And another.... through self-catering-breaks.com

[LittleRiverView]

Hi

I received this yesterday which I have to be honest seemed pretty dodgy to me especially as all the info requested is on my web site and my property is a period cottage rather than an apartment.

> You have recieved an enquiry from Self Catering
> Breaks
>
> Regarding: Little River View Holiday Cottage -
>
http://www.self-catering-breaks.com/Pro ... p28532.htm
> Name: Sandra
> Email: xxx.xxx@yahoo.co.uk (full email address to anyone who pms me)
> Phone:
>
> Details: from 09/11/2005 for 3 weeks for 3 weeks
>
> Party Details: 1 adults, and 0 children
> Extra info: Hello,
> In response to your advert on your apartment for
> rent.my company is
> sending me to UK on n official assignment in
> November.And I am being posted
> to your area.I will like to rent your apartment for
> the period of (3Weeks)
> that I will be staying in UK.Pls do give me the
> following information.
> 1.A brief discription of the apartment.
> 2.Your price
> 3.The address of the apartment I will be waiting for
> your response on this
> Hope to hear from you in earnest.
> My Regards....

However, I replied as follows:

> Hi Sandra
>
> Many thanks for the enquiry - here's all the
> information you require - most
> of this information is on the
> self-catering-breaks.com web site or our own
> web site at http://www.littleriverview.co.uk.
>
> 1) A brief description of the apartment. - please
> note the property is not
> an apartment - it is a cottage built in 1882.
>
> Little River View is a delightful two bedroom
> Victorian cottage set in the
> charming village of Horning in the heart of the
> Norfolk Broads.
>
> Offering high quality accommodation for four people
> (plus a baby) in a
> picturesque setting with all village amenities at
> your doorstep and
> commanding fantastic views over the River Bure and
> Horning Sailing Club, its
> the perfect location for a fantastic holiday in
> Norfolk's famous Broads.
>
> Services: Beds 1 double and two singles. Gas Fired
> Central Heating. All
> fuel, power, bed linen (duvets) & towels inc.
> Parking for 1 car &/or boat
> (depending on boat size). Cot. H/chair. Elec cooker.
> F/freezer. M/wave.
> Washer/dryer. Small rear courtyard with furniture.
> BBQ.
>
>
> 2.Your price
>
> The price per week is £209 making a total price of
> £627 but for a three week
> stay, we would reduce the price by £77 to £550.
> There is also a standard
> security deposit of £150 which will be returned at
> the end of the holiday.
>
>
> 3.The apartment is in Horning in Norfolk, UK

To then receive this today....

Hello,
Thanks for the details on the Home.Pls do reserve the
Home for me.My company (sending me for an official
assignment) is responsible for payment of my
accomodation which will include my Travelling
Expenses,Rent,Allowances,Feeding e.t.c.All these sums
up to a total amount of £3,500 for the period of my
stay in UK. I will contact my Supervisor now telling
him I have gotten an accomodation for November stay in
Us.So they will be sending you the full payment of
£3,500 (which includes your rent Payment).You will
then deduct you rent fee for 3 WEEKS of the home which
i know it will be of £550 Included refundable charges
and tax Clearance And send the balance.To My Personal
Assistant (who will be responsible for Booking of my
Travelling Air Ticket and other Personal luggages) via
Western Union Money Transfer.So I will want you to
immediately send your details like:
Full name that will written on the check......
Address where the check should be sent to...........
Zip code.............
Country..............
Telephone
Number..................................................
So i will forward it to my supervisor for immediate
payment to be made out to you. Hope to hear from you
soon.
Thanks.

To which (strangely enough) I am not going to reply so that I don't get to hear about the minor technical problem with the expenses payment that presumably will require me to send a small (but ever increasing) amount of money to solve?

I should imagine laymyhat folks that have been in the game longer than me will not have bothered to read let alone reply to the first mail but thought I would post it here to save anyone else the bother.

Apols for the war and peace length post......

PS - is this from Doug's web site? - perhaps that's why they thought it was an apartment (see other thread re the problems I had with my property type being messed up) - also there's another "bug for Doug" - the e-mail template has received spelt incorrectly.....

[Alan Knighting]

Kevin,

The original enquiry is very obviously a scam but the follow up is the classic scam.

So they will be sending you the full payment of £3,500......You will then deduct you rent fee for 3 WEEKS of the home which i know it will be of £550......via Western Union Money Transfer

It's so blatent it's difficult to understand how anyone could be taken in. The sad thing is that some people are.

I'm not sure how any rental site can apply filters which would catch these things without potentially filtering out some genuine enquiries. I would rather get the odd scam than miss a genuine enquiry, wouldn't you?

Alan

[A-two]

PS - is this from Doug's web site? - perhaps that's why they thought it was an apartment ..

Hi Kevin,
I would say no, the reference to an apartment is a coincidence and unrelated to any problems you may have experienced with any listing site. It's a fairly common feature of 419 scam emails and one of the flags to recognize them.

Thanks for sharing

[LittleRiverView]

Hi Alan

I can't see how they can filter these out easily and I certainly wouldn't want to miss genuine enquiries.........

but Doug could spell received correctly in the e-mail from his site

[Alan Knighting]

...........but Doug could spell received correctly in the e-mail from his site

I love the English language and I do what I can to avoid spelling mistakes. No matter how hard I try the odd one still creeps in.

I know what you mean about Doug's site. It should be proofed until all spelling mistakes have been eradicated. On the other hand, does the fact that there is a spelling mistake in an e-mail mean that people will not book through his site? Somehow I suspect the answer is "No".

Alan

[LittleRiverView]

Hi Alan

No I don't think it would stop people booking on the site either (especially as this is a mail to owners that I doubt people booking would see).

I was just looking to let Doug know that there is a spelling error on his mail that he may want to correct

[scb]

And I will then whip them:)

Cheers.

Doug

[spbowman]

I've had the same e-mail this morning, but from a Hotmail address.Exactly the same wording gives it away.

"I will be waiting for your response.Hope to hear from you in earnest......
My Regards...."

I shan't bother replying.