Scams
I got contacted by a scammer today. Here's the email:
Someone will contact you looking to buy an expensive item that is hard to ship especially overseas. Dogs are perfect and I've heard of this attempted with a dog box advertised in Uncle Henry's. The more expensive the item the better.
When you tell them you really aren't sure you want to get involved with figuring out the shipping, they tell you they can arrange it, no problem. If you still aren't sure, they tell you that they can't get one like what you have in their country and offer to pay more. Even with the shipping it's still better and less expensive than what's available locally. Once you agree, they pay with a Certified Check or Money Order, and ask you for one tiny favor: wire the shipping charges to the shipping company.
So you get the check, deposit it in your bank account and then wire thousands of dollars to the "shipper" or to a friend or someone else for some other reason. Since it's certified paper, your bank makes the money available immediately or almost immediately as required by law. You wait for the shipping company who never arrives. Once your bank determines the check was fraudulent, they want (and deserve) their money back. You are out thousands and your puppy is sitting, unsold.
Anyway, the best way to protect yourself is to avoid anybody from foreign lands and any deal that looks too good to be true.
Here's how the scam works:------------------------- SUBJECT -------------------------
hello seller
------------------------- MESSAGE -------------------------
hello Seller,
I was suffing the net and came accross your advert ...placed,I am Miss Betty ..I have a keen interest in your puppy..so I will like to know the latest update,present condition and the least price for it,and i will like to see the most recent picture,and means of payment will be through an Money Order ..So if the payment
arrangement is okay by you..............
------------------------------------------------------------
CONTACT PHONE:
FROM SITE: Gun Dog Breeders Directory
SENT BY: betty
Be aware of email scams. Contact requests outside of the
US and Canada are more likely to be fraudulent.
Visit this link to determine the location of the sender: http://whois.domaintools.com/41.219.239.110
--------------------------------------------------------------
Someone will contact you looking to buy an expensive item that is hard to ship especially overseas. Dogs are perfect and I've heard of this attempted with a dog box advertised in Uncle Henry's. The more expensive the item the better.
When you tell them you really aren't sure you want to get involved with figuring out the shipping, they tell you they can arrange it, no problem. If you still aren't sure, they tell you that they can't get one like what you have in their country and offer to pay more. Even with the shipping it's still better and less expensive than what's available locally. Once you agree, they pay with a Certified Check or Money Order, and ask you for one tiny favor: wire the shipping charges to the shipping company.
So you get the check, deposit it in your bank account and then wire thousands of dollars to the "shipper" or to a friend or someone else for some other reason. Since it's certified paper, your bank makes the money available immediately or almost immediately as required by law. You wait for the shipping company who never arrives. Once your bank determines the check was fraudulent, they want (and deserve) their money back. You are out thousands and your puppy is sitting, unsold.
Anyway, the best way to protect yourself is to avoid anybody from foreign lands and any deal that looks too good to be true.
Posted by Todd Chrisman at November 13, 2009 
Categories: Stupid Questions, Breeding Whelping Selling Pups
Categories: Stupid Questions, Breeding Whelping Selling Pups
I can't beleive these scam ever work on people. I have gotten several in the past offering to buy on ads for free horses, or horses for free lease. It never occured to me to answer the silly things--so I had no idea how the whole thing plays out.
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Some have a better grasp of the English language and are more sophisticated in their approach. And if you sew enough seeds, some will grow in unlikely places.
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Hi Todd
I couldn't resist responding to this thread. I have gotten these scam emails myself. If you want a few hours of fun (and probably wasted time), check out www.419eater.com. I found it addictive. The guy who runs the website is a self-proclaimed "scam-baiter" who scams the scammers. There are some really funny exchanges, pictures and even audio from phone calls and video of the scammers. Seeing the faces of these scammers really drives home the evil that it takes to steal the hard earned money of a charitable person. Most of the scammers are working from an "I need help" approach and the targets that fall victim are either just trying to help out or want a get rich quick deal themselves. This is a real industry in Nigeria. I use to think of it as the "lone scammer"/renegade, but I saw a news report on it and the setup is more like a call help center, with a big room full of computers and dozens if not hundreds of scammers all looking for an easy target.
ps. Harry (Iris's pup Barnum) is great. I'll try to send pictures this afternoon.
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Mike, we like it when folks have something interesting to say, even if we don't agree with them. Chime in more often!
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