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#181775 by online_scamwatcher Thu Nov 21, 2013 6:08 am
Hi there,

I've been in IT for 15 years and did some forensics work in the past. As it happens I was selling some small digital items in Australia online, and came across what appeared to be the same person over and over again.

Writing style, throw-away accounts, method, addresses, use of certain email providers, etc., and the usual story to complicate things, so just send the money for my courier/I withdrew the money but I will put in back in please send to this address/fake payment received Paypal page you get in email. The country of origin is likely to be Nigeria, but there is a U.S. connection. Whether the U.S. addresses are valid is another thing. The same town and zipcode appears often, and the same scam has been running for years.

I'm writing all this up for the media, perhaps a newspaper or computer mag with the basics of online scams and fraud.

Whoever it is, they are researching new methods of defrauding people, such as getting to know Australian specifics. I have been asked, for example, to "Fed Ex" a digital camera to the United States, which was amusing. Again, the usual thing, like choice of Fed Ex, and Fed Ex allegedly only accepting Western Union transfers for courier services. The main method of this online fraud is to fool people into thinking they have received money, so they will send goods to a certain address, or to send money for the courier service by Western Union, Money Gram, etc.

Whoever it is making use of the name Jay Lori and some address with Taylor, Al 36305 is likely to be the same person or persons or organization.

The main thing here for people who are being defrauded is to check the sending address of the Paypal "You have money" sort of email and check the Paypal account, because nothing will be there. Usually there is an email before that saying the money has already been sent. Occasionally this scam operates by trying to get futher personal information, even though they ususally already have the name and Paypal associated address, and this is asked for again.

All the best...
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#181789 by Michael Thu Nov 21, 2013 9:05 am
hi online_scamwatcher, thanks for posting your story. Could you please post all email accounts that were used in these scam attempts? While they might be throwaway accounts, in the past we found that they were reused many times, even for different scams. Email addresses and full emails are very useful information for us. It would help us and other potential victims a ton if you can post as much as you can on them.

If we can do anything for you, just give us a shout :D

Account inactive - messages are not being monitored
#181803 by online_scamwatcher Thu Nov 21, 2013 10:51 am
Hi Michael,

Thanks very much for the reply. The email account used is a recent one, [email protected]. There are quite a few full emails. I have one used by this person which is a fake PayPal message saying money was transferred. That was [email protected], although whoever it is has a lot of experience covering themselves online, and may have nothing to do with the domain at all; the Reply-to: and From: headers could be forgeries. It was sent using the gmx.com mail service.

There are many different stories, but this time the scammer is apparently out at sea for a spot of oceanography. And so begins the long story that this or that courier must be used, only Western Union to pay for the courier, but "Anne" will pay for that using PayPal, so please deduct that for the courier, and so on. If it was a very simple scam it might work on people.

Here is one email:

Good Morning,
I made the payment to you yesterday and have not heard back from you. Please kindly get everything done and get back to me so that we can proceed. I hope to read from you soon.

Cheers

(The idea is to try to get you to believe payment has been sent to your account, so you will pay for the "courier" by Western Union, and they obtain money that way, or at least try to.)

then:

Hi,
Thanks for your response. Yes that is the courier company address provided for western union and as soon as you complete the transaction kindly email pay pal with the western union info so that they can release the funds into your account the we can schedule pick up time. Kindly email me as soon as you get everything done. I hope to read from you soon.

Before that:

Hi ,
I have just made the payments of $875 AUD into your Paypal account and Paypal emailed me confirming this. kindly check your Paypal email address (...) inbox,spam mail for the PayPal confirmation email. Paypal said that they would be holding the money i sent because of the excess payments that i made which was the money for pick-up, i will need you to proceed and send the excess which is $480 AUD to my courier company to enable them make a booking or the pickup.

So please do send the $480 AUD through western union money transfer and use the remaining fund of $45 AUD as Western Union charges.After you have sent the money please get back to me asap with the western union details, the MTCN number which you will be given by western union after you have sent the money as well as the sender's name and address so i can forward it back to Paypal for your money to be put through or you can email it to PayPal directly,that is alright as well.i believe you can find a western union agent at any post office close to you.
Here is my courier company info that you will need to send the charges to through western union money transfer:


Name Jay Lori
818 W Friendly St.
Taylor,Al 36305
United State.

my courier company will contact you to book a pick up time after they have received payments but they will have to book a time that is convenient for you.
Thank you and i will be looking forward to hear from you soon after the payment is made to the courier company.

