amy Colbert. So this is Amy Colbert.

I would like to follow up regarding the artwork. I was wondering, do you know how much. it would be. Obviously, I know how much it would be, Amy. In fact, it actually tells how much it is on Etsy, but whatever, like the total amount. And is it okay to send a check for payment? I would like to purchase this outside of Etsy since I have an uncle who is paying for it and will mail out a check ASAP for payment. The address for shipping is, and then she gives me her address. She said I'll also need, she'll need the name for the, you know, who to put the check in. Okay, that's fine. Whatever. I doubt Etsy's okay with that. But whatever, we'll see.

So I go back. I say, Amy, the total price, including shipping is $305. I actually feel like I cut her a break on that. Please make sure the check is payable to Matthew Cox. My mailing address is, and I give her my mailing address, and I put, please include a note that indicates that that you would like a 24 by 18 inch Maryland Monroe painting. Thank you. Blah, blah, blah. No problem. So then like a day or two goes by, right?

And this is over a week or so ago. She writes me this email. Now, you have to keep in mind that Jess and I, when I got this email, Jess and I, my wife, we're sitting in the in Starbucks getting we're in line at Starbucks getting a you know getting some some coffee in the drive-thru and I get this and by the way I was on my way to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Department because I was giving a speech in front of like 30

or 40 um what are they that financial or fine um what do they call them financial crimes detectives about title fraud and fraud and my story in general. So I've done it a few times. I go there. I talk. I give them my story. I tell them, you know, what happened, that sort of thing. So I'm sitting there waiting. We're getting coffee and we're going to hit. We're not too far from going to talk to 40 different cops. Here's what the email says. Hi, Matt. How are you doing today? I have been busy and just heard word back from my uncle. I have just been informed the check was sent out to you and it should take a couple days to arrive. There is, however, a mix up here. It appears the check was by mistake overpaid for $950. Please tell me this is fine with you.

He accidentally sent it for more money, which I believe to be a lot of hassle for either of us. But I think, I don't think this person speaks very good English, but I think we can figure it out. I understand the additional amount on the check would have been made out separately to my cousin. So he accidentally included the cousin's amount with my amount. Apparently her uncle sends out money for this girl. For the other purchases that we need. I hope you can understand and will be able to refund back the balance when the check. clears. I'm guessing I just have to email the address to refund the amount overpaid once the check

clears. I'm not quite understanding what she means by that, but whatever. Please let me know how you would like to handle things. Thank you so much, Amy Colbert. So when I got this, I read it and I looked at it and I thought, this is a scam. So I look at Jess and I said, listen to this and then I read it to Jess and Jess is like she's like nodding her head like okay okay and I went you know like what are you thinking she's like that's like trusting of her like okay that was that's trust you know she trusts you to mail her the money back like you'll mail the money back and I looked at it's a scam and she goes how you're going to wait for it to clear and I went no no no here's what happens because I have an estate and honestly I'm probably

telling everybody here probably already knows this. But because I have an established account, people think like, oh, you deposit a check into your account and the check, when the check clears the other bank, when they send the money, that's when they put it in your bank. But that's not really what happens. What really happens is you deposit the money in your bank and they make like $400 available right away. They just do that because it's policy. So they make a percentage of it up to whatever, 400 bucks or so available right away. And then it takes another day or so for the rest of it to clear. But technically, the bank doesn't have those funds from the other bank.

They've submitted for the funds, but they don't really know if that check is good. They do know that the routing number is correct, perhaps. They know that maybe it looks like a check, but they don't know if the money. money is good or not. They give you full access to that money so you could remove the money, but what happens is a week later that the other bank would say, hey, this money, this is no good. This is written on a, this is written on a bad account or it's written on an overdraft, over-drawn account, or it's written on somebody's account that this isn't even the right person or that account's closed. That's been a close for 10 years. Who knows? The point is,

