Beware of Email Scams

webmaster · 07-22-2008, 10:51 AM

I have received several messages from people who advertise on our free Classifieds and have received suspicious replies to their ads.

The replies start out innocent enough just asking for more information. Next they offer to buy your item. Then they offer to send you a check for more than the purchase price with a request to wire transfer the balance to another party. If you deposit the check and forward the balance you will lose all the money since the check soon bounces and the sender is no where to be found.

This is a classic scam that takes many forms but always involves sending you a larger check than required. Don't ever fall for it. Just ignore and delete any offers like this. Don't even reply since they'll then have your email address.

The Classified system hides your email address to help protect your privacy but that is all we can do. We have no control over replies to your ads and you should use the same caution you would use with any suspicious or spam email.

The Classifieds are very effective and most replies are genuine. However, there is a dark side to the Internet that we must all be careful of.

sa meredith · 07-22-2008, 11:25 AM

As a follow up, and to make people aware of how good the scammers are, I offer the following TRUE story:
A co-worker of my listed a used auto on Craigslist in 2002. Cheap car...$2800.
He received what seemed like a legit email from an brokers office saying they had a buyer over seas for this vehicle, and would handle the shipping themselves. After a reply, he (the seller, my co-worker) asked for a phone call, and received it right away. The buyer was willing to forward the bank check (as opposed to personal check), drawn on a United States bank to him, in advance, and then he (the buyer) would arrainge for a transport company to pick up the vehicle.
A day goes by, and a check arrives for $3700. $900 too much. After calling the buyer (the broker's office), he speaks with a secretary, who says she will look into the matter and return his call. She calls in an hour, saying the overseas buyer send their office one check to cover the vehicle and shipping, and she accidentally forwarded the whole amount to him.And would you (my co-worker) please refund the $900 to us, as we have already contracted with a shipping company.
The check is deposited into the sellers account, and he waits 2 or 3 days. He calls the bank, and THEY STATE THE MONEY IS NOW AVAILABLE. So he issues the $900 refund via his own bank check. Couple of days go by, and he receives a notice from his bank that the check is not cashable (the original $3700 check). And of course the $900 has been cashed.
It turns out, by law, the bank had to make the $3700 available after 2 business days, but it had not reached the bank on the west coast. His account was charged back the $3700, and he lost the $900 he had sent out. Believe me, this guy explored every avenue, every one. The bank is not liable for clearing the check. It was a very good fraud, drawn on an actuall bank, using numbers that seemed to make sense to a trained eye.
So....maybe someone will learn from this story.

webmaster · 08-11-2008, 08:51 AM

Here's another example of this scam:

Quote:

Dear Sir/Ma,

Would you like to work for our organisation full time/part time and get paid weekly? We are glad to offer you a job position at our charity organisation "BRENTMENCAP" . We need individuals to work for the charity organisation as a Representative/Business Cordinator in your country. This is in view of not having an office presently in your country . You do not need to have an Office for now and this certainly will not disturb or disrupt any form of work you do at the moment.

* The average monthly income is about 1,500.00 USD.
* No form of investments from you.
* This job takes only 1-3 hours daily.

Thus, we need to get donations from our donors as soon as possible because they can just "forget" to pay. Unfortunately, we are unable to open bank accounts in the United States without first registering the company unless you will be willing to help with it. Presently with the amount of donors we have, we cannot put them on hold. For fear of loosing the donors and funds outrightly. Secondly, we cannot cash these payments from the U.S soon enough as international cheques takes about 14 working days for cash to be made available. We lose about 75,000 USD of net income each month because of money transfer delays.

YOUR TASK
Your task is to coordinate payments from donors and help us with the payment process.
You are not invloved in any charity activity.
We have decided to open this new job position for solving this problem.

1. Recieve payment from donors
2. Cash payments at your bank
3. Deduct 10% which will be your percentage/pay on payment processed.
4. Forward balance after deduction of percentage/pay to any of the offices you will be instructed to send payment to.

