Suspicious about this one;

[Sarah]

Just received this through Homelidays:

Bonjour Mr,Mme,


Je suis Mr xxxxxxxxxxx pour nos vacances j'aimerais louer votre
Etablissement.
pour la Période du 30 AOUT jusqu' au 30 SEPTEMBRE 2008,
Nous sommes au nombres de 05 personnes.

Ceci dit je désire savoir si vous acceptez les règlements par Virement Banquaire.
Si vous accepez par Virement Banquaire envoyez moi vos coordonnées banquaires, le contrat de location et vos contacts telephoniques.
Veuillez nous repondre dès que possible s'il vous plait.

cordialement

xxxxxxxxx

I'm a bit suspicious because:

a) he seems a bit to keen on getting my coordonnées banquaires

c) he is based in Ivory coast.

d) he has a hotmail email address.


It's a bit more difficult to tell with French enquiries and he hasn't mentioned models, that he is a doctor or reverend or that he is coming over for a religious convention of some sort, or said God bless.

Sarah

[Chianti]

Even with only my school French, if he's discussing payment terms with you in a 1st email than is has a very fishy smell to it. The Hotmail account means nothing as millions have them and many scammers now use Gmail too.

They may have got wise to not making claims to be a doctor, reverend or model now, although I had one from a model this morning, ha bloody ha !!!

Chianti

[Big Sis..]

Hi Sarah Looks a bit Suss!!

Why dont you contact Homelidays they should be able to advise you.
Also they would be pleased to hear from you if it is a scam and coming through them.

Take Care xxxxx

[Normandy Cow]

The period of 30 Aug (Sat) to 30 Sept (Tues) is what rings the alarm bells for me!

I'd say definite scam - and if I'm wrong I'll eat my hat (as opposed to laying it of course!)

[A-two]

On thing I have picked up from Paolo on this forum is that anyone who starts off an inquiry with the words, "My name is....." you can throw straight in the trash, regardless of the language it's written in. Works every time because genuine inquirers never say that.

[Big Sis..]

"My name is....."

Thats true Joanna...........sounds like an AA Meeting.....

[Vera]

We had one from the Ivory Coast, wanted 30th July - 30th Sept in the header and 30th July - 30th Oct in the text.
Ours came thru Spain holiday and went in the trash!

Vera

[Sarah]

Chianti

I know hotmail accounts are very common, but all of the scam enquiries I get are either from hotmail or yahoo accounts, so when added to all the other incriminating factors.......

[Topcat]

Oh, careful Sarah. I've had genuine enquiries (and bookers) with hotmail accounts. Mind you, they didn't start off with....my name is xxx.

TC

[Sarah]

Ooh, TC I've had genuine ones too , which have gone on to be bookings so I'm not discounting them, it's just that, when combined with all the other things, they just add to the evidence that it's a scam.