Nothing annoys me more then con men and thieves targeting the common man.
Most of you will have heard of the west african scam. Some of you will even have been the recipient of e mail from the son/prince/trusted aide/servant of the desposed king/prince ruler etc of some country that you have never even heard of asking you to help get their secreted money out of the country.
In return for allowing your bank account to become the bearer of a vast fortune, they will reward you a ample sum for your help.
(It amazes me that people still fall for this.)
Anyway the purpose of this post is to alert you a slant on all of this, and follows a simple advert to sell my daughters car. Nothing special. Just a bog standard Vauxhall Corsa Envoy A1 condition, worth about £4,400. Advert was placed on a web site.
And as follows are e mails.
"View Personal Inbox Message
You received the following message from Oredo David in response to your ad or message:
Name: Oredo David
Subject: Atlantis Blue Corsa
Date: 06/05/2003
Message: Hello, I am interested in buying your car thus,i will want you to please forward me with the present condition of the car and attached with the inside and outside snap of the car. I look forward to your quick response so as to arrange for payments. Thanks O .David"
I sent a brief e mail back. Not a lot to add, the advert said it all.
So...
"View Personal Inbox Message
You received the following message from Ored David in response to your ad or message:
Name: Ored David
Subject: mail my add directly(info_oredodavid@com
Date: 06/05/2003
Message: Thanks for response and haven said it all regarding to the condition of the car,as it is that i am not in the UK,i will be instructing my collegue to send you a check of 11,000 pounds of which i will want you to deduct your asking price and send/refund the balance to me through western union money tranfer/money gram so that i can pay my shipping agent for the shippment of the car. Thus,i will be needing your full name and contact address for the check. As i will love to buy the car for my private use,i look forward to your quick response so that payment can be arranged and sent to you asap so as to reach your hand before mid-next week. Please do mail directly to my email box. [email protected] Thanks once again. OREDO DAVID."
Ding Ding Ding!
Wow, someone wants to give me £11,000 for a £4,400 car. Now I like presents as much as the next guy, but being a lazy sod, I am not going to bugger about with all this western union stuff.
" [email protected]
Hi,
Just like to bring to your attention a reply I received today in response to an advert to offer a car for sale on the web site of Ad-mart.co.uk Car in question is a standard Vauxhall Corsa worth about £4,400. The reply is unusual and I wondered if you had ever come across anything like this before.
Any response/feedback you could give would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
John Donovan.
Attached:
View Personal Inbox Message
You received the following message from Ored David in response to your ad or message:Name: Ored David
Subject: mail my add directly(info_oredodavid@com
Date: 06/05/2003
Message: Thanks for response and haven said it all regarding to the condition of the car,as it is that i am not in the UK,i will be instructing my collegue to send you a check of 11,000 pounds of which i will want you to deduct your asking price and send/refund the balance to me through western union money tranfer/money gram so that i can pay my shipping agent for the shippment of the car. Thus,i will be needing your full name and contact address for the check. As i will love to buy the car for my private use,i look forward to your quick response so that payment can be arranged and sent to you asap so as to reach your hand before mid-next week. Please do mail directly to my email box. [email protected] Thanks once again. OREDO DAVID."
"
[email protected]
To: [email protected]
Sent from the Internet (Details)
John
It is a scam. The cheque will be stolen or forged. You pay it in and the bank clears in the normal cycle - 3 days etc. You then part with the money. A few days later the bank tells you its stolen ... they want their money back. Please ignore this. This is a variation of tactic by West Africans.
Paul Horlick DS"
Of course the owner of the web site was contacted. He had been getting similar replies to articles for sale, and asked for the emails so he could liase with the police.
Sadly though, because these people are outside of the country there is little the police can do.
http://www.met.police.uk/fraudalert/
This is a link to the met fraud squad site.
Oh... I replied to this con man saying that I didn't have any western union offices near me; but if he would care to forward his bank details I would deposit the money in his account...