is that, so then a week later, you've pulled the money out, you've sent, I've sent Amy $650 and a painting. And I think I made my $300. And what really happened is the bank comes to me and says, hey, we got that $950 check you gave us. It was bad. And they take $950 out of my account and maybe even overdraw, overdraw the account. By this point, though, Amy's got her money. now this scam when it first started happening i think about 10 years ago or so you know people were doing it for big money thousands of dollars right like i talked to um a buddy of mine john boziak he said somebody was supposed to buy a car from him and they sent him like a couple thousand extra because they said i'm sending you a couple thousand extra because i'm going to have to have

somebody come and drive the car cross-country, can you just pay that, you just need to pay that guy the money, you could just send it to him. Well, of course, he knew it was a, he knew it was bogus. Or it was a, it was a, it was a fraud scheme right away, because he's a fraudster. So, and I looked at this and I thought, yeah, okay, this is, something's not right. But what I did was, I basically sent her an email back and said, hey, Amy, no problem. them. So at this point, because at one point I gave her my phone, my personal phone number, Amy switched to texting me. Because I guess it's quicker for her. By the way, I don't think this is a, I don't think Amy's a real person. I think Amy is a Nigerian that is in a, in a, in a,

some phone bank somewhere, or maybe it's an Indian in a phone bank somewhere running a scam. Maybe these are people in the U.S. I would think that these are people probably in the U.S. because you, or maybe they have, what are that, you know, somebody who re, who does all the mailing for them in the U.S. as a, and gets a percentage of the scam. Regardless, Amy ended up switching to my, my text. So she starts texting me, you know, she, and let me tell you something. We're going to put the text up right now on the thing. I started texting with Amy. Amy is like, hey, this is Amy Colbert, you know, regarding the 24 by 18 Marilyn Monroe artwork, please let me know if this gets to you. Then I'm like, yes, it's me.

I'm still waiting for your payment. She put, hi, Matt. I sent you an email yesterday regarding, blah, blah, blah. I put, yes, I received it. I'll check the mail. And she said, she said, I already mailed your check. And I said, I'll check the mail, you know, today. then she put, I'm sorry, I was just making sure you got it, like very communicative.

So then I go back, I said once I get the cashier's check, I'll deposit it. Now, I keep my, by this point, I know it's not, it's, this, the cashier's check is not good. So then I go back and like, I'm just trying to waste her time at this point. And this starts off back on like, God, Wednesday, this is Wednesday. This is like over, this is over a week ago. this is over and it started a weekend you know it started a week at a couple days before that when she first contacted me she said okay thank you please tell me that you received it i am starting to worry about it now you just have to deposit the funds should be available the next day

um and we can get everything ready to ship then let then let me know what you plan on doing I put, I receive the cashier's check. What did you want me to do again? Where do you want the extra money sent? So I tell her like, oh, I got the cashier's check. And I did get the cashier's check. Look, Amy sent me the check. You know what?

I'm going to let's go ahead and tear that off because I've been playing with so much. So she sent me a cashier's check, really sweet of her. So I got and I said, would you want that again? And she's like, good morning, Matt. Glad the check arrived. So did you deposit the funds now? Just have to deposit it so it clears the bank. Do you happen to have sell for refunding the amount extra?

Let me know and I'm sure we'll figure it out. If you have a money apt to send the extra money that way we don't have to pay extra for mailing since it's going to have to be sent separately. So, and then I didn't answer. This was Sunday at like 8 a.m. I didn't answer. Sunday by 11, she says, hello? then it's hello are you there like literally like whatever a few hours later hello matt are you ignoring me she says are you ignoring me i mean that you're gutsy like this chick like and i put

no it's sunday and i'm with my wife i'm going to deposit your cashier's check tomorrow so you know it's sunday so i was like you know i'm holding her off just messing with her so uh i just got back, then the next day, I said, I just got back from the bank. They made $400 available immediately. And they said the rest will be available tomorrow. How do you want me to send you the excess money again? So keep in mind, I went to the bank. I did go to the bank. I had to go to the bank because I had to get, you know, I had to get pay my rent. So I did go to the bank. And I remember I walked in. I said, I got my rent check or my cashier. I actually get a cashier check for my rent. So I actually got it. And I said, hey, and the woman was like, you know, after I got it, she said, she said, you know, do you need anything else? I said, I actually do. And I pulled out the cashier's check. And I said, let me tell you what just happened. And I explained the situation. And listen, before I can even finish, she goes, oh, this is fraud. This is a fraud check. Yeah, this is fraud. I was like, okay, just making sure. And she said, I suggest you call the police. And I said, oh, no, I'm not going to. I said, well, maybe I'll look into it. And then I thought,

