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Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Scam Email: Paul Watts

Those who are regular followers of this blog will recognize ALL the tell-tale signs of the below scam forwarded to me by an artist. He said he was fortunate not to listen to wife who was encouraging him to proceed with the sale, saying "what could go wrong?" I'm glad he didn't. Always something in our gut tells us there is something not right. I'm glad he googled for more information before proceeding. I have to say, I still find it odd that the software the scammers use to send these emails out seems to often put a period after their name at the end... and the grammar and sentence structure never really gets cleaned up. It's a numbers game. Why make great looking emails when you can catch victims with crappy formatted emails??

First email from scammer:

From: Paul watts [mailto:paulwattss@live.com]
Subject: Placing an order!!!!

 Hi,
  This mail is to make inquiry on the below question. 1- Do you carry  overseas? (though i already know of a freight forwarder that will pick my
 packages from you,since they ship lesser than any other courier and they  are so effective in shipping my goods to me here in Queensland,Australia
 is estimated to be 3-4days) I have used their services in the past and it  was splendid. 2- Do you accept credit card for payment(my U.S.A Master and
 Visa card to be precise)? Kindly let me know your comments on these,before  i send the items i am interested in purchasing from you.
  Paul.
Second email from scammer:
From: Paul watts [paulwattss@live.com]
Subject: ITEMS NEEDED!!!!

Hello,
Thanks for your prompt response, Please find below for the list of items needed and get back to me with the quote asap.

KITE,
BLACK-SHOULDERED
1/3 size
Decorative
Tupelo Wood
Oils
Padula Base
QTY:1

RED_BREASTED
MERGANSER DRAKE
Smoothie
Tupelo Wood
Acrylics
QTY:1

MALLARD DRAKE
Gunning Decoy
Tupelo Wood
Acrylics
QTY:1

Please get back to me with the total cost estimate for this order so that i can make my payment via my visa or master credit card.Like i stated in my previuos message i am an American but I live and work here in Australia and I want these products here. Do not worry about the shipping, I will make arrangement for the pick up of these items from your place thru my shipping agency.
PLEASE LET ME KNOW THE GRAND TOTAL WEIGHT OF THESE ITEMS FOR SHIPPING REASON.
Paul.

12 comments:

  1. Thanks for this post. I've recently gotten many of these sort of e-mails in the same format after my online store started its operation.

    Certainly hope no one has gone further to respond to these scams. Small business owners beware!

    Below was one of the versions I got:

    Hello,


    This mail is to make inquiry on the below question.

    1- Do you carry oversea? (though i already know of a freight forwarder that
    will pick my packages from you,since they ship lesser than any other courier
    and they are so effective in shipping my goods to me here in
    Victoria , Australia is estimated to be 3-4days) I have used there service in
    the past and it was splendid.

    2- Do you accept credit card for payment (my U.S.A Master and Visa card to be
    precise)?

    Kindly let me know your comments on these, before i send the items i am
    interested in purchasing from you.


    Best Regards.
    President
    Garett H Inc
    297 Diagonal Road Oaklands Park
    5046 Adelaide Australia
    +61390169230

    ReplyDelete
  2. I just got one:

    > Subject: E-mail Order
    > From: garetthinc@ymail.com
    >
    > Hello,
    >
    >
    > This mail is to make inquiry on the below question.
    >
    > 1- Do you carry oversea? (though i already know of a freight forwarder that
    > will pick my packages from you,since they ship lesser than any other courier
    > and they are so effective in shipping my goods to me here in
    > Victoria , Australia is estimated to be 3-4days) I have used there service in
    > the past and it was splendid.
    >
    > 2- Do you accept credit card for payment (my U.S.A Master and Visa card to be
    > precise)?
    >
    > Kindly let me know your comments on these, before i send the items i am
    > interested in purchasing from you.
    >
    >
    > Best Regards.
    > President
    > Garett H Inc
    > 297 Diagonal Road Oaklands Park
    > 5046 Adelaide Australia
    > +61390169230

    ReplyDelete
  3. We just recieved the same scam email:
    Hello,





    This mail is to make inquiry on the below question.



    1- Do you carry oversea? (though i already know of a freight forwarder that

    will pick my packages from you,since they ship lesser than any other courier

    and they are so effective in shipping my goods to me here in

    Victoria , Australia is estimated to be 3-4days) I have used there service in

    the past and it was splendid.



