Scamdar

Let'sgoflying!

Let'sgoflying!

Touchdown! Greaser!
Joined
Feb 23, 2005
Messages
20,354
Location
west Texas
Display Name
Display name:
Dave Taylor
What does your scam radar say about this one. The sender's name is that of a neighbor/friend and was emailed to us today. Of course, we will attempt to locate them and see if they know anything about it and won't be sending money.
I'm sure I've heard of a scam like this going around.
I have stripped out the names and addresses somewhat



-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Sad Trip ::::: Carol xxxxx
Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2011 02:31:58 -0700 (PDT)
From: Carol Edwards <xxx@xxxx.net>
Reply-To: xxx@xxx.com
To: undisclosed recipients: ;
Hello,
I'm writing this with tears in my eyes,my family and I came down here to Glasgow Scotland for a short vacation unfortunately we were mugged at the park of the hotel where we stayed,all cash,credit card and cell were all stolen from us but luckily for us we still have our passports with us.

We've been to the embassy and the Police here but they're not helping issues at all and our flight leaves in few hrs from now but we're having problems settling the hotel bills and the hotel manager won't let us leave until we settle the bills the amount needed now is just $2,700..I am so confused right now and thank God i wasn't injured because I complied immediately.
Waiting to hear from you.
Thanks
Carol
 
I'd have included the name of my hotel and how to reach me.

Absent the name, tough to verify the claim.
 
Scam.

I know someone that nearly fell for that scam. He was heading out the door when he got ahold of the party supposedly in trouble.

The "undisclosed recipients" is a huge clue.
 
LOL!!! Do you really have to ask?

Scam. Scam Scam Scam.

Always two questions to determine the veracity of something on the internet:

1. Are they asking for money?
2. Is it on the internet?

If either one is "yes" then its not true. That's right, nothing on the internet is true.
 
It's a standard scam.

Say hello to our friends in Nigeria.

This is why they work to steal email passwords so they they can scam the contact list.
 
SkyHog said:
LOL!!! Do you really have to ask?

Scam. Scam Scam Scam.

Always two questions to determine the veracity of something on the internet:

1. Are they asking for money?
2. Is it on the internet?

If either one is "yes" then its not true. That's right, nothing on the internet is true.
Click to expand...
Very true Nick. Good rules to live by.
 
SkyHog said:
Always two questions to determine the veracity of something on the internet:

1. Are they asking for money?
2. Is it on the internet?

If either one is "yes" then its not true. That's right, nothing on the internet is true.
Click to expand...

LOL. Perfect!!! :thumbsup:

Also be aware, I have heard of people trying to perpetrate this scam via Facebook pages. The "victim's" friends all get the same note asking for money.
 
Known scam.

Pretty sneaky, usually exploits pre-existing relationships such as neighbors or members of a college graduating class.
 
SkyHog said:
LOL!!! Do you really have to ask?

Scam. Scam Scam Scam.

Always two questions to determine the veracity of something on the internet:

1. Are they asking for money?
2. Is it on the internet?

If either one is "yes" then its not true. That's right, nothing on the internet is true.
Click to expand...


Bravo post of the day.

Very common scam unfortunatly.
 
surprise, surprise - 'victim' in Scotland is here, safe and un-mugged.
She plans no action to warn any friends or family.
 
rpadula said:
LOL. Perfect!!! :thumbsup:

Also be aware, I have heard of people trying to perpetrate this scam via Facebook pages. The "victim's" friends all get the same note asking for money.
Click to expand...

I received a note like that via Facebook. It said that my daughter's daycare provider was the stuckee. I called her right away and sure enough it was a scam.
 
I had something like that occur, and I cannot recall exactly how... back of my mind, I'll remember. Very similar. It was on the phone, though.
 
SCCutler said:
I had something like that occur, and I cannot recall exactly how... back of my mind, I'll remember. Very similar. It was on the phone, though.
Click to expand...

