Analysis of a scam letter by a rental listing site owner

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.
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Mountain Goat
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Analysis of a scam letter by a rental listing site owner

Post by Mountain Goat »

I know we're reasonably hardened to the Nigerian-style scam, but I found a few tips here, written in a round-robin-email by one of our listing site's owner, to a newbie, who has taken a special interest in dealing with them (his comments in italics and I've been lazy about editing):

Text of the enquiry:

>From: George McRaynold
>From: george_mcraynold@yahoo.com
>
>Hello,
> How are you doing today,hope all is well?
>I am seizing this opportunity to tell you that am interested in booking an
>apartment
>anywhere in France for a week starting from 2nd June to 9th of June,2007.
>I will like to know if the chosen dates would be available for rentage?If yes,kindly
>email me some pictures of this apartment if available and whats the price
>for the a
>week rent?
>I will be glad to hear from you soon.
>
>Mr George McRaynold.

I hope that I'll be able to take you through the pointers:

>From: George McRaynold

Whenever have you heard of such a surname - McReynold?


>From: george_mcraynold@yahoo.com

Yahoo! Infamous for hosting scammer email accounts. We try to assist in getting them closed down as fast as they appear but Yahoo could really do with the data that we collect in real-time to power protection systems.


>Hello,

Not all people start an email that way.

> How are you doing today,hope all is well?

This is a typical African scammer greeting - "how are you doing today".
Next is the missing space after the punctuation comma,and the next word.
Missing spaces like this are a usual clue. You certainly won't be well after dealing with this enquiry.


>I am seizing this opportunity

One does not normally regard renting holiday accommodation as a life-vital opportunity to be seized

> to tell you

Normal people tell you without having to tell you that they are telling you

>that am interested

Missing pronoun: this should be "that I am interested"


>in booking an apartment
>anywhere in France

Not your apartment specifically - anywhere throughout the whole of France - mountains, wines, seaside, Paris - can't decide?

> for a week starting from 2nd June to 9th of June,2007.

Notice missing space before 2007


>I will like to know

Typical African scam clue


>if the chosen dates would be available for rentage?If yes,kindly

Rentage? This is not the usual word.
Notice the missing spaces after the question mark and the comma.


>email me some pictures of this apartment

He's seen your page hasn't he? Hasn't your page got pictures on it? This is a spammer who has not bothered to look at your page.

>if available and whats the price

Missing apostrophe - what is - what's
Often they ask for the "final cost"


>for the a >week rent?

the a week rent? We don't say that!


I (MG) found the space thing interesting, as that would have weeded out a few of my recent ones which I sort of fell for.

MG
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paolo
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Re: Analysis of a scam letter by a rental listing site owner

Post by paolo »

Mountain Goat wrote:I (MG) found the space thing interesting, as that would have weeded out a few of my recent ones which I sort of fell for.
There are people on this forum who do that! No names...
Paolo
Lay My Hat
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Big Sis..
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Post by Big Sis.. »

(MG) found the space thing interesting, as that would have weeded out a few of my recent ones which I sort of fell for
hiMG :roll: Howdidyougetonwiththatenquirythatwethoughtwasabitdodgybutasitwasforaslowweekyouweregoingwithit..... :roll:
Diditmaterialise[nofibs] :wink:
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Rosbif
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Post by Rosbif »

haha Big Sis!! :lol:

I came across this site tonight with lots of scam stuff on it

http://www.euro-rentavilla.com/rental_s ... ttings.htm

Might be useful reading.

RB
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Mountain Goat
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Post by Mountain Goat »

Howdidyougetonwiththatenquirythatwethoughtwasabitdodgybutasitwasforaslowweekyouweregoingwithit.

Hi Big Sis

James? He was tracked to an Internet Caff in Nigeria. I think I posted the details.....

MG
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Big Sis..
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Post by Big Sis.. »

James? He was tracked to an Internet Caff in Nigeria. I think I posted the details..
Theres a surprise :o

But dont ya just feel sorry for the genuine Nigerian person trying to book a holiday Skiing or coming to Sunny Spain.... :(

No :o No me neither :wink: :) :lol:
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Overboard
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Re: Analysis of a scam letter by a rental listing site owner

Post by Overboard »

[quote="Mountain Goat"]

>Hello,

Not all people start an email that way.

[quote]

They don't? I always say hello first if I'm contacting someone I don't know.
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Alan Knighting
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Post by Alan Knighting »

Big Sis.. wrote:dont ya just feel sorry for the genuine Nigerian person trying to book a holiday Skiing or coming to Sunny Spain...
Yes but he wouldn't be telling you his father was the Finance Minister of the Upper Umpopo. He wouldn't be offering you a £1m Western Union Bank Draft to pay for a £200 holiday.

I’m bewildered at the thought that anyone is dumb enough to fall for any of this, it is all so painfully obvious By all means play them along until they want something they’re not entitled to have and then tell them to p*ss off.

