I was speaking with Seth Brown ([email protected]) for over 10 months. He told me he worked for the UN in NY. After five weeks, he said he had a job assignment in Africa. The assignment was to oversee an orphanage that was being built. We kept chatting through IM's. After a few weeks, he told me he felt sorry for one of the young men that would not be able to enter the orphanage upon its completion since he would be 18 when it was done. However, he found an area that was up for sale and he was thinking of making stores out of it and letting this young man, named Michael, be the manager, thus giving him an income and he would not be homeless. About two weeks later, a check came to my home in the amount of $10,500. He asked me to open an account with it and once it cleared, he would ask me to send it to him in small amounts as needed for the stores. He even sent me pictures of how the stores were coming. I brought the check to Chase Bank, the bank it was drawn on, and asked them to check to see if it was fraudulent because of the amount. The bank manager assured me it was real, gave me her card and I asked her again to check it because she never checked the system to check the signatures. She once again told me the check was good and I again asked her to check but she kept reassuring me it was real and even redirected me to a money manager who told me it was real. I opened an account with Chase since they gave me their reassurance. When the check cleared, I received a notice from Chase the check cleared. Seth Brown contacted me and asked me to wire him $2500 through Western Union so he could start setting up his stores. I did. A day later, Chase contacted me and told me the check was fraudulent and I was responsible not only for the $2500 but for the full $10,500. When I complained that I asked for them to check about the accuracy of the check and that the bank's manager should be held accountable, they disagreed and told me that once I touch one penny of a fraudulent check, I am held accountable for the full amount. I reported it to the FBI's internet crime division, IC3, and it turns out that Seth Brown and his partner, Frank Williams, are wanted throughout the world. I had to pay the full $10,500 back with my last payment being May 25.
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