Scam? Need Info

[MzDiz]

My mother called me yesterday to tell me about a new "deal" my father's got himself into. Something about macadamia nut shells as renewable energy and this guy needs my dad to transfer a HUGE chunk of money from his account to some account in Canada from this guy in Australia. Now, I am 99.999% sure this is a scam, but my dad got a check, a real check, for 33k and it's sitting in their checking account.
I'm fairly sure it's going to turn out to be bogus somehow and upon transferring the money my parents will be out a huge chunk of cash that they don't have. My dad will buy into anything, I swear. I'm buying netnanny for him, or something.
My question is - has anyone heard of this one? And what is it exactly?

TIA!

 

[salmoneous]

Yep - it's a scam. Many similar things out there. Basically, the check will prove to be bogus eventually. But after your Dad has transferred money to the guy in Canada. When this happens, your Dad will still be out the money transferred.

Call the bank immediately. They've seen it before and will know what to do.

 

[dturner]

I got a check in the mail for $3,000 from some company in Georgia and it looked real too - I entered the name online and nothing but SCAM came up.

Don't transfer that money, call the bank IMMEDIATELY!!!

 

[SC Minnie]

SCAM_ SCAM_ SCAM

Please don't let your father send them any money.

 

[Allison]

If I were you, I would call your parents bank and let them know what is going on if you can't talk your dad out of it.

 

[MissMinnie]

Sounds like a scam. I have heard of similar cases where the check is a fake, the recipient transfers the money to the sender, the check bounces, and then the depositer is on the hook for the money and will have to pay back the bank. You need to stop your dad from giving anyone any money and he needs to get to the bank ASAP to stop this. The bank has heard about this scam, I'm sure, and will help. Your dad may be embarassed, but a few minutes of that is better than being out $33,000!

 

[Apothecary]

scam!!!

 

[MzDiz]

Thanks for all the advice. I just talked to my dad, who told me that he's waiting it out because the company is legitimate, blah blah blah. Then he handed the phone to my mom, who's been suspicious, and I told her to call the FBI behind his back. If it's legit, there's nothing to lose. The bank is actually holding the check until November 8th, so we have at least that much time to convince him it's a scam.