A common ploy along the northern border last year was to call up old folks and tell them that their grandkid is in the pokey in canada for DUI. Only if they wired 'X' to the 'intermediary' to post bail they would ever see the grandkid again. A couple of those transactions got stopped by astute western union agents.
 
weilke said:
A common ploy along the northern border last year was to call up old folks and tell them that their grandkid is in the pokey in canada for DUI. Only if they wired 'X' to the 'intermediary' to post bail they would ever see the grandkid again. A couple of those transactions got stopped by astute western union agents.
Click to expand...
Ah, that reminds me of a similar scam to parents of college students studying abroad. Same thing: scammer calls parents in Korea, tells 'em son studying at UCLA is in trouble, send money, blah blah.

I guess these kinds of scams are as old as the hills. It's just the medium that changes...
 
SkyHog said:
Always two questions to determine the veracity of something on the internet:

1. Are they asking for money?
2. Is it on the internet?

If either one is "yes" then its not true. That's right, nothing on the internet is true.
Click to expand...

I'm off to pen my warning to everyone I know about this website with a very shady-sounding name that meets those criteria, called Amazon.com! ;)
 
denverpilot said:
I'm off to pen my warning to everyone I know about this website with a very shady-sounding name that meets those criteria, called Amazon.com! ;)
Click to expand...

They've certainly gotten a lot of my money!
 
Below is the correspondence I had with the scammer (I had nothing better to do that morning. This was after I called the attorney's cell phone to let her know her email had been hacked.

If you scroll to the bottom, you'll see the same (word-for-word) message as this one.

Note: There is no 'Sector Hotel' in Scotland.

From: Barbara K [mailto:lawofficesofxxx@yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, February 28, 2011 7:28 AM
To: Steve Foley
Subject: RE: Help!!!!!!




Thanks for your urgent reply,here is the name and the hotel # +447024087565 and hotel name Sector Hotel.Keep me posted as soon as you have it done.



--- On Mon, 2/28/11, Steve Foley <> wrote:


From: Steve Foley <>
Subject: RE: Help!!!!!!
To: lawofficesofxxx@yahoo.com
Date: Monday, February 28, 2011, 12:08 PM

I said, give me the name of your hotel and I’ll call them with my credit
card number.



I’m at work and can’t get to a Western Union office



From: Barbara K [mailto:lawofficesofxxx@yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, February 28, 2011 6:29 AM
To: Steve Foley
Subject: RE: Help!!!!!!




I'm so glad you replied back,We have nothing left on us right now and we are
lucky to have our Life and passport with us it would have been worst if they
had went away with our passports.Well we need a quick favor from you,i will
be glad if you can lend us $2,380 USD,so that we can sort out the hotel
bills and get a cab to the Airport you can have it wired to my name via
Western Union outlet I'll need to show my passport to pick it up at the bank
here.you have my word and i can make it up to you I promise to pay you back
as soon as I get back home.



Here's my info below

Name..Barbara K

Location...104 East Parade

Rhyl LL18 3AL

Scotland,UNITED KINGDOM



As soon as it has been done,kindly get back to me with the MTCN confirmation
number.I owe you a Lot



Barbara K


--- On Mon, 2/28/11, Steve Foley <> wrote:


From: Steve Foley <>
Subject: RE: Help!!!!!!
To: lawofficesofxxx@yahoo.com
Date: Monday, February 28, 2011, 10:59 AM

Send me the name of the Hotel and I’ll call the manager and give him my
credit card number.



_____

From: Barbara K [mailto: lawofficesofxxx@yahoo.com ]
Sent: Monday, February 28, 2011 4:52 AM
To: undisclosed recipients:
Subject: Help!!!!!!




I'm writing this with tears in my eyes,my fam and I came down here to
Scotland ,United
Kingdom.for a short vacation unfortunately we were mugged at the park of the
hotel where
we stayed all cash,credit card and Phone were stolen off from us luckily for
us we still
have our passports with us.

We've been to the Embassy and the Police here they're not helping issues at
all but we're
having problems settling the hotel bills and the hotel manager won't let us
leave until we
settle the bills,i'm freaked out at the moment...