    2- Do you accept credit card for payment (my U.S.A Master and Visa card to be

    precise)?

    Kindly let me know your comments on these, before i send the items i am interested in purchasing from you.

    Best Regards.

    President

    Garett H Inc

    297 Diagonal Road Oaklands Park

    5046 Adelaide Australia

    +61390169230

    Reply to: garetthinc@ymail.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. Just received similar scam, different name but the same shipping address and same format:

    From: Peter Howard Inc [mailto:sendinginc@hotmail.com]
    Sent: Sunday, March 20, 2011 11:07 AM
    Cc: '', ''
    Subject: ORDER PLACEMENT

    Hello,


    This mail is to make inquiry on the below question.

    1- Do you carry oversea? (though i already know of a freight forwarder that
    will pick my packages from you,since they ship lesser than any other courier
    and they are so effective in shipping my goods to me here in
    Victoria , Australia is estimated to be 3-4days) I have used there service in
    the past and it was splendid.

    2- Do you accept credit card for payment (my U.S.A Master and Visa card to be
    precise)?

    Kindly let me know your comments on these, before i send the items i am
    interested in purchasing from you.


    Best Regards.
    President
    Peter Howard Inc
    297 Diagonal Road Oaklands Park
    5046 Adelaide Australia
    +61390169230



    Reply to: phstoresaus@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  5. HI All,
    We had this and actually had a conversation with them.
    Not sure how this works but they wish us to send our hardware (without our software) items via D & K Cargo to the Adelaide address. The shippers are clearly in on this scam and wanted to charge over £1000 for the shipping alone. We refused as this con man wouldn't arrange and pre pay the shipping.

    As such I suspect the scam is to get your company to agree to have Items shipped and have a contract in place to do so with the D&K shipping agent, but the order never comes but I bet the bill from D&K Cargo would.

    ReplyDelete
  6. James,

    Glad you didn't fall for it. Actually, this is how the scam works: the scammer will "order" product (usually lots of it or high-priced items) and always claim to have their own shipping company they work with. That's important for the scam (in some versions it's a courier service). But there is NO shipper. They are not in on it, there is no shipper. And if they use a real shipper's name, it is without their knowledge. But typically the shipper is non-existent.

    The next core part of the scam is they will send a check (often overnight to keep the pace fast on the scam) and it will *always* be for more than what they owe. They will tell you it includes the fee for the shipper and ask you to send that difference directly to the shipper. And then they will come up with some reason of why you have to send that money via Western Union to them. But who is actually at the other end of that Western Union transaction? The scammer. And once the money is picked up, it's untraceable.

    So the check will be fake (and many pay with credit card numbers that have been stolen but not yet reported as stolen and so will result in a chargeback at some point), the shipper is fake, they don't care about the product at all, and the only thing real in the equation is your money. THAT is the amount they are scamming for.

    Unfortunately, I still receive far too many emails of people who have fallen for this, so I just continue to post these, and people's comments and try and educate people to search online first if something doesn't seem right and hopefully we can keep reducing the number of victims out there.

    Thanks for sharing your experiences. It all helps others.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I have had 2 spams the same from different email addresses. They say they want to spend $1000-$2000 which is clue no.1 I reply asking what photos, sizes and finishing styles. They reply with a list of photo titles, but no other specifics. Asking for a phone number I never get one. Here is the original email:

    Donna Hoynik wrote:

    Good morning,
    I was searching through Google images directory where i came across this sophisticated and attractive work of yours that made me keep starring for moments will love to purchase one or two piece from you and i will appreciate it if you can kindly let me know if you have piece priced between $1000- $2000 because that is my budget.I hope to read from you with weblink of work in my budget or kindly send me images of it.
    Regards

    Donna.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Here's mine:

    Thanks for the mail,kindly get the total cost (with discount) and the weight of the below item:


    Elite Series DVR......QTY.....4

    My store information:

    Store Name: High Technology Service Inc
    Name: Paul Fishers
    297 Diagonal Road
    Oaklands Park
    5046 Adelaide
    Australia
    +61390169230

    When you figure out the weight of the items kindly send to the shipper.Below are some of there information
    The contact person
    Mr Pettersen
    Freight Cargo's name
    Linkdoor Cargo
    Email: linkdoorcargo@netzero.com


    For more information of the freight company kindly contact them they will get back to you with the necessary feedback you required.The freight company, has my shipping profile already, (High Technology Service Inc Australia).The weight of the package and your company address is what they needed to give a shipping cost to you. kindly get back to me when you have the actual total cost (both order cost and the shipping cost from the shipper), And I shall forward my payment details (credit card) to you to charge for the total cost and the shipping cost for the shipper, so that you can complete the arrangement for the pick up with the shipper.After which the shipper has come for the pick up, Kindly advice back Asap.

