Return-path: [nobody@zero8.webzero.kr]
Received: from [110.45.139.18] (port=53783 helo=zero8.webzero.kr) (Seoul, Korea)
From: Etherington Parton [e.partonsupplies0@gmail.com]
Subject: Inquiry...
Hello,
I am Etherington Parton and I'll like to order some items from your gallery/store but before we proceed I'll like to ask the following questions.
Do you ship to Australia?
Do you do Mail Order?
Do you accept credit card as for Payment (My US Master and Visa card to be precise)?
I await your urgent response so we can proceed.
Etherington
Scammers use the Internet to find new victims. I fight back using the Internet to educate and help artists NOT become victims.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Scam Email: Etherington Parton
This scam has the typical content of the "template". Looking at the headers and glancing at the RETURN-PATH field rather than the FROM field revealed the shady shady source of this email. Also, pretty bizarre fake name for this scammer to have chosen. I really think they must have software that just randomly chooses and throws names together. And this scammer was hedging their bets by referring to me as a "gallery/store".
Yep, I got this one too! I actually e-mailed back and forth a couple of times with this jerk before I realized that it was a scam. When the guy told me I didn't need to ship any merchandise, that he would have someone come to my studio and pick it up and they in turn would ship it out - that sent up the "red flag." When I told him I needed a bank certified money order, I never heard from him again.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this. I just got my "request" from this scammer this morning. First thing I did was put the name in search and it was all over the place with warnings. I'm not even going to waste my time responding, but I will be passing this info on.
ReplyDeleteYep, I got an "inquiry" as well, he wanted to order from my Gallery/Store. My favorite though was his "personal logistic agent" in the UK.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this Katie. I also received this email this morning, the name sent the alarm bells off immediately, in addition to wanting to ship to Fiji, a quick Google search confirmed all suspicions. Thanks for your efforts.
ReplyDeleteEric
South Africa
As a rule, I now search the internet for names of folks who contact me with inquiries, as I have had similar random requests just like old Etherington. It is definitely a template he/she/they has/have used, as my email was the same as the one posted here, except it claims that the order would go to Fiji! Thank you Katie, you are indeed a Samurai in the war against lame #@!!*** scammers.
ReplyDeleteRegards,
Leah
Canada
He must be doing the rounds as I recieved the same request this morning to ship to Fiji. Wouldn't you think he'd use a normal name. Etherington Parton oh please!!!!A quick search on the internet and I found my concerns answered.
ReplyDeleteThanks all posters.
Alice
Melbourne
I got the exact same one too! Thanks for posting!
ReplyDeleteRegards,
Shelley
Vancouver
Yes, we too have recieved an email from this guy about shipping to Fiji - we are a large textiles manufacturer, but something did not seem right so I googled him...
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for posting this!
I have recieved many scams, they usually provide bank details straight away and are 'in a hurry' but never phone numbers. This was the first to provide a different format, but it still seemed odd.
Hannah
London
I received these emails quite a few times, I don't get it though....
ReplyDeleteDo they think artists are going to ship them work before getting paid? What are they actually looking to do?
No, they could care less about the actual items. They are after cash. So how it works is that they overpay for the art, saying you should deposit it and then forward the extra money to the shipper who also needs to be paid. They often say the shipping company is coming just a day or two away from when their payment would be received, to rush the scam victim through the scam before they realize what has happened.
ReplyDeleteThe payment will turn out to be fake (either counterfeit money order or certified check, or the credit card will turn out to be stolen), the shipping company will either not exist or be an existing shipping company that has no relationship with the scammer, and finally they ALWAYS (here's the defining red flag) ask this overpayment be sent via wire transfer - typically Western Union or MoneyGram. Once the scammer picks up that money at the other end it is completely untraceable and gone, as is the scammer.
These emails are prevalent unfortunately because so many people are still falling victim to sending that money - I hope by posting all these, we can have some impact on reducing their scam success rate. So thanks for writing in!
I received this email today....