hey, I just talked with all these police and they do financial crimes. So I actually call the guy and I said, hey, listen, listen to what just happened to me. And he, and as I'm talking about it, before I can even finish, he goes, yeah, it's fraud. It's a fraud check. I said, I know it's fraud check. I said, but is there any way to track these guys down? Like, I could make a whole episode about it. Like, and he starts laughing. He's like, he said, honestly, like you know you fill out a police report and that's if they even take one he's like they're not going to be able to do anything like they're never going to track these people down there multiple states there's they got accounts at other people's names like it's it's not going to happen

i was like oh okay that's fine so i end up leaving either way the the cashier's check is is fraudulent um but we keep messing i have to obviously keep messing with um with my girl here So she comes back when I say, hey, how do you want the money sent? She comes back and says this. Perfect. Do you happen to have sell? Quick pay with sell to send the amount electronically? That way we don't have to pay an extra fee for sending it since it's going to be sent separately.

Most banks and credit unions have partnered with sell and can be sent through a bank app. Mobile banking. Let me know if your bank has that option for sending money. I mean, like she's got, she's got this down. She's really very informative. Please let me know if you have cell. Cash up to send it. Like, like, I get, like, she's obviously excited at this point because this, these came in

right away. Boom, boom, boom, like a couple minutes. Like, if I don't start answering it right away. So I imagine there's a couple of guys in a room doing probably 10 or 20 of these at all times they're running and periodically somebody pays them. And they've got to be like, oh my God, we got somebody on the, uh, we got somebody. Keep in mind, I was just supposed to reimburse the money. I was supposed to mail the money back.

Now it's, do you have cash app? Okay, just making sure you got that. Please let me know if you have either money app to send the money. Like, it's just hammering me. And I put, I have cash app. And she says, That should work. I'll go ahead and email the cash app info to you.

Which she does. Are you able to send the money now? That way we can get everything else to arrive on. Time for the party. Suddenly there's a party. so she's giving me a sense of urgency like we need this for the party and I put I put what I go what party are you talking about yes the upcoming family function I'm sorry I emailed about it letting you know the rest of the money would be spent on the other purchases that we

need I hope you can understand I don't remember a party but whatever then she put this Do you want me to text the cash app handle here If you will be able to get that sent for us And I put yes please Okay thanks You just have to move the amount from your bank to your cash app balance Prior to sending it The cash a handle to send money is

At dollar sign Ivy Katie Ivy Katie Again please be sure that you WLLLL add the amount To your cash app balance prior to sending I will just need the snapshot of the cash app receipt showing the amount sent as soon as you do this. Thank you again for everything. That's what I should have done. I should have faked a cash app receipt to send it. Right? Okay. Then it was like, did you get the infomat? So like hours go by. I don't respond. Did you get the info mat? And I put, I put, yes, headed to dinner with my wife.

Well, so sorry to be a bug. Do you know what time you will be getting that sent for us? I'm sure you understand since we have to get the rest of the items here ASAP to arrive. for the party the party um i wanted to ask again if you w kindly get that sent for us please and then hours go by and she goes hello and i put what's the address you want the painting mailed to i need to print the uPS label she sends me once again since she was sure thing sends me another address or the same address she sent before are you there and then she says then she says then she says, are you there? And I don't answer. Hello, Matt.

I hate to have to say this, but this is taking too long. I need to know what you plan on doing. The pushy scammer. I'm super worried now. It's going to be cutting too close to get the items here that we need. I certainly hope you understand. Please get back to me. I need to know if you have been able to transfer to that cash app so we can get the rest of the items.

