I'm in awe at people's ingenuity! Earlier today I watched an interview with Frank Abagnale Jr. (the guy on whom the Catch Me If You Can movie was based) on BBC World. He was asked what was the best scam he had heard of lately, and what he described was absolutely incredible. I didn't catch all the details, but the gist of it was this:

A couple of kids place an add offering "the best" 10 porn movies for a very low price, say $11.95. They also state that they'll accept only cheques, no credit cards or money orders. When the cheques start flooding in, they deposit them in a business account, all legal and aboveboard.

They then send each of their clients a letter explaining that due to unexpectedly high demand, they won't be able to fill their order. They apologize for the inconvenience, and enclose a cheque for, say, $15, to cover what was paid and the mailing costs the client incurred. This cheque is from this business account where the kids had deposited all the money, and there's more than enough money there to cover it.

So, what's the kick? Printed on the left hand corner of each cheque, in fire-engine red, is the name of the company: "Child Pornography Ltd.". Needless to say, none of the clients cashed theirs!

Best part, the scammers don't seem to have done anything illegal!