Cheers

---

Very odd that someone would try to get the seller of something to send the buyer money, in this case more than what I was selling the item for.

Anyway, whoever it is, is associated with other email accounts and stories and names, some are available by Google search on Taylor, Al 36305 or just Taylor 36305.

One thing which popped into mind was to ask Paypal for some sample emails of those they send out as payment alerts, so people could forward them to a piece of software for scanning. It should be fairly easy to write a text processing program to detect bogus Paypal messages.
#181808 by Michael Thu Nov 21, 2013 12:44 pm
That was [email protected], although whoever it is has a lot of experience covering themselves online, and may have nothing to do with the domain at all; the Reply-to: and From: headers could be forgeries. It was sent using the gmx.com mail service.


It does happen often that the 'From' was spoofed to impersonate big well-know companies such as Paypal. The reply-to will always be genuine though. After all, if you do reply to that address the scammer has to have access to it, which makes it real.

Australiamail.com is a free email address which anyone can get, comparable to gmail and hotmail. It has no official function whatsoever and those addresses are often used to add credibility.

The idea is to try to get you to believe payment has been sent to your account, so you will pay for the "courier" by Western Union, and they obtain money that way, or at least try to.

[...]

One thing which popped into mind was to ask Paypal for some sample emails of those they send out as payment alerts, so people could forward them to a piece of software for scanning. It should be fairly easy to write a text processing program to detect bogus Paypal messages.


I'm not a big fan of Paypal. Emails are easily forged, fake websites are easily created. It doesn't take much to deceive many of the less internet-savvy people.

scammer wrote:Paypal said that they would be holding the money i sent because of [...]

As far as I know Paypal does not offer such a service.

Last question; did the fake courier have a website? If so, we will have it shut down. Thanks for posting!

Account inactive - messages are not being monitored
#182050 by kciwde1 Sat Nov 23, 2013 10:59 am
Hi All, another pet scam for Husky Puppies. I came across this one on a local for sale site in Australia. Yes, i was aware it was a scam but decided to go along with it and hopefully collate enough information to post so others can see how a scam progresses. It amazes me how people get taken in and pay out money, but we are trusting and that is what these type of people pray on. I have detailed below in chronological order how this scam played out. Hopefully anyone out there considering buying through crude scams like this will benefit to see how a the scammer continually tries to get your cash. And by posting this will bring this scam to others attention.

My replies to the scam messages are also included as is my final email to advise the scammer.





Conversation started November 16
David Edwick
11/16, 4:51pm
David Edwick

Hi, I am interested in the Siberian puppies your advertising for sale. Could you please provide further details. I am particularly interested in a male dog.

Drop me a line once you get a chance,

Thanks
Monday
Helly Kim
11/18, 6:19am
Helly Kim

They are all 12 weeks old Top Quality Gorgeous Healthy Puppies ready now. They are very healthy and they also feeds well and are very social to kids and other home pets. They have toys in which they will come along with they are toilet trained and the training started since they was 2 weeks old . They are De-wormed,Micro-chipped ,home trained ,updated with shots and will come with all their papers and health records alongside toys & feeding menu. They will also come along with their small pot for pooing. They are also vet checked and vaccinated. Very healthy both inside and outside their body. By the way, i will like to know a little about you, you really sound interested in taking these puppies. Please I will be very glad if you can answer these few questions: - Are you married? - Do you have kids? - Do you got experience in keeping pets? _ Do you have any pet at the moment? - Where you are located ? Forgive me for all the questions but I really want to know who i am giving these puppies to and i also want the best for them. Please get back to me with the answers of the above questions and also i will like you to know that the puppies have all their health papers. I will be waiting to read from you soonest Best Regard
Monday
David Edwick
11/18, 6:26pm
David Edwick

Thank you for your reply. I understand your reasons for asking me a little about myself as I am sure you want to know what type of person and place the dogs will be brought up in. However, I just just noticed that although your advertising in my local area your from another country. The logistics and cost of of getting these dogs to me, quarantine rules that would need to be considered are somewhat of a concern to me. What is the situation regarding these puppies ? I assume if your advertising in a different country that you have sold dogs this way previously. So before I venture further could you please let me know how this sale would proceed. I don't wish to waste your time or mine if getting these dogs to another country is going to be an issue. Once again thanks for your reply and look forward to hearing from you. Regards David
Wednesday
Helly Kim
11/20, 7:07am
Helly Kim

thanks for your reply and sorry for my late reply i will get the puppy delivered right at your home address and this puppy has license so you have nothing to worry about and you will pay just for the delivery of the puppy which that will cost you 350$ for the puppy to be delivered right at your home address if that is okay by you just get back to me with your full delivery address

as follows full names home address email address city zip code

as soon as you give me this details i will contact a delivery agency and you will pay the money directly to them okay they will contact you and give you the arrival time of the puppy
Wednesday
David Edwick
11/20, 1:03pm
David Edwick