So then she says, you need to get back to me again. And I put, I promise, so I waited a few hours. And I came back, I put, I promise I will have the painting in the mail tomorrow. I'm going to have to overnight it to you. And she was like, then she comes back and she says, this is kind of, she's. That would be great. Thank you. So, have you been able to send the money through cash app?

I need you to get that done for us now, please. I'm starting to feel at this point, like she doesn't really want my painting, which hurts me. That bothers me. You know, I thought we, you know, I thought we had a bond and she was truly an art lever, but she's not. Matt, I need, didn't she put Matt? Matt, I need you to say something. This is starting to look awful. Hopefully, you're not going to be making this any further complicated than it already is.

I need answers? Like, that's nuts. Like, listen, this goes on and on. But in the meantime, Jess and I actually go online and we look up. Not that I don't already think, no, it's a scam. But we actually looked up a video, and there's a video about this scam. Not that I didn't know it was a scam. But we're going to play the video just because, you know, it's, like, it's, it's just, it's, anyway, it's a scam.

So it's, it's interesting. I'm sure everybody. They can check in the mail for something you didn't do. Sounds great, but it's not a good thing. As scam week continues, tonight, investigator Joe Ducey, Let you know why so many people fall for this one and how to know if that check is really good. It's not. She would work from home.

I was supposed to be making $2,100 a month. He would test customer service. How I was treated by the cashier or anyone else that represented Walmart. Both put resumes on job sites, got hits in payment right away. It was like $17,000, I think, $700. $6,9,900. That came with the original mail. That's correct.

Dot, U.S. She sold cosmetics online and found a buyer sending more than asking price. $1,650, and she only owed me $414. They each got checks from legitimate banks for large amounts, like these, the ones that people send me every day asking, can I deposit them? Are they real? Yes and no. Banks allow the deposit, but the checks are fake.

And you don't find that out until after the scam. has instructed you to take out some of the money and send it back to them. Your money's gone. So how do you check a check? We found this Federal Reserve website and looked up this check. Dotty sent me. I found the business is real. But when I put in the check routing number and the bank listed, they didn't match.

Or you could just live by this rule. You don't get money for nothing. Deposit one of these upfront checks and you lose every time. The next day, I said, hey, I'll ship the painting the next day, you know, tomorrow. Around 920, I think, I get a text that says, from Amy that says, um, oh God, look, look, good morning, Matt. Are you able to purchase the UPS money order? Because I, what I said was, like the night before, like, I ended up saying, look,

I'm going to just get you a money order and mail it to you. I'm not going to cash app you. I'll just get you the money order. She comes back and says, I said I'll overnight it then she comes back and says okay I'll give you an address or something like that I forget she ends up saying are you know here this is are you able to purchase a USPS money order from your local post office and send it via overnight shipping express with the fees cutting into the balance let me know if that works for you for sending the remaining

balance and I will email the name and the address to send it and then she but you know you just have to walk in the post office. I starts telling me instructions on how to go in the post office and what to ask for and all these things. Hello, are you there? And then I put, then I put, um, I just got off the phone with my girlfriend. She dropped off the painting and the cashier's check this morning. Sure thing, um, address it. I put the address. I addressed it to and I give her her address and I put she mailed it to the address you gave me. Then she comes back and says, This is funny You've got to be shitting me right now

I never gave you an address for the money And I put The money order is blank You could just You can just fill it out When you get it Then she put This is

I told you it would be sent separately And not with the painting It was going to be sent out to my cousin You know you're going to be held responsible for this You're a pushy little scammer. Look. You owe us for about $800. Like $800?

I'm sorry you need to get her to retreat back the mail money order. Otherwise, you're going to owe us for that amount. So then I come back and I go, the painting was $300. You sent me $950. $300 minus $950 is only $650. Where are you getting $800 from? The painting was $300? $100. We had agreed for about $200.