Payment is to be forwarded either by Money Gramm or Western Union Money Transfer.
Local Money transfers takes barely hours, so it will give us a possibility to get donors payment almost immediately. For example, you have gotten 5,000.00 USD. You take your income : 500.00 USD, Send to us: 4,500.00 U.S.D Plus your
basic monthly salary of 300 USD.

If you are interested, you should reply to our procurement officer via email: mike.claire@yahoo.com

Fill The Application Form to Get Started..........
FIRSTNAME____
SURNAME_____
ADDRESS_____
CITY________
STATE_______
ZIP CODE____
PHONE NUMBER___
AGE____________

NAME: Mike Claire
If you are interested, you are to send us your full name, address and contact
phone number so we can get in touch with you as well as our clients also.

Mike Claire
379-381 High Road,
Willesden, London, NW10 2JR
+447031914787
mike.claire@yahoo.com

HUH · 09-19-2008, 01:30 PM

Just got this reply to a classified

Reply:
Hello I am fully interested in purchasing your Item with no delay by answer my question below: [1.] Do you accept a ( Cashier Check / Personal Check ) as a mode of payment? [ 2. ] What is the final asking prize you can go at last? [3.] What is the condition of ! the Item? [4] Will you let our shipping company to come to you house for the pick up of the Item cos we don't want you to worry yourself about the shipping of the Item. [5] Will u be able to wire transfer the excess the same day u receive the check? [6] Cos payment that will be sending to you will consist your Item money and the shipping fees that will come for the pickup of the Item which will be enough to handle the transaction. So do you able to wire the excess fund on the payment to the shipping company that will come for the pickup. [7] can we trust u with the money? [8] Kindly get back to me with your full contact information so that i can able to mail out the payment for you... Best regards

Message from: micheal ufrancs
At: m_ufrancs@yahoo.com

webmaster · 01-19-2009, 05:45 PM

Several people have reported a new wave of scam replies being sent to advertisers on the Classifieds. Here's an example of the reply:

Quote:

Hey how r'u doing and ur family hope great I'm kelsey bybee i resided at 6110 Elmgrove Spring, Tx 77389saw your advert on winnipesaukee.com ,i'm willing to purchase your New & Used Boat Accesories 50% Off get back to me if it is still available for sale and how much is the finalasking price ?
i'll wait to hear from u

Message from: kelsey bybee
At: kelseybybee@ymail.com

Ignore it. It is a scam!

When you are suspicious of a reply just Google part of the message. You'll usually find many examples of their scam attempts.

trfour · 01-30-2009, 12:41 PM

A must Read; http://redtape.msnbc.com/2009/01/post-1.html#posts

Just another reason to love our WebMaster Don, he does his very best here to keep us Visitors safe, ( His "A" list, so to speak ) he's a keeper and we all need to keep Our computers securely UP to Date to help him and us. May I suggest a great website to help us all accomplish this for us.... ; Zdnet.com will keep everyone up to date, security and otherwize, as to E Smarts.
Love,
T

07-22-2008, 10:51 AM	#1
webmaster Moderator Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 2,446 Blog Entries: 1 Thanks: 455 Thanked 3,784 Times in 835 Posts	Beware of Email Scams I have received several messages from people who advertise on our free Classifieds and have received suspicious replies to their ads. The replies start out innocent enough just asking for more information. Next they offer to buy your item. Then they offer to send you a check for more than the purchase price with a request to wire transfer the balance to another party. If you deposit the check and forward the balance you will lose all the money since the check soon bounces and the sender is no where to be found. This is a classic scam that takes many forms but always involves sending you a larger check than required. Don't ever fall for it. Just ignore and delete any offers like this. Don't even reply since they'll then have your email address. The Classified system hides your email address to help protect your privacy but that is all we can do. We have no control over replies to your ads and you should use the same caution you would use with any suspicious or spam email. The Classifieds are very effective and most replies are genuine. However, there is a dark side to the Internet that we must all be careful of.