ReplyDelete"Hello, I'm Etherington Parton and I'll like to place an order for some items from your store/gallery but before we proceed I'll like to ask the following questions. Do you ship to Fiji Island? Do you do Mail Order? Do you accept credit card as for Payment (My US Master and Visa card to be precise)? NOT PAYPAL I'll be waiting for your response so we can proceed. Warmly Regards, Etherington"
Warning bells went off for me when I read 'not paypal' in capital letters.... knowing how easy it is to attach your credit card to a paypal account (protecting everyone). So I googled the name & found this blog!.... THANK YOU SO much for revealing scams!
Got the same email today in Ireland from Wesley Duckworth!
ReplyDeleteBusinesses beware and thank you for this post.
Hello,
I'm Wesley Duckworth and I'll like to place an order for some items from your store/gallery but before we proceed I'll like to ask the following questions.
Do you ship to Fiji Island?
Do you do Mail Order?
Do you accept credit card as for Payment (My US Master and Visa card to be precise)? NOT PAYPAL
I'll be waiting for your response so we can proceed.
Warmly Regards,
Wesley
Yep, this Wesley Duckworth from Fiji is oing the rounds. I own a small design store, it seems they prey on little independent businesses.
ReplyDeleteHi there,
ReplyDeleteJust sharing another one of these e-mails, received yesterday. Note that the "To:" field is empty. Also note that the actual reply address that a reply would go to is not scanner@mailbag.com, but rather kathleenantique@gmail.com.
From: Kathleen Davies
To:
Sent: Wednesday, May 22, 2013 11:05 AM
Subject: Email Order
Hello,
I am Kathleen Davies, i will like to order for some goods from
your store but before we can proceed i will like to ask the
following questions.
Do You Accept pick up from your location?
Do You Accept E-Mail Order?
Do You Accept Visa or Master Credit Card.
Do you accept bulk order?
I await your urgent response so we can proceed.
Regards
Kathleen
Tried to scam me and I own a small Boutique in Healesville, Vic! Sorry "Wesley Duckworth" of Fiji!!!
ReplyDeleteWe're from Melbourne and run an online design store and yes, we too have had dealings with Mr 'Wesley Duckworth'. The same as everyone else above. Embarrasingly I too entertained the idea over a couple of emails, but red flags popped up when he asked me to wire transfer money to his 'logistics agent'. (yeah right...).
ReplyDeleteI emailed Wesley Duckworth back all the links I could find on google about his scamming and asked him to explain this before we took it any further. As you can imagine, I haven't heard from him since.
I got this variation today... I thought the bit asking about location pickup instead of ship to overseas location was strange though.
ReplyDeleteHello,
I am Kathleen Davies, i will like to order for some goods from your store but before we can proceed i will like to ask the following questions.
Do You Accept pick up from your location?
Do You Accept E-Mail Order?
Do You Accept Visa or Master Credit Card.
Do you accept bulk order?
I await your urgent response so we can proceed.
Regards
Kathleen
Hi, this email is still doing the rounds. I even had a FAKE shipping company email me invoices & documents to verify the shipping quote....
ReplyDeleteGlad I could find this on Google!!!!
I got it from Wesley Duckworth and I was away at the time so I send email that I contact later. Then they chose some products and I sent the invoice (shit! With my bank details) so the "buyer" could do the transfer and then got a very long email about how I should read their credit card and also charge for those logistic and bla bla. $900 for shipping of a box with the cards? Are you joking? Let's report it to scamwatch.gov.au, but the thing that they will change their names and emails and keep scamming...
ReplyDeleteYes. It depends where you are located. In the states, we have IC3.gov but most organizations are only interested if there is actual financial loss, and I kind of hope people don't lose money. It's not like the victim will get the money back, in most cases. But posting online as scammers change up fake names and disposable email addresses will help alert others who are searching online to see if they have a buyer or a scammer on hand.
ReplyDeleteWesley is now one step smarter; I own a small bookstore, and instead of inquiring about "items from [my] store/gallery" he says he is interested in buying books, specifically.
ReplyDeleteI also had Wesley try to order books from my book store last week. Evidently "he" is still running the scam!
ReplyDeleteWe were emailed by Wesley Duckworth today. He wanted $2500 worth of books. We googled him before creating an invoice but I'm still not sure how he would have scammed us.
ReplyDeleteI was suspicious of the following email which I share with you to warn others.
ReplyDeleteI reported the email for attempted phishing.
