Can You Spot The Scam? November 11, 2007
Posted by Martin in : Miscellaneous , trackbackLast week I advertised 350 DVD's on Cragslist.
I got a reply yesterday that was - to me - very obviously a scam.
I am interested to buy your item also Willing to make the purchase today for my pastor that is doing his 50 years aniversary in AFRICA. Is it still available for purchase.
Hopefully its in good conditiont.provide your Full Name\Home Address/invoice, if i should make payment through your moneyorder or payal account for quick payment for the stuff.
I gonna take care of extra cost for the shipment in addition of $120USD.
Get back to me asap .
Dr,Jacob.adebiyi
I'm always amused at how scammers operate and have asked a few people if they can identify the 8 red flags that this email contains?
Answers below …
- I am interested to buy your item
I'm selling 350 items. This person's been deliberately vague as h's likely to be pasting exactly the same text into hundreds of emails. - Willing to make the purchaser today
A bit too enthusiastic seing that he's not really acknowledged an understanding of whats for sale or the price. - … for my pastor …
Completely unnecessary information and the pastor has been added to boost the credibility of the purchaser. It's a shame he didn't know I'm an atheist. - AFRICA
I've got no idea why the person put his in capitals. It'll be used to explain why the purchaser purports to be living in a different country to where he'll ultimately want me to send the DVDs though. Africa is notorious place for fraud too. - Provide your Full Name\Home Address/invoice
I really don't understand the benefits the scammer would get from this but I think it's used a diversion to make the burder of trust rest on the seller. None of the information requested is necessary fr this type of transaction though. - … payment through your money order or payal account
Both of these payments are easy to commit fraud with. Money orders are easily faked and Paypal acounts are either stolen from legitimate users, transactions are falsified or the person will ultimately reqeuest a chargeback, claiming the items were never received. - I gonna take care of extra cost for the shipment in addition of $120USD
Very nice but quite unnecessary. This guy's offering to pay me extra money, without requesting a discount or confirming the total price. - Dr,Jacob.adebiyi
Another way of trying to sound credible. Notice all the Nigerian scams also seem to come from doctors too.
I toyed with the sender for a few emails. He provided me with a UK cellphone number which, although I didn't call it, seems to be a common contact method for scammers.
I think this is a pretty crude scam but can see how somebody might fall for this. With fake money orders a seller can have money added to their bank accouunt, only to discover a month later that the bank has canceled it.
If you get similar messages from potential buyers, please stay aware of how these scams work.
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