Hi again, and thank you for your reply. I have been looking for this breed of dog for sometime now. For me to purchase a puppy as you have described in Australia would cost me considerably more than $350, so this opportunity sounds good. Is the $350 your asking Australian or US $currency?

I did ask earlier the sex of the dog as I am seeking a male, could you please advise me. Also, I don't mean to be presumptuous but as you are from overseas I would like some reassurance that i am purchasing a dog and this is not just another online scam. I am sure you will understand my concern. So before I part with any payment I would like the following questions answered.

1. Do you have x-rays or has this dog, or parents, been certified hip dysplasia free?

2. What kind of health guarantee is there? What about a quarantine for animals coming into this country?

3. How much is the shipping going to be on top of the $350

5. Could you e-mail me copies of all papers?

6. The sex of the dog?

7. Have you shipped dogs to Australia previously and if so what is the situation regarding quarantine ?

If you can send me the above details it will give me the reassurance I am after and i would be happy to make the purchase. But i would have you ship C.O.D only.

Looking forward to your reply. I have been looking for quite some time now for this particular breed which are extremely expensive and difficult to acquire over in Australia.

Thank you

David
Thursday
Helly Kim
11/21, 11:48pm
Helly Kim

1. Do you have x-rays or has this dog, or parents, been certified hip dysplasia free?<<<<yes i do and they will be delivered with all those papers

2. What kind of health guarantee is there? What about a quarantine for animals coming into this country? <<<they have a license that will come with so you have nothing to worry about quarantine they have a health guarantee for 2yaers

3. How much is the shipping going to be on top of the $350 <<<<that is just for the shipping

5. Could you e-mail me copies of all papers? <<<<<they will come with all their papers

6. The sex of the dog?<<<<<they are male and female

7. Have you shipped dogs to Australia previously and if so what is the situation regarding quarantine ?<<<they have a license that will come with so you have nothing to worry about quarantine
Helly Kim
11/21, 11:49pm
Helly Kim

waiting to read from you soonest and they will be needing the money so they can work on the transfer of ownership papers
Friday
David Edwick
11/22, 4:53pm
David Edwick

Hi and thanks for the reply message and answers to my questions. I would have liked to seen copies of all their papers so maybe while we are arranging the paper work for transfer you could have them sent to me, i would be happy for you just to attach copies to the bottom of one of your reply FB messages.

Anyway, as the Christmas period is getting very close i am sure the shipping company would be quite busy so I am anxious to get this transaction completed ASAP. Please let me have the details of the shipping company so i can send them all the necessary details and obtain details to where they require payment to be sent to.
Friday
Helly Kim
11/22, 10:46pm
Helly Kim

this is their email (((([email protected]))))you can email them and they will be happy to get back to you with your full delivery detail and please they will need all this details so as to get the puppy delivered right at your home address and they will be the once to work on the transfer of ownership papers and this is the details you will send to them okay and as soon as you get in touch with them please keep me posted

full names home address email address city zip code

this is there email and please you can massage them that will be much easier (((([email protected]))))

hoping to read from you soonest and i will get the document send you okay
Today
David Edwick
1:52am
David Edwick

Hi, I will send an email to the shipping company over the next day or so. When i write to them other than the details you asked me to provide what reference do I make so they can match up my details with yours. Other wise how will they be able to match the puppies for shipping. Could you also if possible send the companies internet address. One other question , how do they obtain payment from me. I have never purchased items from overseas previously so what payment method should I arrange.
Today
Helly Kim
7:05am
Helly Kim

just email them and they will tell you more about them and how you will make the payment okay
David Edwick
8:36am
David Edwick

OK I will email the company and keep you posted. Regards
Helly Kim
9:29am
Helly Kim

okay i will be waiting to hear from you soonest
David Edwick
11:30am
David Edwick

Hi, i have contacted the shipping company via email. I will await their reply. Thanks
Helly Kim
11:59am
Helly Kim

okay
Helly Kim
12:13pm
Helly Kim

please just keep me posted okay
Today
David Edwick
3:29pm
David Edwick

Hi, I have sent the shipping company delivery details. i now await to hear back from them. I would like to have this matter finalized before Christmas so I am anxious to finalize this matter ASAP.

