David Gilbert

Post scam emails to warn other rental owners, or if you are not sure if an enquiry is genuine, put it up here and see what others think.
TTP mk2
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David Gilbert

Post by TTP mk2 »

Anyone know what exactly is the scam with these type of enquiries: ?

My Dear, My names are David Gilbert, there are my clients (World Health Institute Of Inquiry) in Brazil ,they are Medical groups,eight (8) in number visiting your country for medical researchers, tests and inquiries. I write to inquire for room availability in your establishment,as they will be arriving on 12th October,to depart on 28th October, 2009.Which they will stay for 16 nights,and they will need four(4) double rooms. The Group Name: World Health Institute Of Inquiry(WHII) in Brazil.Please confirm the room availability and whether you accept credit card (VISA,MASTER CARD) payments and get back to me with your rates and total cost of four rooms,with your payment system so that you will be sent a credit card to make a deposit payment for the rooms before our arrival. Best Regards, David Gilbert.
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Mountain Goat
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Post by Mountain Goat »

Fairly bog-standard over-payment scam on the horizon? You send the balance via Western Union (haha) to their "car-hire company" and the c'card bounces?

MG
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Post by TTP mk2 »

Mountain Goat wrote:and the c'card bounces?
That's what I thought but our current card processor guarantees payment providing we follow their procedures.
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Mountain Goat
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Post by Mountain Goat »

I don't know what your provider's requirements are, but with foreign customers we've no guarantee of payment unless they're resident in the UK, and we have an accurate billing address.

It would be unusual to guarantee foreign charges for a UK-based provider, especially if the punter really was in Brazil, due to their currency restrictions for imports.

Of course, when you charge the payment, it could bounce anyway, especially as it's likely to be stolen.

MG
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PutsonManor
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Post by PutsonManor »

This is what we got: My dear, My names are Theo Brown, there are my clients (World Health Institute Of Inquiry) they are Medical groups,eight in number visiting your country for medical researches, tests and inquiries on flu. I write to inquire for room availability in your establishment,as they will be arriving on 10th February, 2010,to depart on 25th February, 2010.Which they will stay for 16 nights,and they will need four(4) double rooms.
The Group Name: World Health Institute Of Inquiry(WHII).Please confirm the room availability and whether you accept credit card (VISA,MASTER CARD, AMERICAN EXPRESS) payments and get back to me with your rates and total cost of four rooms,with your payment system so that you will be sent a credit card to make a deposit payment for the rooms before our arrival.
Best Regards,
Theo Brown.


Google is terrific. I searched for "World Health Institute Of Inquiry" and up popped this forum ... and they had hardly changed the wording! So I sent them a cheery reply and a link to here.

But what about this one? Same thing?

Thanks for getting back to me and our check in date is 03rd of January 2010 and check out date is 10th of January 2010. The rooms will be 2-Double rooms and 1-Single Room.
Me and My Wife ----------Names: Mr. & Mrs. Brent ---------------Double Room
My Twins Daughter ------Names: Karen & Monica Brent -------Double Room Ages 20
My Son -----------------------Names: Eric Brent ------------------------Single Room Age 18
I will like you to make the booking of this rooms and get back to me with the total cost of the rooms for the day's we will be spending till our check out date.
Get back to me as soon as you can with the booking details so that i can send you my credit card details to charge for the full amount.
Thanks
Best Regard
Frank Brent


Sounds a bit more plausible, but still incredibly suspicious.
ctm
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Post by ctm »

This is the first email we received:

---------------------------------------------
My Dear,
My names are Theo Brown, there are my clients (World Health Institute Of
Inquiry) they are Medical groups,eight in number visiting your country
for medical researches, tests and inquiries on flu. I write to inquire for
room availability in your establishment,as they will be arriving on 10th
February, 2010,to depart on 25th February, 2010.Which they will stay for
16 nights,and they will need four(4) double rooms.
The Group Name: World Health Institute Of Inquiry(WHII).Please confirm the
room availability and whether you accept credit card (VISA,MASTER CARD,
AMERICAN EXPRESS) payments and get back to me with your rates and total
cost of four rooms,with your payment system so that you will be sent a
credit card to make a deposit payment for the rooms before our arrival.
Best Regards,
Theo Brown.
---------------------------------------------

and this is the response after our offer:

---------------------------------------------
Dear,
I appreciate your acceptance in assisting my clients on this trip, actually it's their first time of visiting your country.Your rates are well accepted and as such, we would make part payment as soon as the total cost is summed with credit card to enable you keep the rooms available for my clients before their arrival.So, get
back to me with the total cost of four rooms with all charges. Our credit card does not use pay pal but credit card charging machine(POS) confirm this too.
Hope to hear from you soonest.
Regards.
---------------------------------------------

Then I realized that this was a scam and I found this great post :-), and I replied:

---------------------------------------------
Dear Theo Brown (also known as David Gilbert!!!)

I forwarded your email to the Italian Police.
Please forget me!!!
---------------------------------------------

Thanks to all Forum.

Nicoletta
www.CasaTeatroMassimo.it
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PutsonManor
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Post by PutsonManor »

I rather wittily replied to him

"Dear Theo

I suggest you check out this link.
viewtopic.php?t=10364&sid=420b80dba3b31 ... fc50d27fc6

What a shame you couldn't even be bothered to change the wording!"

And to my astonishment he came back again with:

"Dear,
we will like to make our reservation directly with, as we don't want to experience what we undergone few months ago, so confirm your room availability and cost of four room and get back to me soonest as we will like to make part payment immediately with credit card.
regards


I suppose I am communicating with a computer, not a real person at all.
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