Possible Scam Email

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.
rubenfer
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Apr 27, 2017 6:45 pm
Location: Cusco - Peru

Possible Scam Email

Post by rubenfer »

Hello my name is Ruben, I work for a Lodge located in the Cloud Forest of National Reserve of Manu in Peru, please does anyone can help me, I´ve received this email and I don´t know if it could be a scam.
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21/04/17 6:05 p.m., "Ciro Travels" <karen.reservation@gmail.com> wrote:

Greetings,

I would like to make reservation for my clients the Daniel's family as
they want to come to your country for honeymoon trip and they are
interested in using your accommodation for their stay along with their
friends.

Below is their booking details:

MR / MRS DANIEL MORRISON.

MR / MRS MICHAEL H. OLIVIA.

MR / MRS FEDERICO ALLEN.

MR / MRS ZACHARIAH DONALDSON.

ROOM NEEDED: 04 DOUBLE / SUPERIOR ROOM.

ARRIVAL: 10th TILL 15TH JUNE 2017.

DURATION OF STAY: 05 NIGHTS.

So, I want you to go ahead and quote me for the above booking details
and let me know the quotation for the 04 double rooms with full
breakfast fee to be included and credit card advance payment is the
only option my clients prefers for the payment of their stay.

Regards,

James Forbes.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

I will appreciate your help.
Ruben Ferro

Cusco - Peru
AndrewH
Posts: 1499
Joined: Thu Sep 12, 2013 1:17 pm
Location: Kefalonia, Greece
Contact:

Post by AndrewH »

Welcome rubenfer. A Bing search shows that 'Ciro Travels' has a holiday-makers website and appears to be in the business of putting together holidays and trips for their customers. On that basis I don't think they are scammers. In contacting you for a reservation for those names, it seems that they are simply doing their job. The proof of course will be if they make their payments to you when they are required by you.

They are not to be confused with 'Ciro Travel' which is another agency with a similar name.
Giuliano
Posts: 73
Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2016 2:41 pm
Location: Umbria
Contact:

Post by Giuliano »

There is some room for suspicion...language is a bit funny, from the initial "greetings" to the generic mention of "your country". The address of the sender is a gmail one (Cisco Travels cannot afford to register its own domain?). Four couples on a honeymoon trip? Possible, but a bit unusual.
I would go ahead, but use some caution. Maybe the credit card details have been stolen and this turns into one of the many forms of the overpayment/money back scam.
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greenbarn
Posts: 6146
Joined: Sat May 30, 2009 6:41 pm
Location: The Westmorland Dales, Cumbria

Post by greenbarn »

Everything about it screams “Scam” to me. The wording is classic scam in very poor English but supposedly written by someone with a very English sounding name. Whoever wrote it, English was definitely not their first language.
I’ve not heard of Ciro Travels; they may be a genuine organisation, but my suspicion is that the only link is that whoever sent the email has heard of them.
As Giuliano suggests, I’d expect their email address (and why is “James Forbes” using Karen’s email address?) to have a corporate name, and I’d expect some genuine links to their website.
Dotty
Posts: 742
Joined: Wed Jun 24, 2009 3:25 pm
Location: Pyrenees Orientales, France
Contact:

Post by Dotty »

Well it might be genuine, but my gut feeling is that its probably a scam. ....your country, your accomodation, refers to the Daniels family but Daniel appears to be the first name of the 1st couple - scammers often construct names like this with both first and second names as common first names, maybe with 'son' stuck on the end.
RichardHenshall
Posts: 414
Joined: Sat Sep 05, 2009 4:06 pm
Location: Luz, Algarve

Post by RichardHenshall »

Peter Potter seems to be using this email address too.

https://www.bbcanada.com/bb_bbdug_help_view.cfm?id=8322
karen.reservation@gmail.com

Dear Sir / Ma,
I will like to make reservation for my family & friends as my wife Mrs. Potter will be celebrating her 40th birthday by 15th of OCT and we are interested in using your accommodation for our stay and below is our booking details:

MR / MRS POTTER SNR

MR / MRS ALLEN ROBIN JNR.

MR / MRS KEN DA SILVA

ROOM NEEDED: 03 DOUBLE / SUPERIOR ROOM.

ARRIVAL: 15th TILL 18th OCT 2016.

DURATION OF STAY: 03 NIGHTS.

So, I want you to go ahead and quote me for the above booking details and let me know the quotation for the 03 double rooms with full breakfast fee to be included after that we can proceed with the payment and note that the payment can only be done via my credit card only in advance before arrival and let me know if that is ok before proceeding.

Regards,

Peter.
AndrewH
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Joined: Thu Sep 12, 2013 1:17 pm
Location: Kefalonia, Greece
Contact:

Post by AndrewH »

Well, reading the above comments I have changed my tune about this and brand it as a definite scam. Someone with a Scottish name like James Forbes would not write such bad English. And then there is "Peter", using the same or similar wording, writing to RichardHenshall .

I don't know what the purpose of the scam is. The repeated mention, in bad English, of paying by credit card ("and credit card advance payment is the only option my clients prefers for the payment of their stay") makes me think it's a stolen card.
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greenbarn
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Joined: Sat May 30, 2009 6:41 pm
Location: The Westmorland Dales, Cumbria

Post by greenbarn »

AndrewH wrote:The repeated mention, in bad English, of paying by credit card ... makes me think it's a stolen card.
+1 - I’m struggling to think of an alternative, although you’d think the window of opportunity to use it would be small. There again, some card payment handlers don’t do an automatic check against the register of stolen card numbers.
Marks
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Joined: Mon Nov 06, 2006 10:16 am
Location: Costa Blanca

Post by Marks »

Gold plated scam.
Some guests just need a sympathetic pat. On the head. With a hammer.
FelicityA
Posts: 2816
Joined: Fri Nov 05, 2010 2:54 pm
Location: Cotswolds
Contact:

Post by FelicityA »

Sometimes the card is not stolen so there is no report. It is just cloned.
Giuliano
Posts: 73
Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2016 2:41 pm
Location: Umbria
Contact:

Post by Giuliano »

AndrewH wrote:
I don't know what the purpose of the scam is. The repeated mention, in bad English, of paying by credit card ("and credit card advance payment is the only option my clients prefers for the payment of their stay") makes me think it's a stolen card.
credit card has been cloned. After a while, they cancel the booking and ask for a refund....on another account.
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