Three more scam emails

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.
Perran
Posts: 31
Joined: Sun May 31, 2015 12:17 pm
Location: Cornwall

Three more scam emails

Post by Perran »

Received this month asking for the same week in October details are

Gerald Yusuf email barrgeraldyusuf@gmail.com
Gerald Williams email william2collins@gmail.com
Ronni Schlag through OwnersDirect email alamkulkul@outlook.com

All highly suspicious.
A Perran
Joanna
Posts: 1091
Joined: Thu Aug 23, 2007 3:12 pm
Location: Chester, North West England & Sidmouth, East Devon
Contact:

Post by Joanna »

Gerald Yusuf is busy again. It's an overpayment scam. He contacted us last year and just tried again.
Jo

Joint owner of Baker's Cottage in Chester & Chandler's Cottage in Sidmouth
Riponnewbie
Posts: 22
Joined: Tue May 17, 2016 6:41 pm

Post by Riponnewbie »

what is an over payment scam?
Joanna
Posts: 1091
Joined: Thu Aug 23, 2007 3:12 pm
Location: Chester, North West England & Sidmouth, East Devon
Contact:

Post by Joanna »

The guest asks to send a cheque for more than the value of the holiday. He explains that the excess is for expenses and he wants you to give it to him in cash when he arrives. There's some flannel about better exchange rates if they do it through you. If they turn up and you give them the cash then later on the cheque will turn out to be fake or stolen, you'll be out of pocket and they'll be long gone.

It works because on your bank statement the cheque looks like it's gone through. It's only after a couple of weeks that the bank will give up trying to get the money and then it will disappear from your account.
Jo

Joint owner of Baker's Cottage in Chester & Chandler's Cottage in Sidmouth
RichardL
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Aug 23, 2017 7:56 pm
Location: Strontian
Contact:

Post by RichardL »

Had the same enquiry from "Mr Gerald Yusuf".

"Good day,

I am writing to ask for a week stay in your accommodation from the 7th October to the 14th October 2017 for me and my wife.

Our dates are flexible so you can give me the details and price for the accommodation or give us the availability you have around that time.

Waiting to read from you.

Many thanks
"

I think it was that last "Waiting to read from you" that rang alarm bells, as I've seen the same phrase in other mails. Googled his name, came across this thread, and hit the 'Mark as Spam' button. Glad this forum is here!

Richard
Perran
Posts: 31
Joined: Sun May 31, 2015 12:17 pm
Location: Cornwall

Post by Perran »

Part of the email for the benefit of those who have not see this sort of thing.

The payment would be made to you by our company business associate in Europe who has promise to pay for our holiday expenses which include the rental fee and our flight ticket fee and they have inform us that the payment would be made via Cheque.

The Cheque that you will receive will be in excess because Our
Traveling Allowance which include our Flight ticket fee will be
included with the rental fee base on trust. As soon as you have
receive the Cheque you would have it deposited into you account for clearance, you would deduct the rental fee and i will tell you how to send our traveling Allowance which include our flight ticket fee to my traveling agent, After the Cheque has been cleared in your account.

Notice the jumble of tenses, errors of grammar and capital letters in this type of email eg. 'as soon as you have receive the Cheque .. you would have'.
Also as RichardL says about 'Waiting to read from you'.
A Perran
Joanna
Posts: 1091
Joined: Thu Aug 23, 2007 3:12 pm
Location: Chester, North West England & Sidmouth, East Devon
Contact:

Post by Joanna »

Here's Gerald Yusuf's next email - another example of an overpayment scam (if you need any help spotting them).
I work for a Construction Company and they will take care of the bills and below is the name.

Company Name : Thor Construction Company Below is our Name and address where you can send any document if you wish:

Name : Gerald Yusuf
Home Address: 13 Arrow Rte,
Upland CA 91786
Tel : +18327438881
Fax : +19736589878

Alternatively, you can scan and send any documents directly to my email, whichever is convenient for you

As for the payment arrangement the Company I work for will be responsible for financing all the expenses as it is an annual holiday and the payment will be made with a Cheque

This Cheque will include all the traveling expenses of our trip such as the ticket fare and travel allowance. I believe if you are willing to give me your accommodation then I can trust you to send the balance to my traveling agent as soon as the check is cleared.

