crystal-lite Posted August 5, 2008 Share Posted August 5, 2008 I received an e-mail from a guy who lives in Malaysia requesting for a photographer for his wedding in October in the UK, I live in the UK, the first couple of e-mails look at sound very genuine. I agreed to a date and the costs. I then received this e-mail from him and it’s got the bells ringing for me a little and wonder if it’s legitimate or just a scam? This is the latest e-mail I received and wonder if anyone here had similar e-mails and that you consider them a scam or genuine; ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hello Anthony, How are You doing.We feel so much excited that we have been recieving congratulatory messages,greetings and gift items etc,all to wish us a happy marriage ceremony in advance.To our surprice,we had a cash gift of £4,000 from My fiance's uncle who is a bussiness Man.He also sent his greetings wishing us a happy and a properious marriage ceremony in advance. I have decided to use the funds to sought part of our wedding expenses,we had your details forwarded to him to write the cheque in your name.We made him understand that you are Our Photographer,please send us an email that you have recieved it.You will have it cleared withing few bussiness days, after that,have yourself paid for your service charge. We have also decided to put the event of Our wedding in a quality magazine which we shall share among friends and well wishers some weeks after the party.I'm presently in negociations with three publishers with each of them yet to send a sample output of their quality jobs in other make a choice of service. As soon as this is done,I will email you the publisher's given account details where the rest of the money will be transfered to. We hope we can put our trust on You as we will want you to have your self paid for your services charge and help us make a transfer of the rest to the publisher's given bank account.I and my fiancee shall be in UK in some few Weeks. Thanks for your understanding hospitality. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What conserned me was, the part that says; As soon as this is done,I will email you the publisher's given account details where the rest of the money will be transfered to. We hope we can put our trust on You as we will want you to have your self paid for your services charge and help us make a transfer of the rest to the publisher's given bank account. Why would I be interested in a publishers account details and help him make a transfer of the rest of the money to their account. What do you think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcmanamey Posted August 5, 2008 Share Posted August 5, 2008 total scam - the Nigerian Scam, specifically. Email something like "I'm sorry, but I must have payment only in the amount of my services. i will not be able to assist in transferring funds to any other vendors" and see what happens. I'm betting he disappears in a hurry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenPapai Posted August 5, 2008 Share Posted August 5, 2008 100% chance it's a scam -- I don't even need to read this -- the formating gives it away instantly. Been going on for several years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Laur Posted August 5, 2008 Share Posted August 5, 2008 In fact, this one is more transparently Nigerian Scammish than most. Usually, the request to pass along the extra money doesn't come up until AFTER you've received the fake check for too much money. Think of this as more of a form of entertainment than anything else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davebell Posted August 5, 2008 Share Posted August 5, 2008 Come on, surely you've seen loads of these scams already and know how to spot them? I would guess that everyone with email access would have seen one by now. I live in the UK and have recieved at least 10 of these over the years. Mostly, if not all, written by dodgy people sitting in ramshackle internet cafes in Nigeria. All want to send you too much money then you have to transfer the balance back to them or to someone else. It's so obvious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael R Freeman Posted August 5, 2008 Share Posted August 5, 2008 100% scam, as sure as the sun will rise tomorrow. > "Email something like "I'm sorry, but I must have payment only ..." I would suggest you waste no further time with this a##hole. But if you email anything, may I suggest you have a bit of fun and send something along the lines of ... "Thank you for your reply. As I prefer to be a bit cautious about offshore transactions, I have emailed YOUR details and copies of YOUR emails to my local contacts at The Metropolitan Police Service here in xxx ..." :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rainer_t Posted August 5, 2008 Share Posted August 5, 2008 They send you the money (ehm the cheque) to pay the publisher that they are in contact with. ... Cleary sonds like scam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crystal-lite Posted August 5, 2008 Author Share Posted August 5, 2008 Thanks Guy's, you truly are a great help. This is my very first scam e-mail for my photography business, though I have received other types of scam, mainly about sad stories but not for my photography business. Your suggestions are good. I'm going to reply; to only pay me what is required and that I'm not able to assist in any transaction. And just see what happens. I will then end it there, then I'll let you know what happens. Thanks everyone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincedistefano Posted August 5, 2008 Share Posted August 5, 2008 Don't reply at all. Once you do, the scammer/spammer knows he at least has a valid email address. Nothing is to be gained from replying, and in fact it might not even have been a human being that directly sent the message, but some sort of automated system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry_ Posted August 5, 2008 Share Posted August 5, 2008 To butcher the Queens English is to prove it is a S-C-A-M and you need to deposit all e-mails to your Trash bin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alec_myers Posted August 6, 2008 Share Posted August 6, 2008 ABSOLUTELY DON'T REPLY EVER EVER EVER! Sorry, was I shouting? You're one of about three hundred thousand recipients of identical emails (that day) - if you reply, then you've told the scammers that your email address is live and that you read what they sent. That puts the value of your email address up by about a hundred-fold for when they sell it to the next criminal organisation to continue spamming to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crystal-lite Posted August 6, 2008 Author Share Posted August 6, 2008 Well I have decided to take up this advice, and the above e-mail that I received, I bounced it yesterday. It was an alias e-mail and have deleted it, and now I have another alias e-mail in position. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
think27 Posted August 6, 2008 Share Posted August 6, 2008 Just look at the language which is always a dead give away... The first sentence told me immediately - SCAM "We feel so much excited that we have been recieving congratulatory messages,greetings and gift items etc,all to wish us a happy marriage ceremony in advance" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jo_dinning Posted August 6, 2008 Share Posted August 6, 2008 Don't walk, run. And consider yourself free to book another client that day. I think you should reply - don't give the impression of consent. You could always state that you never accept money on behalf of other vendors as it complicates your accounts and that you will now be unable to help them with their wedding. And if you need any further convincing, contact the venue - I'm sure that it will not have been reserved for these "clients" for that date! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikea Posted August 6, 2008 Share Posted August 6, 2008 I've stopped answering wedding requests with bad English. If it's questionable I say send me cash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jay_m. Posted August 8, 2008 Share Posted August 8, 2008 Do you even need to ask ? SCAM. Come on now... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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