I will write you again once I hear back from the shipping company. regards. David
Today
Helly Kim
11:12pm
Helly Kim

any update from the delivery agency if there is please keep me posted okay
David Edwick
11:13pm
David Edwick

I checked my internet mail about an hour back and there was no reply. I'll let you know as soon as I receive any news.
David Edwick
11:46pm
David Edwick
[email protected])
Add to contacts
12:12 PM
[Keep this message at the top of your inbox]
To: David Edwick
Picture of PREMMIUM PET SHIPPERS
DEAR CLIENT ,

THANK YOU FOR THE REPLY AND PLEASE ACCEPT GREETINGS FROM PREMIUM PET SHIPPERS.

1" WE WOULD LIKE TO LET YOU KNOW THAT AS SOON AS YOU GIVE US THE DELIVERY ADDRESS THAT AS BEEN ASK BY Ms HELLY KIM WE SHALL GET BACK TO YOU WITH THE DELIVERY SCHEDULE OKAY

1 THE PUPPY WILL BE TRANSPORTED AND DELIVERED RIGHT AT YOUR DOOR STEP THE PUPPY WILL COME WITH A PREOFFESIONAL DELIVERY TEAM THAT WILL CONDUCT THE DELIVERY AND THEY WILL TAKE GOOD CARE OF YOU PUPPY AND WE HAVE A LICENSE WHICH PERMIT US TO DO WOULD WIDE DELIVERY


3 YOU WILL MAKE THE PAYMENT FIRST SO WE CAN ACTIVATE THE FLIGHT TICKET OF THE PUPPY AND WORK ON THE TRANSFER OF OWNERSHIP PEPPERS AND THIS PUPPY WILL COME WITH ALL THE DOCUMENT AND WE SHALL MAKE SURE EVERY THING IS PERFECT AND THAT THE PUPPY IS IN GOOD AND STABLE HEALTH BEFORE WE PROCEED


JUST GET BACK TO US WITH THE DELIVERY DETAILS AND WE SHALL GET THE PUPPY REGISTERED FOR DELIVERY AND PLEASE IF YOU CAN MAKE THIS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE WE CAN GET ON IT PLEASE I HOPE YOU UNDERSTAND THAT WE ARE REALLY BUSY SO PLEASE IF THIS IS OKAY WE SHALL BE WAITING TO READ FROM YOU ASAP.



THANKS FOR YOU UNDERSTANDING

YOUR SATISFACTION IS OUR NUMBER ONE PRIORITY
([email protected])
Add to contacts
23/11/2013
[Keep this message at the top of your inbox]
Premium Transport Service wishes to inform you that we have your MALE SIBERIAN HUSKY named ken was registered here by MRs Helly Kim at our agency and have to be transported and delivered using the address below
EXPECTED RECEIVING ADDRESS



COUNTRY ...................... Australia

RECEIVER'S NAMES...........David Edwick Phillips


DELIVERY ADDRESS.........
16 Currawang street


CITY/STATE......................... Bathurst NSW


PAPERS INCLUDED:


Medical Inspection (Checked and Done)
Veterinary Certificate................................CONFIRM
De worm papers..............................CONFIRM
Shot records....................................CONFIRM
Health guarantee.....................................CONFIRM
CDI documents .....................................CONFIRM
MICRO CHIPPED..................................CONFIRM
Pet Passport..............................................CONFIRM


We transport your pet by and take care of the temporary customs clearance. Fall for transit to all requirements as for the import and export of animals.

Our services in relation to the transit therefore you see there spective points of import or export.
MANAGEMENT
Provided that your desires at our online shop can not meet, if you need a special cage or you have questions concerning the proper selection of shipping boxes, please contact us within our opening time sare available.




