Scam

How to communicate with your potential renters - how to turn site visitors into enquiries, and enquiries into bookings.
Stephen
Posts: 141
Joined: Sun Sep 19, 2004 4:33 pm
Location: Northumbria/Cumbria Border / Florida
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Scam

Post by Stephen »

I have had enquiry about our cottage in Northumberland from someone calling him or her self John Bayliss ,as the dates requested werent available he decide on the folllowing week, we have exchanged several emails, yesterday I came across
a site that allows you to check the country origin of an Ip address and out of curiosity I checked out this persons IP and it comes from ???? yes you guessed "NIGERIA".. well today I have recieved a chq for £2000 when the week in question was only £600 + £100 security Deposit.. the chq has a company name on "OVE ARUP & PARTNERS INTERNATIONL LTD" looks real enough but is obviously dodgy.....also NO booking form with the Chq.. I am know waiting for an email saying that they have had to cancel and could I return the extra money minus of course the weeks fee... I might look daft but I'm not that daft..

I must admit at first I thought this was a genuine enquiry !!
they are definatley getting better..
By the way the letter looks like it was posted in the UK 47p postage with airmail sticker on and franked by Royal Mail.
heres a site to scam the scammmers
http://www.scamorama.com/
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Sue Dyer
Posts: 2562
Joined: Sun Sep 19, 2004 2:26 pm
Location: Belford, Northumberland

Post by Sue Dyer »

Thanks - I'll look out for that one.

Does anyone actually fall for those Nigerian emails? I suppose someone must or they wouldn't keep sending them.

I had a spin on a one the other day. Some guy who realises he has been evil his whole life and alienated all of his family, therefore he cannot give them his considerable fortune. To relieve his conscience wants to give it to ME!!!! Oh, I was supposed to send him some cash of course... I though, well you can die unhappy mate, cos you're getting nowt from me!!
Stephen
Posts: 141
Joined: Sun Sep 19, 2004 4:33 pm
Location: Northumbria/Cumbria Border / Florida
Contact:

Post by Stephen »

I have just received another email from Mr Bayliss :


hi stephen,
i called my accountant and i was informed that there was a mistake......the 2,000GBP is meant to be sent to africa for shipping, but instead 600GBP was sent.
i will want you to please help me wire the excess of 1400GBP via western union to
YEMI JONES
1 SHIPPING LANE APAPA
LAGOS NIGERIA 23401
i will want this done immediately as i am already behind schedule.
j bayliss

Pretty good English compared to the usuall giberish ...there was no mention of Nigeria until this last email..
as I said at first I thought it was a genuine enquiry until I checked the IP address at http://www.geobytes.com/IpLocator.htm?GetLocation
I will now check the origin of all IP addresses from now on :wink:
They will have to get up very early if they want to catch me out :lol:

Sue, according to http://www.scamorama.com there are plenty of people out there who beleive this C**P
They also target people selling on ebay, people selling cars/bikes in Auototrader even one lady who was selling a Horse !!
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paolo
Posts: 3885
Joined: Thu Jun 17, 2004 1:18 pm
Location: Provence, France
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Post by paolo »

Good tip on the IP address, Stephen. Unfortunately some people do fall for these scams, rental owners among them.

If anybody has the slightest doubt about an enquiry, please post the enquiry on this forum and get a second opinion.
Paolo
Lay My Hat
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Alan Knighting
Posts: 4120
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:26 am
Location: Monflanquin, Lot-et-Garonne, France

Post by Alan Knighting »

Stephen,

I assume you binned the cheque. It would be interesting to see how high the cheque bounced if you banked it.

One question, where do you find the IP address of the sender so that you can run a check with Geobites?

Alan
Stephen
Posts: 141
Joined: Sun Sep 19, 2004 4:33 pm
Location: Northumbria/Cumbria Border / Florida
Contact:

Post by Stephen »

I was going to the HSBC bank,and the chq happened to be a HSBC chq, they checked it and said it seemed ok and then they rang head office and they still couldn't tell,they then rang
"OVE ARUP & PARTNERS INTERNATIONL LTD" which do actually exist and they didn't know either :roll:

Anyway I told them to keep it as I didn't want it, the bank rang me at 5pm and they still didn't know if it was fraudulent :shock: they are going to ring me tomorrow....
I did tell them I had checked the IP address and it was from Nigeria and that I was only expecting £600 not £2000..
The woman in the bank said "why don't you express the chq"
because it is probably stolen or fake plus it cost's to express it..
was my reply...

Alan although I am not technically minded I will try to explain how to check the IP address...
.Right click on the suspect email, then click Properties then Details...then Message Source...maximize the page and you have all the details..The IP will be under Message ID
and will say Received From [67.107.89.20] this is the actual
IP from my very generous Nigerian friend..

maybe someone technically minded might be able to explain it easier...

you can also chech the IP address here http://www.ripe.net/
and also here http://ws.arin.net/cgi-bin/whois.pl just enter the IP address ...
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