This is as messy as it gets. Then she put, uh, you need to get back the money order and I'll give you an address to send it. What game are you playing here? Very pushy, right? So I put, okay, I'll call my wife. Um, maybe she can go back and get the painting. I also put, um, also the painting is $300.

I don't know where you're getting $200 from. And so listen, we went back and forth. She goes back and forth. Then she gives me another address. I mean, it goes on and on. Then I put, no problem. I'm waiting for my wife to call me back. She's at work.

Then it's like, did you send it? Did you have the tracking number now? And I put, she's leaving work at 12 to go back, you know, to retrieve the package. She called them. They have it waiting. Then Amy comes back. Okay, thank you. Do you have the tracking number?

do you have the tracking number now it's like they're panicking uh here hello again mad i like to be assured this is being taken care for us please confirm if you have been able to send it i'll need the tracking number hello then it's like then hours go by because i had a podcast hello hello are you there and i put yes i'm finishing up a video a video give me about 20 minutes and I haven't heard since I'm putting Amy are you there let's call let's see if does anybody answer

a Google subscriber you have called not available what a Google subscriber that's crazy it's upsetting that I was hoping to get Amy on the phone I was going to say hey I just need to talk to you real quick and then call a couple times see if I get but anyway it's a Google number number. So, you know, it's, this is a sad situation. So, you know, you can't just can't trust

these scammers. They're just not, they're not, you know, they're, they're not, they're, they are hard working. They are hard working. But I just can't, I guess I could imagine people falling for this. Because people think that, oh, well, when it clears my bank, but it checks don't clear your bank. Your bank makes the money accessible, but the check doesn't clear for much, much longer. money when it clears and hits your bank account doesn't mean that the check that you gave them actually has gone through the processing center and the funds have been transferred. So anyway, so yeah, it's a scam. It's pretty funny.

I thought it was kind of interesting. I'd love to get Amy on the phone. My fear is that I end up getting her on the phone and then I don't have this thing recorded. Anyway, that's too bad. I was hoping for a better video than this. She was usually very responsive. regardless. Anyway, I appreciate it. I appreciate you guys watching the video. And thank you very much. See you. I don't know if you guys know this or not, but when I was locked up, I wrote a whole

bunch of true crime books. And all of the books are on Amazon, Barnes & Nobles, Audible, their e-books. Check out the trailers. Using forgeries and bogus identities, Matthew B. Cox, one of the most ingenious con men in history. built America's biggest banks out of millions. Despite numerous encounters with bank security, state, and federal authorities, Cox narrowly, and quite luckily, avoided capture for years. Eventually, he topped the U.S. Secret Service's most wanted list

and led the U.S. Marshals, FBI, and Secret Service on a three-year chase, while jet-setting around the world with his attractive female accomplice. Cox has been declared one of the most prolific mortgage fraud con artists of all time by CNBC's American Greene. Bloomberg Business Week called him the mortgage industry's worst nightmare, while Dateline NBC described Cox as a gifted forger and silver-tongued liar. Playboy magazine proclaimed his scam was real estate fraud, and he was the best. Shark in the housing pool is Cox's exhilarating first-person account of his Stranger-than-Fiction story. Available now on Amazon and Audible. Bent is the story of John J. Boziak's phenomenal life of crime.

Inked from head to toe, with an addiction to strippers and fast Cadillacs, Boziac was not your typical computer geek. He was, however, one of the most cunning scammers, counterfeiters, identity thieves, and escape artists alive, and a major thorn in the side of the U.S. Secret Service as they fought a war on cyber crime. With a savant-like ability to circumvent banking security and stay one step ahead of law enforcement, Boziak made millions of dollars in the international cyber underworld, with the help of the Chinese and the Russians. Then, leaving nothing but a John Doe warrant and a cleaned-out bank account in his wake, he vanished. Boziak's stranger-than-fiction tale of ingenious scams and impossible escape,

of brazen run-ins with the law and secret desires to straighten out and settle down, makes his story a true crime con game that will keep you guessing. Bent. How a homeless team became one of the cybercrime industry's most prolific counterfeiters. Available now on Amazon and Audible. Buried by the U.S. government and ignored by the national media, this is the story they don't want you to know. When Frank Amadeo met with President George W. Bush at the White House to this