Fluffy
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Fil
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Post by Fil »

One day the scammers will be fluent in english so mistake spoting will not be enough.

I take as a scam - and don't reply - to any enquire that shows that the person has not read any of the listing. A scammer does not have the time to do it. Scammer messages have to be vague to allow sending to a lot of people.

It is a risk, I know, but I prefer it to getting into trouble. If the enquirer is not a scammer and is truly interested, he / she will probably email again.
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Alan Knighting
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Post by Alan Knighting »

Fil wrote:One day the scammers will be fluent in english so mistake spoting will not be enough.

I take as a scam - and don't reply - to any enquire that shows that the person has not read any of the listing. A scammer does not have the time to do it. Scammer messages have to be vague to allow sending to a lot of people.

It is a risk, I know, but I prefer it to getting into trouble. If the enquirer is not a scammer and is truly interested, he / she will probably email again.
I appear to take an entirely different view towards scammers from that taken by most.

I don’t worry about the fluency of the language although it is usually a dead give-away. I occasionally correspond with others in French or Spanish and I’m sure they must sometimes wet their knickers at what I have said.

Apart from the time wasted with scammers I think the only risk is that they want to get their hands into my wallet, but they can’t. I will not give away my innermost secrets; I will not accept too much money and forward the balance on to someone else; if they pay for a holiday and then don’t turn up they don’t get their money back.

What other risk does anyone think there is? I really would like to know. At the risk of being accused of patronising others I can not imagine in my wildest dreams that anyone is stupid enough to fall for these scams. Perfect language or not they are so totally obvious and how not to fall into the trap is equally and totally obvious.

Fluffy
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Post by e-richard »

Alan Knighting wrote:...At the risk of being accused of patronising others I can not imagine in my wildest dreams that anyone is stupid enough to fall for these scams....
I feel the same Fluffy, but its a fact that scamming and phishing is a "mult-million dollar business", so clearly there are many stupid people around, and worse than that, a new one born every day, so this isn't going away quickly.
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debk
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Post by debk »

Inquiries leading to two April 2007 bookings:
I would like to book the apartment so please inform me about the booking procedure. I suppose that I have to pay some prepayment? Thank you in advance,

Edit: It is important to note that the original request was from May 2 to June 10... which I immediately queried back to find, as expected, that he meant May 2 to May 10.
Only upon arrival did I realize that the booking was made by the son of a delightful Croatian couple who arrived here in Lisbon to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. I will never forget them. They were so excited when they arrived and saw the view from the apartment, they kissed each other and hugged. Ah.... true love...

Dear sirs we would like to verify availabilty and prices of a room for 2 persons (1 bed) for april (check in 24 april - check out 28 april). Looking forward to hearing from you soon Best Regards
This was a young Italian couple here to present at a conference. (They forgot to print out their powerpoint notes so I did that for them and couldn't help reviewing the presentation as it arrived, page by page, on my printer. Big brains in Italy :shock: )



Not sure what my point is other than not everything that is vague is a scam. These are both vague inquiries from people writing in other than their native language. (Note: I have much worse language examples with commas well out of place but not for last month!) Also, I find that non-native speakers often ask right away about payment options.
debk
who writes regularly in a non-native language and loved alan's knicker comment
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Fil
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Post by Fil »

That was precisely my point: bad english does not necessary mean it is a scam.

I have received enquiries from Germay, Italy, Spain, Finland, etc in english that was not fluent but trustable. I could feel they were interested and read at least the main features of the listing before enquiring.

I don't get as many "bad english" enquiries as others maybe because I receive them in diferent native languages (italian, spanish, german, frech etc). As I try to answer back in their language, the "bad writing" is therefore most of the times my own and I don´t expect enquirers to deduct from that that I am a scammer.

What are the risks of anwering to a scammer ? Either than loosing time, a reply gives a sign that you might be interested in doing business. I think I read somewhere around here that some people started being harassed by phone after they replied. Even if there is no obvious finnancial risk, it is not fun to get into this kind of situations.
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Post by Big Sis.. »

I feel the same Fluffy, but its a fact that scamming and phishing is a "mult-million dollar business", so clearly there are many stupid people around, and worse than that, a new one born every day, so this isn't going away quickly.
Totally agree :wink: :)
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Alan Knighting
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Post by Alan Knighting »

e-richard wrote:
Alan Knighting wrote:...At the risk of being accused of patronising others I can not imagine in my wildest dreams that anyone is stupid enough to fall for these scams....
I feel the same Fluffy, but its a fact that scamming and phishing is a "mult-million dollar business", so clearly there are many stupid people around, and worse than that, a new one born every day, so this isn't going away quickly.
I'm sure you’re right and that is what I find so depressing. I am not part of their multi-million dollar business and I can’t imagine how or why anyone else is – but they are.

Fluffy
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