All you have to do when you receive the Cheque is to take it to the bank and deposit it there for clearance, which usually takes between 3 to 5 working days.
Then you will deduct the rental fee and I will give you the details of the traveling agent to send our traveling expenses too.
I hope I can get an invoice to show the company for the rent.
Thor Construction have also come up here before - they're getting very lazy, still using the same names.
Jo

Joint owner of Baker's Cottage in Chester & Chandler's Cottage in Sidmouth
EcoGirl
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Jan 15, 2016 2:27 pm
Location: Cotswolds

Three more scam emails

Post by EcoGirl »

I just had exactly the same Thor Construction email from Gerald Yusuf and an Oct 7 to 14 proposed booking. My gut instinct was it was a scam and thanks to this wonderful forum I had the confidence to repel the enguiry and will not confine it to spam. Thanks LMH
still learning
EcoGirl
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Jan 15, 2016 2:27 pm
Location: Cotswolds

Three more scam emails

Post by EcoGirl »

oops typo should read will NOW confine to spam
still learning
petepan
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Oct 03, 2014 1:47 pm
Location: Pissouri Bay Cyprus
Contact:

Post by petepan »

Have just received this email. Looks like a scam in line with the others mentioned here:
Dear Sir, Madam

Thank you for your response to my mail Regarding the payment arrangement,I am assuring you that their won't be any problem because my financial associate would be paying for our holiday expenses and they have inform me that they will be making the payment via Cheque.

The Cheque that you will receive will be in excess, has Our trip expenses which include our B.T.A (Basic Travelers Allowance)fee will be included with the rental fee base on trust. As soon as you have receive the Cheque you would have it deposited into you account for clearance, you would deduct the rental fee and i will tell you how to send our trip expenses which include our B.T.A (Basic Travelers Allowance)fee to my traveling agent so that he can do all paperwork's, After the Cheque has been cleared in your account.

I will appreciate if you can get back to me with the following information that will be need by our financial associate to make the payment out to you, so that you can receive the Cheque as soon as possible:

Full Name on Cheque:
Full address:
City:
Zip code
province:
Country :
Telephone Number :

I would be very glad if you can be of a helping hand, I will be looking forward to read back from you with the information needed above.

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

Post by AndrewH »

The same scam artist who corresponded with Perran way back in August 2017, or perhaps someone else using the same Scam Manual. So much of the text in each case is word for word, including all the grammar errors.
peyre blanque
Posts: 127
Joined: Sun Aug 07, 2011 2:39 pm
Location: Winslow, Bucks UK & Near Carcassonne
Contact:

Post by peyre blanque »

Anyone had Daniel Richardson?
Has all the usual hallmarks of a scam..

Dear Sir, Madam

Thanks for getting back to me, i am very happy that you will be able to rent your accommodation to us,I have discussed this with my friend and we have agreed to use your place, so i will want you to block other people from renting this following date:

Check-in: 16/11/2020

Check-out: 30/11/2020

Adults: 2

Total Rental Amount:?

Thanks

I will await to hear from you with regard this as soon as possible.

Daniel Richardson
petepan
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Oct 03, 2014 1:47 pm
Location: Pissouri Bay Cyprus
Contact:

Overpayment scam

Post by petepan »

our email scam was from the same guy and asked about the same dates:
Good Day Sir / Madam I'm Daniel Richardson, I'm interested in staying your place for Two weeks, start from 16 November 2020 to 30 November 2020 for two people. Mr Daniel Richardson

He gave an address on his second email (printed on 28 Aug 2020)
Daniel Richardson
34 Newburgh Road,
Acton, London
W3 6DQ.
UK
Marks
Posts: 2930
Joined: Mon Nov 06, 2006 10:16 am
Location: Costa Blanca

Post by Marks »

The cheque scam works this way.

The scammer books your property for £500 and 'accidentally' sends a cheque for £5000 drawn on a foreign bank. The scammer alerts you to this 'oversight' and persuades you to pay the cheque in and then refund the difference by transfer. You cash the cheque at your bank and after 3 or 4 days it shows as cleared and you transfer £4500 to the scammer. The cheque though is still wending its way through the international clearing system and eventually it will arrive at the bank on which it has been drawn who bounce it back to your bank as it is fake. Your bank debits you £5000.........
Some guests just need a sympathetic pat. On the head. With a hammer.
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paolo
Posts: 3885
Joined: Thu Jun 17, 2004 1:18 pm
Location: Provence, France
Contact:

Post by paolo »

Another version of this is that they send a cheque for the right amount, then give you a sob story about urgently needing to pay for an operation or funeral, asking you to do a bank transfer or Western Union for part of the money, and keep the rest as deposit for a future trip. This comes across as far more plausible than the overpayment scam.

The way to avoid being scammed is not to refund a cheque for many weeks after banking it.
Paolo
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