I received an e-mail from Meifeng Cheng on behalf of her daughter, Lui Cheng. At first, we were excited to welcome Lui into our home. She was to do a homestay with us and study ESL. After many, MANY e-mail correspondences, things started to sound a bit odd. Things didn't add up and then there was a "mystery" person involved. Mr. Tom Park was to take care of Lui's funds. He actually sent me a cheque for $4000 and then the "mother", Meifeng asked me to forward $3000 of that to Lui because she needed to buy her plane ticket and pay for other things before coming to stay with us.

My gut instinct felt that this was just not right. I did not deposit the cheque and said that if they really wanted Lui to stay with us, they needed to sort things out before she arrives. I told them I would not deposit the cheque and that since it would still be in Tom Park's account, HE could pay for Lui's ticket and whatever she needed.

I've been reading this board and was not so shocked to see that this is a scam. To think I felt sorry for the family and they played on my feelings as a mother. I'm so glad I trusted my gut. It's hard to believe anyone would do such a horrible thing.

I hope they don't get away with this and that people read this post and are aware of this kind of scam. These people or this person went through a lot of effort to do this. What an elaborate scam! They had a (647) Toronto cell phone number and the P.O. Box address was in Toronto as well. That was another thing that threw me off. If Mr. Park was in Toronto, why couldn't he help Lui with all the money and plane ticket? Pretty low. Several e-mail correspondences, telephone calls, and a cheque!

Just be mindful of this and stay safe, everyone