Special vehicles for the transport of animals

We at PREMIUM PET SHIPPERS offer a collection and delivery of your animals. We use the most modern vehicles and specially trained drivers. All drivers have a license in accordance with Article 11, paragraph 1 of the (EC) Regulation of the Council of Nr.1/2005 22.Dec 2004 on the protection of animals left by: Hessian State Laboratory, Veterinary Border Inspection Post Hesse, CAMEROON. They are well educated and trained, and for the most part for over 10 years in the team of PET SHIPPING services for the transport of live animals responsible. Your experience guarantees on the street and also in supplying the animals on long journeys that your pet arrives safely.
DEPOSIT :REQUIRED

This PUPPY have been examined and registered but it should be noted that we are not going to proceed
with the delivery as only a reservation was made and we have not yet received any payment regarding the flight ticket but 150$ have been paid for registration and feeding fee.So we are expecting you to copy our payment address below and rush to any near by western union store and make a complete payment of the flight ticket to our financial head quarter before we can proceed with the delivery of your PUPPY .flight ticket fee,registration fee and care and feeding during the journey thus making a total of 350$

To avoid high charges of transfer,you are not to tell the bank that you are paying money for PUPPY .rather you tell them that you want to send money to your relative or friend.never mention you want to pay for PUPPY since they know that pets are expensive to buy.

WESTERN UNION PAYMENT INFORMATION

NAMES-------------MENDI STANLEY

COUNTRY--------- CAMEROON

CITY-------------YAOUNDE

STATE-------------CENTER

ZIP CODE-------+237

AMOUNT-----------350$

I have received emails from the shipping company. I will read them through and first then get back to you and the company. regards
David Edwick
12:47am
David Edwick

Hi Helly Kim, an alias no doubt, but let me call you Helly for the sake of this email. It was quite obvious from the outset that, from your very first message that what you were offering was unfortunately a scam.


I decided to go along with your quite crude attempt to make me believe you were prepared to provide pets for a cost of $350 and included in this cost were international freight charges to get the animals to Australia.

If you want to scam someone then you are certainly going to have to do a lot better than this attempt. The information you provided was insufficient and plagued with grammatical and spelling errors, I suppose that could be acceptable as I have no idea of your level of education. But when a supposed professional business acting as the shipping company is also plagued by bad spelling, grammar and poor written structure then that reinforces what this is, a scam. I asked you many relevant questions throughout the many messages and not one was answered nor did my request for verification even get a response , you just ignored any of my requests for verification of certificates and papers.

It was obvious that the messages from the first shipping company “ Premmium shipping” was a bogus company, and again when I asked for their email businesses address this request was ignored. The further messages from jet pet shipping( and I had 3 from them each sent one minute apart) had no relationship with the original bogus company Premmium shipping. There is no doubt that this site is probably a legitimate shipping site copied by you and sent to convince me that I was dealing with a real professional business. Then the real crunch. The payment was to be made through Western Union and to all places Cameroon , a country renowned for scams and in particular recent pet scams. You even had the audacity to ask me not to mention the transaction to the bank.

Getting back to your original advertisement where you displayed pictures of the supposed puppies for sale. I checked Google and these are copied pictures of puppies belonging to someone else. So, why did I play along with your scan. I did this so that I could collate information including your IP address and other data that can track where all the messages originated from. I am a computer forensic engineer and have been able to track a lot of valuable data that I will pass on to International Police scam investigation sites.

Also, will be posting the complete accumulation of all data received on to various scam sites to warn other people who unfortunately fall for these shameful opportunities from people like you. I hope that in doing so other people will learn from this and not part with money for which they will never see the goods they have purchased.

By the way the internet email account that I have been forwarding email messages was set up for this exercise only and the address details provided also false . So there is little point in bombarding me with other useless information.

My suggestion to you is stop trying to defraud people and be aware that with the data I have managed to extract from our dealings it will not be to long before someone contacts you or tracks you down. I realise how easy it is to hide behind the internet but let me assure you, I have sufficient data for International Police scam organisations to follow through and hopefully track you down.

It amazes me that people fall for what you have been doing, it’s so unprofessional and reeks of scam. But unfortunately people are too trusting and do. Maybe my action will go some way in helping others that you have scammed and fraudulently lost money feel a little bit better because just maybe a outcome will come from my dealings with you and the data that I have collected over the past week help track you down.
#182055 by Dotti Sat Nov 23, 2013 11:47 am
Welcome and thanks for posting this scammer, as it may help someone else he is targeting.

One point though--no matter how tempting it is to tell a scammer what he did wrong, we never want to do that. You're not going to scare him into stopping--scammers are told they are being tracked, and are routinely threatened by victims who say the authorities are coming for them. They just keep going with their scams. But every time you point out a scammer's mistakes, you educate him a little bit, and you help him to find ways to make his scam more plausible. Next time he just might take that extra step of making sure he uses photos that won't show up in a google search, knowing that the photos resulted in his exposure this time.

Need to post photos? http://scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=3219
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