fishy classifieds reply...

Here's an email I just received regarding a Nikon D100 I listed in

the classifieds...it seems suspicious to me, what do you think?

<blockquote><i>

Hello sir/Ma<br>

My name is Gzzzzz Azzz , and am a reseller in the Uk.Please,how many

of these item do you have and how much are you willing to sell for

me,and are they in good condition?Let me quickly say that i will be

paying with a money order, and when you get your payment i will want

you to ship the item,and in my obeservations most sellers dont ship

outside USA and CANADA , please i will want you to help me out in

this if i am to pay extra fee,then get me the quotations.My customers

need them.<br>

Mail me direct to my email address gzzzzzazzzz@yahoo.com <br>

NOTE: that this transaction is genniue and risk free.<br>

Thanks <br>

am waiting your response.<p>

 

+44xxxxxxxxxx<br>

+44xxxxxxxxxx<br>

Gzzzzz

</i></blockquote>

<p><i>{Note that I removed names and emails.}</i> This person is

also a member of photo.net since...today. My impulse is not to reply

to this. Comments?

hit delete.

>>>>"NOTE: that this transaction is genniue and risk free."<<<<As soon as anyone feels it appropriate to say this, run for cover.

So I'm not just over-reacting {heh heh}, I didn't think so. All that misspelling and assuring me that this is a good transaction looks pretty telling. Thanks!

As it purports to emenate from the UK, you could always forward it to new.scotland.yard@met.police.uk (although they're rather busy at the moment).

Well, he hasn't asked you to do anything stupid up front - money orders are a valid way of

paying, I guess. But I agree that he has shot himself in the foot with the 'genniue and risk

free' bit - I do think that sounds comically scam-like. The totality of it would make me hit

delete.

 

However, allow me a giggle at the notion that 'all that misspelling' should be enough

reason not to deal with him. If UK traders used the same filter, they'd be ruling out about

50% of trade from the USA, in my experience.

Sorry - one too many 'then/than', 'an/and', 'there/they're' transpositions for me of late.

 

On reflection the thing that is really fishy is that he is replying to classified ad as a

business proposition. However there is nothing in this email that specifically indicates a

fraud attempt so I wouldn't waste time on reporting it to the police.

 

Finally - the Metropolitan police are only London's police force. Nothing in this guy's email

points to him certainly being from London.

The Met's the main conduit for all internet crime issues. If they think there's anything to investigate, they parcel it out to the appropriate squad who will then involve a local force as required. Source was a very interesting radio programme on the Beeb about recent changes in the way the UK handles cyber crime.<div></div>

Report it to "abuse@photo.net". The account will probably be deleted.

Harvey,

 

cool, useful to know. I really do need to get back to Radio 4...

Thank you all for the replies. I don't think this warrants bothering any authorities in the UK over, but I will pass it on to abuse@photo.net as Bob suggested.

<p>

Michael, yeah, misspellings aren't enough in themselves. I have a couple of more legitimate sounding interested parties in the camera and I don't think any of them did any spellchecking...It's just one more clue on top of all the other oddities, not enough in itself to discard.

<p>

I thought about giving a reply using the same style, something like this:

<blockquote> <i>

Hi Gzzzzz,<br>

I only have one of the items for sale and it is in the listed condition. It is for sale for the listed price too. For sales outside of US I will only accept PAYPAL, not money orders.

<p>

Let me know if you need more information or are interested!

</i></blockquote>

BUT, as my wife pointed out, it would likely subject me to more spam at the very least...

<p>So I'll just submit this person as suspicious here at photo.net and be done with it!

I cannot believe how quickly we can judge a person from their use or misuse of the written word. We do not know if English is this individual?s native language or not. This could very well account for incorrect spelling and poor choice of words and grammar.

 

As for whether this is a valid offer or not, I have sold to many individuals in other countries and I considered every offer legitimate until proven different. In this case the potential buyer is offering cash in hand (assuming all policies and procedures are followed regarding money orders) prior to shipment. He is also offering to make additional payments because he recognizes the extra costs associated with shipping outside the USA.

 

So what is the problem?

<i>

So what is the problem?</i>

<p>

For me, the fundamental 'tell' is the "...how many of these item do you have..." and "My customers need them." It speaks of one of two things; they either don't understand p.n classifieds at all, or they are appealing to greed to set up their scam (or both, come to think of it).

<em>I have sold to many individuals in other countries and I considered every offer legitimate until proven different</em>.

<p>

I take something of the opposite attitude. I assume every offer is a scam unless I have good reason to believe it's not.

<p>

Likewise I assume every email "from" Paypal and my Bank are, in fact, bogus and simply attempts to make me give out my account numbers.

This is an old scam. You have to watch out for fake money orders (MO) from overseas. Scammers will send you a fake MO that looks real. Your banks accepts the MO and deposits it, you send the camera overseas thinking you have been paid, then 2-3 weeks later your banks contacts you and lets you know the MO was fake and wasn't worth the paper it was written on. You are out the equipment and guess what, you can't contact the buyer anymore.

Can you believe it? Yet another scammer on this one ad. This guy was smart enough to use a different e-mail than whatever he used on photo.net. On the other hand it's the classic I'll-send-you-extra-money-you-send-the-extra-back scam. Here was his reply after I answered several (very reasonable sounding) questions about the camera:

<p>

<blockquote><i>

Thanks for your e-mail,So glad to hear that the (Nikon D100 Excellent in box + Kirk A.S) are still for sale,i want you to know one thing that the Mode of payment is going to be cashier's Checks that will be drawn from an American.So there will be no problem in Cashing the Check Also i want you to know that you will be recieving a cashier Check of $5,000 that will sent to you one of my Client over there in the USA who is owing me this amount. So all i want you to do now is to recieve the Check , After the Check has been cashed i want you to Transfer the remaining excess funds to my Personal Assistant who will now Pay the Shipping Company to come over for the Pick up (I will handle the Shipping so Shipping Should not any Problem) Also after the Funds has been cashed and you have transfered to my Personal Assitant the excess funds,All you need to do is to wait for th e Shipping Company to come over for the Pick up,You will be notify on the Day they will arrive so that you will

around for them to Pi ck up the (Nikon D100 Excellent in box + Kirk A.S). Also funds should be Transfered to my Personal asistant via Western Union. The Western Union and the Cashing Store Charges should be deducted from the excess funds you are sending my Personal Assistant.

 

 

 

I am Compesating you with the Sum of $100 for the little stress you will be going through in the transaction, Which now makes your total income to be $775 . So If this is Okay by you i want you to provide me with the Following Informations Which of course i will forward to my Client so that Payment will be Issued :

 

 

 

NAME: .....................

 

ADDRESS:.....................

 

CITY: ..........................

 

STATE:............................

 

COUNTRY:............................

 

ZIP CODE:............... ...........

 

PHONE NUMBER:...................(HOME,CELL AND WORK)

 

 

 

 

 

More so i will like yo to get back to me with the picture of the (Nikon D100 Excellent in box + Kirk A.S) so that i can send it to my shipping company for veiwing with this i will expect to hear from you soonest today.Thanks

 

God bless

</blockquote></i>

 

Unfortunately his first query sounded real enough so he now has my cell phone number. I hope <i>that</i> won't cause more trouble!

 

Funny side note: There were several typos in his original query about the camera, I thought to myself, "see, not all typos are indicative of a scam". They may not all be, but it's sure a warning flag! Needless to say I will not be responding to him.