discussed NATO operations in Afghanistan. No one knew that he'd already embezzled nearly $200 million from the federal government. Money he intended to use to bankroll his plan to take over the world. From Amadeo's global headquarters in the shadow of Florida's Disney World, with a nearly inexhaustible supply

of the Internal Revenue Services funds, Amadeo acquired multiple businesses, amassing a mega conglomerate. Driven by his delusions of world conquest, He negotiated the purchase of a squadron of American fighter jets and the controlling interest in a former Soviet ICBM factory. He began working to build the largest private militia on the planet, over one million Africans strong. Simultaneously, Amadeo hired an international black ops force to orchestrate a coup in the Congo while plotting to take over several small Eastern European countries. The most disturbing part of it all is, had the U.S. government not thwarted his,

plans, he might have just pulled it off. It's insanity, the bizarre, true story of a bipolar megalomaniac's insane plan for total world domination. Available now on Amazon and Audible. Pierre Rossini, in the 1990s, was a 20-something-year-old, Los Angeles-based drug trafficker of ecstasy and ice. He and his associates drove luxury European supercars, lived in Beverly Hill's penthouses and dated Playboy models while dodging federal indictments. Then, two FBI officers with the organized crime drug enforcement task force entered the picture. Dirty agents willing to fix cases and identify informants. Suddenly, two of Racini's associates, confidential informants working with federal law enforcement

or murdered, everyone pointed to Rossini. As his co-defendants prepared for trial, U.S. Attorney Robert Mueller sat down to debrief Racine at Leavenworth Penitentiary, and another story emerged. A tale of FBI corruption and complicity in murder. You see, Pierre Rossini knew something that no one else knew. The truth. And Robert Mueller and the federal government have been covering it up to this very day.

The devil exposed. A twisted tale of drug trafficking. corruption, and murder in the City of Angels. Available on Amazon and Audible. Bailout is a psychological true crime thriller that pits a narcissistic con man against an egotistical, pathological liar. Marcus Schrenker, the money manager

who attempted to fake his own death during the 2008 financial crisis, is about to be released from prison, and he's ready to talk. He's ready to tell you the story no one's heard. Shrinker sits down with true crime writer, Matthew B. Cox, a fellow inmate serving time for bank fraud. Shrinker lays out the details, the disgruntled clients who persecuted him for unanticipated market losses, the affair that ruined his marriage, and the treachery of his scorned wife,

the woman who framed him for securities fraud, leaving him no choice but to make a bogus distress call and plunge from his multi-million dollar private aircraft in the dead of night. the $11.1 million in life insurance, the missing $1.5 million in gold. The fact is, Shrinker wants you to think he's innocent. The problem is, Cox knows Shrinker's a pathological liar and his stories of fabrication. As Cox subtly coaxes, cajoles, and yes, Khan's Shrinker into revealing his deceptions, his stranger-than-fiction life of lies slowly unravels. This is the story Shrinker didn't want you to know.

bailout, the life and lies of Marcus Shrinker, available now on Barnes & Noble, Etsy, and Audible. Matthew B. Cox is a conman, incarcerated in the Federal Bureau of Prisons for a variety of bank fraud-related scams. Despite not having a drug problem, Cox inexplicably ends up in the prison's residential drug abuse program, known as Ardap.

A drug program in name only. Ardap is an invasive behavior modification therapy, specifically designed to correct the cognitive thinking errors associated with criminal behavior. The program is a non-fiction dark comedy, which chronicles Cox's side-splitting journey. This first-person account is a fascinating glimpse at the survival-like atmosphere inside of the government-sponsored rehabilitation unit. While navigating the treachery of his backstabbing peers, Cox, simultaneously. simultaneously manipulates prison policies and the bumbling staff every step of the way. The program. How a conman survived the Federal Bureau of Prisons cult of Ardap.

Available now on Amazon and Audible. If you saw anything you like, links to all the books are in the description box.