Barbara K
 
Now, how about this for the scam-dar :

Send me a minimum of $25,000 and I will invest it in aircraft to refurbish. You will get a first-position security interest in the aircraft so this is entirely risk-free (the only risk being a 'cataclysmic world event'). I guarantee you 12% interest per year.

You think this sounds legit as a deal ? :ihih:
 
weilke said:
Now, how about this for the scam-dar :

Send me a minimum of $25,000 and I will invest it in aircraft to refurbish. You will get a first-position security interest in the aircraft so this is entirely risk-free (the only risk being a 'cataclysmic world event'). I guarantee you 12% interest per year.

You think this sounds legit as a deal ? :ihih:
Click to expand...


What? Buy a dusty hangar relic from an estate, go at it with soap and water followed by some bottled shine and you're good to go. All it takes is an endless supply of $25K dusty airplanes to sell for $28K+ costs. Not hard to do if you hustle, and I'm you're hustler, baby. :ihih:
 
weilke said:
Now, how about this for the scam-dar :

Send me a minimum of $25,000 and I will invest it in aircraft to refurbish. You will get a first-position security interest in the aircraft so this is entirely risk-free (the only risk being a 'cataclysmic world event'). I guarantee you 12% interest per year.

You think this sounds legit as a deal ? :ihih:
Click to expand...

That sounds like a great deal - only problem is Barron Thomas isn't answering his phone right now......I'm afraid I'll miss my opportunity to get in!
 
word now is that the scam worked on at least one of her friends.
everyone is a bit peeved that she refused to email all in her address book to warn them, she knew within minutes of the scam email.
 
Dave the folks I know that got stung by this scam have their email accounts hacked. The scammer then changes the person's password so the owner of the account can't get back in to send out a mass email. It the people I know a few days to be able to get back in and gain control of their email
 
That would be a good reason not to prevent a loss, but in this case the person simply didn't make any effort. To help her own friends.
 
Some of you may remember Toby Speed. I received a very similar email, allegedly from Toby. The only substantive difference was that "Toby" was in London, not Glasgow.

I did reply, as if Toby were really stuck I would help and she would pay me back. But I asked a few simple questions that Toby would know the answer to, to verify her identity. Like she had a nickname for her airplane. What was it? The reply from the scammer danced around the questions and answered none of them.

About that time I remembered that I had Toby's cellphone number on my old cellphone. Broke it out, charged it up, called her. No, she wasn't in trouble. And yes she emailed all her contacts to tell them of the scam.

As others have said, this is definitely a scam.

-Skip
 
Tell her you will send a cashier's check for $5,000, but you'll need her to wire you change.
 
Andrew Sego said:
Tell her you will send a cashier's check for $5,000, but you'll need her to wire you change.
Click to expand...

Better than that, put an ad for a car on Craigslist, and when a scammer offers to buy the car sight unseen, give them the address given you to send the cashier's check to.

Hook up two scammers and let them go at it.
 
SkyHog said:
LOL!!! Do you really have to ask?

Scam. Scam Scam Scam.

Always two questions to determine the veracity of something on the internet:

1. Are they asking for money?
2. Is it on the internet?

If either one is "yes" then its not true. That's right, nothing on the internet is true.
Click to expand...

I agree with Scott
Good info and quite true.
 
A good friend of mine had this happen to him. I knew it was a scam as he would never ask me for money. I called him and asked him how England was and that I would not be sending him the 5000 pounds he needed to get out of prison or what ever it was. He didnt know about it until I called him.
 
The first time I received one of these, I forwarded an email I had received informing me I had won the UK lottery. I asked my friend to please redeem my lottery winnings, use whatever he needed, and bring me the rest.
 
Steve Foley said:
Better than that, put an ad for a car on Craigslist, and when a scammer offers to buy the car sight unseen, give them the address given you to send the cashier's check to.

Hook up two scammers and let them go at it.
Click to expand...

Man, if only there were a way to continue to monitor the transaction...

Just your luck, you'll hook a scammer up with himself.
 
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