Carol Kimble

[PelicanHouse]

We have just started renting our villa out ourselves through a few holiday rental websites and are starting to field booking enquiries. And whilst most rental enquiries seem to have genuine I am pretty sure we have had one which is a scam.

Although in their first email the English was a bit poor, I thought I would give them the benefit of the doubt. However their second email prompted me to follow advice on this forum and track down their IP address.... which eventually got to NIGERIA. Thought I would share this just in case anyone else had been contacted using the same alias.

ENQUIRY BY:
Contact Name : Carol Kimble
Contact Email : carol.kimble@yahoo.com -
Country : USA
Arrival Date : April 4
Departure Date: April 11
Number of Adults in Party : 2
Number of Children in Party : 0
Contact phone :
Additional Notes : Hello Sir/Madam, My name is Carol Kimble,I saw the advert of your vacation rental and I like the features. I am very much interested in booking the desired week of April 4-11. The dates are flexible so I am open to new dates. I hope to get a response from you asap.As I would like to book this before then. Have a good day Yours Sincerely

I responded saying that yes the dates were available and confirming rates etc.. and then got this...!

How are you doing today? I appreciate the quick response as regards the vacation rental, I am still interested in the accommodation and would like to know the all-in cost.There will be 2 people coming i.e
2 clients who are coming in from the UK their names are (Mr and Mrs Phillip).
. I am presently out of the country (in Malawi) where I am at a conference to create awareness for AIDS in Africa.When replying let me know if a check is a suitable mode of payment for you so I can get the funds available in such form.

If there is anything else I have to do to reserve the accommodation let me know.I will give you a call as soon as you respond

I have responded confirming details and asking them to wire funds to me.....and am awaiting a reply...

Of course I could be completely wrong. However I'll post again if I get more back from them...! Interested in thoughts...?

Thank you
Paul and Anne

[Martha]

Looks mighty dodgy to me!

[Paul Carmel]

Its a scam.

[Giddy Goat]

Scam scam scam scam scam! Better English than most but otherwise all the signs are there. Shall I list them?

[PelicanHouse]

Thanks folks... i thought so... especially when i traced the IP address to Nigeria...

...I did also get another completely different enquiry from the US that appeared genuine until I sent through the booking form and asked them to wire funds... a day or so later I got an email back cancelling and stating there'd been some confusion and a family member was ill etc..

I was a bit suspicious of this one too. However they'd included their telephone number... I put it in to google and it came back with their names and addresses and even a 3D photo of their street (not the usual overhead satellite image you get on Google earth). So I think that this was a legitimate enquiry, but it seemed borderline dodgy...!!

Don't want to give the impression that all I've had are dodgy/scam contacts... Have had lots of genuine enquiries and a couple of proper bookings within a week of 'going live' with the web sites... so reasonably happy with our first attempt at renting out our villa ourselves...

[Giddy Goat]

Well done PH, it's such a relief when you first go live with your ad and the enquiries begin to arrive! And welcome to LMH.

Scams seem to be on the increase, so it's understandable that you're wary, especially when starting out. Good luck with your guests!

[PelicanHouse]

Hi there... thought you might be interested in the latest installment from my scammer.... ...I wasnt expecting to hear back from 'Carol Kimble' but I got an email this morning. Interestingly my webmail account put the email into my SPAM quarantine, I guess because it picked up it was being sent from Nigeria.

Anyway, here is the email...

Hello there ,
I am sorry I have not been able to call you all this while I have been quite busy and only just had the chance to check my emails. I am still very much interested in the vacation rental and I will be paying the all-in cost for the week at once.
I have made arrangements for you to receive payment from my accounts manager in the USA which you will receive by next week unfailingly, it will be drawn on a cashier's check and it is going to worth $3400.All I want you to do when you receive the money is to deduct your own money for the accomodation

and send the balance via WESTERNUNION to the travel agent in UK that will make reservations for their airtickets and car arrangementsl
.
Please let me know if you are able to handle this so I can call and confirm with the agency. I will also need

you to confirm your contact address in this format:

Name:
Address:
State:
Zipcode:
Mobile Telephone no:

I hope to hear from you soon.

I was debating whether to reply and string them out and waste their time or not. However frankly I don't think I can be bothered since I'll be wasting my time as much as theirs and I've got better things to do than have a long email exchange with some scammer...

[Giddy Goat]

Good thinking - but expect another email from them - they think they've hooked you!!

[Mountain Goat]

I can see he/she's a scammer, but it's not bad English for a change; not a 'God bless' in sight, and quite a few Americanisms.

MG

[PelicanHouse]

There are plenty of websites that specialise in balancing things out with these guys... here's one example... http://www.scambuster419.co.uk/

The thing is it makes you skeptical about every enquiry... in other words don't trust unless proven other wise. Particularly as MG points out the English is now is pretty reasonable and you cannot necessarily immediately spot a scam mail

[pepsipuss]

HI
I would say good chance of scam. I have seen phrase 'all-in rate' used on such emails. Also no reason for her to ask this as you have already sent rates.
If they come back with a transfer, ok . If they continue to ask about 'checks' then I would say definitely not ok.

[pepsipuss]

Sorry folks, just realised that I was reading the posts in wrong order and there have already been loads of replies!

[Holiday Ray]

PH
Thanks for the posts. The first email you received did look fairly reasonable, although a little dodgy. It's nice to see the follow up email, which would have confirmed it as a scam for me.
The link to scambusters 419 is brill. I paid a visit and particularly liked the story about the "cesspit cleaner". He must have an awful lot of time on his hands to be indulging in such sagas, but its great to know that he's getting one over on the scammers.
Thanks again
Ray

[PelicanHouse]

Thanks for the comments everyone.... suffice to say I've not heard anything more from 'Carol Kimble'. I hope that whoever's behind this doesnt snare someone unfortunately taken in by this.

Pleased to say, I've only had legitimate booking requests since this. Long may that continue.