07-22-2008, 11:25 AM	#2
sa meredith Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 986 Blog Entries: 1 Thanks: 32 Thanked 352 Times in 137 Posts	good at what they do... As a follow up, and to make people aware of how good the scammers are, I offer the following TRUE story: A co-worker of my listed a used auto on Craigslist in 2002. Cheap car...$2800. He received what seemed like a legit email from an brokers office saying they had a buyer over seas for this vehicle, and would handle the shipping themselves. After a reply, he (the seller, my co-worker) asked for a phone call, and received it right away. The buyer was willing to forward the bank check (as opposed to personal check), drawn on a United States bank to him, in advance, and then he (the buyer) would arrainge for a transport company to pick up the vehicle. A day goes by, and a check arrives for $3700. $900 too much. After calling the buyer (the broker's office), he speaks with a secretary, who says she will look into the matter and return his call. She calls in an hour, saying the overseas buyer send their office one check to cover the vehicle and shipping, and she accidentally forwarded the whole amount to him.And would you (my co-worker) please refund the $900 to us, as we have already contracted with a shipping company. The check is deposited into the sellers account, and he waits 2 or 3 days. He calls the bank, and THEY STATE THE MONEY IS NOW AVAILABLE. So he issues the $900 refund via his own bank check. Couple of days go by, and he receives a notice from his bank that the check is not cashable (the original $3700 check). And of course the $900 has been cashed. It turns out, by law, the bank had to make the $3700 available after 2 business days, but it had not reached the bank on the west coast. His account was charged back the $3700, and he lost the $900 he had sent out. Believe me, this guy explored every avenue, every one. The bank is not liable for clearing the check. It was a very good fraud, drawn on an actuall bank, using numbers that seemed to make sense to a trained eye. So....maybe someone will learn from this story.

09-19-2008, 01:30 PM	#4
HUH Senior Member Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 230 Thanks: 21 Thanked 14 Times in 8 Posts	Beware ! Scammers trolling the winni classifieds Just got this reply to a classified Reply: Hello I am fully interested in purchasing your Item with no delay by answer my question below: [1.] Do you accept a ( Cashier Check / Personal Check ) as a mode of payment? [ 2. ] What is the final asking prize you can go at last? [3.] What is the condition of ! the Item? [4] Will you let our shipping company to come to you house for the pick up of the Item cos we don't want you to worry yourself about the shipping of the Item. [5] Will u be able to wire transfer the excess the same day u receive the check? [6] Cos payment that will be sending to you will consist your Item money and the shipping fees that will come for the pickup of the Item which will be enough to handle the transaction. So do you able to wire the excess fund on the payment to the shipping company that will come for the pickup. [7] can we trust u with the money? [8] Kindly get back to me with your full contact information so that i can able to mail out the payment for you... Best regards Message from: micheal ufrancs At: m_ufrancs@yahoo.com

01-30-2009, 12:41 PM	#6
trfour Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: The Lakes, Central NH. and Dallas/Fort Worth TX. Posts: 3,694 Blog Entries: 3 Thanks: 3,069 Thanked 472 Times in 236 Posts	Also About E-Scams A must Read; http://redtape.msnbc.com/2009/01/post-1.html#posts Just another reason to love our WebMaster Don, he does his very best here to keep us Visitors safe, ( His "A" list, so to speak ) he's a keeper and we all need to keep Our computers securely UP to Date to help him and us. May I suggest a great website to help us all accomplish this for us.... ; Zdnet.com will keep everyone up to date, security and otherwize, as to E Smarts. Love, T __________________ *trfour* Always Remember, The Best Safety Device In The Boat, or on a PWC Snowmobile etc., Is YOU! Safe sledding tips and much more; http://www.snowmobile.org/snowmobiling-safety.html Last edited by trfour; 01-31-2009 at 01:07 AM. Reason: A PS.