    Note: Please get back with the available ones in case you do not have the requested item in stock

    Regards.
    High Technology Service Inc

    ReplyDelete
  9. My mother, who runs a small home business selling a how-to crafts book, was contacted about a month ago by someone who said he wanted to buy a large quantity of her books for shipment to India. He insisted that he wanted to pay an exorbitant sum to have the books shipped via "D & K Cargo".

    The deal broke down when the would-be buyer insisted on paying my mom by credit card (she isn't able to take credit cards directly and replied that he would have to use PayPal). Also, she and I just had a bad feeling about the whole thing, saw numerous ways the transaction could turn sour (even assuming it was totally legit), and in the end my mom declined to fill the bulk order.

    The weirdest thing is that my mom got another e-mail today, claiming to be from the same would-be buyer in India, and making exactly the same inquiry as last month! It was at this point that I decided to do some more research and came across this posting on your blog. We were very fortunate not to have fallen for this scam.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Agreed. It's a numbers game to the scammers. Send out a billion emails and who cares which are duplicated and which are not, just what percentage of the emails are actually replying and then what percentage of those actually get pulled all the way through the scam for the cash payoff.

    I'm glad to be contributing to a decline in their performance numbers by posting their crap publicly and educating people to search online when something doesn't feel right - BEFORE they lose any money.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I do office work for my Dad's businesses. One of our managers fell for this scam. The scam worked just as Katie Moe described. they placed a large order and paid with credit cards. The manager then fell for the "pay for our shipping" bit and wired a large amount of money to "D & K Shipping". A couple days later they credit card charges began to get called back.

    I having done a lot of selling on ebay and other online webpages feel like I am able to sniff out a scam from a mile away; however our guy sent the money and did not even have a hint of suspicion. In retrospect there were MULTIPLE red flags.

    The biggest red flag for me was when they had me wire money to a company in Malaysia!!!! this alone was enough for me to ask what it was for and if they were sure it was legit, because as you all know after the money is wired it is gone! Long story short they assured me it was a trustworthy recipient...and I sent the money!

    Anyone know how to hack a Malaysian bank to get the real address for these scammers? No in all seriousness is there a way to track, trap, or find these guys?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi - this is an email that arrived last night and i assume it is following along the same lines as the emails above - didn't seem to make sense and after googling D & k Cargo Ltd it alerted me to the email being a scam

    Thanks
    Mark


    hello,

    I am interested in placing an order in your conglomerate,please advice if the following terms are acceptable:

    1) Do you export overseas for international orders?

    Ps: I would prefer only my freight forwarder handling the pick-up and delivery
    (2-3 days) down to Nadu India,due to insured/effective delivery in the past

    2) Do you accept U.S issued credit cards for payment?

    3) I have been dealing with our Freight Forwarder (D & k cargo) for years, they understand my business community and it's very effective and efficient in delivering to our door step or any location.They have an option of shipping charge been handled by the merchant of the subject since it is a commercial based, which means payment will be charged overall on our credit card for both the order total plus the shipping charges (from D & k cargo) and you remit freight payment back to the shipper on our behalf for them to schedule for pick immediately, should have handle the shipping charges directly with my credit card for our shipper to deduct shipping charge but they do not have the facilities to charge or debit credit card so that's why i bring my vote of confidence in you as a corporate organization. Please note that we intend to do more business with you both now and in future as we have a very high demand and supply inquiries in our business environment.

    Note: We will be responsible for the wire transfer charges to our shipper.


    Await a feedback to the question/inquiry so as to forward you the purchase needed immediately.

    Best Regards,
    Streubelt Timothy - Owner
    kentmerchant
    1913 SBK ESTATE, TRICHY ROAD
    RAMANATHAPURAM
    COIMBATORE 641 045
    TAMIL NADU INDIA
    E : streubelt@yahoo.com
    P: +91-9711027962

    ReplyDelete