Most of you will have heard of the west african scam. Some of you will even have been the recipient of e mail from the son/prince/trusted aide/servant of the desposed king/prince ruler etc of some country that you have never even heard of asking you to help get their secreted money out of the country.
In return for allowing your bank account to become the bearer of a vast fortune, they will reward you a ample sum for your help.
(It amazes me that people still fall for this.)
Anyway the purpose of this post is to alert you a slant on all of this, and follows a simple advert to sell my daughters car. Nothing special. Just a bog standard Vauxhall Corsa Envoy A1 condition, worth about £4,400. Advert was placed on a web site.
And as follows are e mails.
"View Personal Inbox Message
You received the following message from Oredo David in response to your ad or message:
Name: Oredo David
Subject: Atlantis Blue Corsa
Date: 06/05/2003
Message: Hello, I am interested in buying your car thus,i will want you to please forward me with the present condition of the car and attached with the inside and outside snap of the car. I look forward to your quick response so as to arrange for payments. Thanks O .David"
I sent a brief e mail back. Not a lot to add, the advert said it all.
So...
"View Personal Inbox Message
You received the following message from Ored David in response to your ad or message:
Name: Ored David
Subject: mail my add directly(info_oredodavid@com
Date: 06/05/2003
Message: Thanks for response and haven said it all regarding to the condition of the car,as it is that i am not in the UK,i will be instructing my collegue to send you a check of 11,000 pounds of which i will want you to deduct your asking price and send/refund the balance to me through western union money tranfer/money gram so that i can pay my shipping agent for the shippment of the car. Thus,i will be needing your full name and contact address for the check. As i will love to buy the car for my private use,i look forward to your quick response so that payment can be arranged and sent to you asap so as to reach your hand before mid-next week. Please do mail directly to my email box. [email protected] Thanks once again. OREDO DAVID."
Ding Ding Ding!
Wow, someone wants to give me £11,000 for a £4,400 car. Now I like presents as much as the next guy, but being a lazy sod, I am not going to bugger about with all this western union stuff.
" [email protected]
Hi,
Just like to bring to your attention a reply I received today in response to an advert to offer a car for sale on the web site of Ad-mart.co.uk Car in question is a standard Vauxhall Corsa worth about £4,400. The reply is unusual and I wondered if you had ever come across anything like this before.
Any response/feedback you could give would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
John Donovan.
Attached:
View Personal Inbox Message
You received the following message from Ored David in response to your ad or message:Name: Ored David
Subject: mail my add directly(info_oredodavid@com
Date: 06/05/2003
Message: Thanks for response and haven said it all regarding to the condition of the car,as it is that i am not in the UK,i will be instructing my collegue to send you a check of 11,000 pounds of which i will want you to deduct your asking price and send/refund the balance to me through western union money tranfer/money gram so that i can pay my shipping agent for the shippment of the car. Thus,i will be needing your full name and contact address for the check. As i will love to buy the car for my private use,i look forward to your quick response so that payment can be arranged and sent to you asap so as to reach your hand before mid-next week. Please do mail directly to my email box. [email protected] Thanks once again. OREDO DAVID."
"
[email protected]
To: [email protected]
Sent from the Internet (Details)
John
It is a scam. The cheque will be stolen or forged. You pay it in and the bank clears in the normal cycle - 3 days etc. You then part with the money. A few days later the bank tells you its stolen ... they want their money back. Please ignore this. This is a variation of tactic by West Africans.
Paul Horlick DS"
Of course the owner of the web site was contacted. He had been getting similar replies to articles for sale, and asked for the emails so he could liase with the police.
Sadly though, because these people are outside of the country there is little the police can do.
http://www.met.police.uk/fraudalert/
This is a link to the met fraud squad site.
Oh... I replied to this con man saying that I didn't have any western union offices near me; but if he would care to forward his bank details I would deposit the money in his account...