U.K. Artist.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Wentworth Store
To: enquiry@xxxxxxxxxx.co.uk
Hello,
My Name is Wentworth Wilson am interested in purchasing some of your
products, Please confirm that you Accept Credit Card for payment.
i can only be paying with my credit card,it's not possible for me to make a BACS to your account the best way i could pay is with my credit card.
Please advise if credit card i allowed so could finalize payment?
I want to proceed with my order today.However, i will like to inform you that we have a personal shipping agent in your country so don't worry about the shipping of my order as they will come for the pick up as soon as you or i notify them that the packages are ready for pick up. i will like to obtain a shipping quote from them and to do this i will be needing the following information:
Below details needed for pick up arrangement:
1, Your Company Name and Address ?
2, Time the package will be ready for pick up with your convenience time,date?
3, Contact Person for the pickup arrangement ?
4, Telephone Number?
5, Weight of the package and how many boxes are they ?
6, Total cost of order excluding shipping.
Kindly get back to me with the above requested information so as to enable me forward my credit card details for payment.
i didn't mention payment via PayPal,we are not allowed to do that due to the advise bank gave,i can send you my credit card detail for charge ,i am convenient with the date my order will be ready,and also I just got reply from the courier company regarding the shipping cost,the total cost of my order is quite correct and okay by me and I'm ready to pay. I shall inform my freight forwarder who will be coming to pick up the order to come immediately you inform me that the items are ready for pick up, then i can give you a call on that day to get the items packed for pick up and they will call you on their arrival at your facility (address). Also I want you to Charge additional £745.00 from my card for the freight forwarder who will be coming to pick up my ordered items from you.
The £745.00 will be send to my freight forwarder agent via moneygram money transfer. £745.00 is for the shipping of my order and other items i ordered from different store in your country which is to be picked up by him and should be deducted from my credit card. Also, I'm compensating you with the sum of £100 for the transfer fee and for your efforts. Please note that i should have given the shipping agency my credit card for him to deduct the freight charges but he told me that he doesn't have the facilities to charge or debit credit card, so that's why i bring my vote of confidence in you and i want you to assist me in this measure, so i want you to transfer the funds to him after you have make the charges and the money charged from my credit card is in your account,then you can now make the transfer to the agent via moneygram . I would have love to do this myself but there are no moneygram office around here because i am out of town to monitor my estate construction building at a remote village.
Kind Regards,
Wentworth Wilson.
Level 3, Civic Towers,
Victoria Parade, Suva.
Fiji Islands, 14658
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You all will be amused by the address they gave for their scam :
www.lawreform.gov.fj/docs/QD10616.pdf
Yes I have received a similar email yesterday.
ReplyDeleteemailed back and forth before I smelt a rat.
He wanted to buy cupcakes of all things.
Am cross with myself for wasting so much time emailing him back.We live and learn.
we've just had one from wentworth too, thought I'd google and found you folks! He emailed us saying...
ReplyDeleteHello,
My Name is Wentworth Wilson am interested in purchasing some of your products, Please confirm that you Accept Credit Card for payment.
Kind Regards,
Wentworth Wilson.
Level 3, Civic Towers,
Victoria Parade, Suva.
Fiji Islands, 14658
His email address was wentwstore198@gmail.com.
Cant figure out how he'd scam us either but Im sure there is a way. We are a shop in devon, UK with an online shop too.
Glad we double checked here!
received email today from Wentworth Wilson wasted time on one email but was suspicious so googled his name and came across this site - thank you - he emailed again with an order for dolls house items but this time I mailed back telling him where to go...
ReplyDeleteI received an email yesterday with an order for £890.00 worth of wooden toys.
ReplyDeleteAlarm bells started to ring so I put his name into Google and found this site. Thank you for confirming my concerns about this request for goods. I have received another one this morning from a Gavin Brooke, this one with an address in the Solomon Islands. I have told them both where to go and where they can shove their scams in terms that I cannot repeat on here.
I just had an email from Fiji using the same draft email asking for a certain amount of my books. I was very excited - red flag went up when I asked if he was affected by the cyclone they had htere over the weekend he told me he was far away from the cyclone..I googled and found this - thank you for the heads up.
ReplyDeleteThank you for documenting this! The Fiji scam is apparently still going on in 2017. I will ignore the request I received this morning.
ReplyDelete