What do you think of that reply ?

[Eric&Delphine]

Hello folks,

After having responded to an Email for a reservation I get that reply :

"Good, i think i lll be coming as soon the place as been rented . am coming this mounth from the 1st of july and i think i ll pay for 3 mounth.
And i ll like to ask if the place is well painted . also let me know if u can help get antique and i ll need some other eletronice i lll give you money for those thing i ll need there . when u have my check in euro u ll help me do this don't worry i ll compesite you foir that coz i know u going to hold u r own time for me to do all this but u have to coz i ll need them b4 i move over plz i need ot know more about you and tell me add and name where am going to send the check too . also include ur phone number..

Plz Eric i need faithfull soul to be my lanlord i as i was looking at ur comments i can see the responsible inyou can u send me your pic and . i hope paris is boomin .lol that is gona be great do u have yahoo ID if yu whant to chat with me then i think that would also better .
what kind of job u doing and tell me are you marry man.
I ll look forward to be your tentant."


What do you think of that respond ?
A bit strange, no ?

[paolo]

Welcome!

This is the clearest scam I have ever seen. It looks like he is trying to steal your identity as well - he wants to know your marital status, job, plus he wants your picture. Next he will ask for your bank account details, and before you know it he will have all your money. Avoid any more correspondence with this person and post here again if you have any doubts about future emails you receive.

[KathyG]

Strange indeed! I'm thinking scam. I'd say English is definitely not their 1st language, it's very much trying to be text-speak but with no care whatsoever to be precise! Was their initial enquiry like this?

I'd definitely get more info from them before proceeding - be very careful!

I'm pretty sure someone will say 'defiinite scam, ignore' before long!

Kathy

Edit: Oops, you got in there just before me Paolo, well done!

[vrooje]

Yep, I agree 100% with Paolo. Once you figure out what it's actually trying to say, it's a definite scam.

And welcome to the forum!

[Giddy Goat]

A scammer with a certain charm - if you hadn't figured out that his interests in your personal details were motivated purely by the wish to build up a useful profile, you might have been taken in - briefly!

[Eric&Delphine]

Thank you for your replies.

We did not respond to his Email.

But what can do a "scammer" with name / adress and bank account ?

What kind of actions can he do without our permission on our bank account

Does anyone as had problem with bank account when giving the number to a scammer

Bye
Delphine & Eric.

[Mountain Goat]

D & E, hi

Despite our UK bank's insistence that there is no risk, when we give out bank details we use a deposit account i.e. OK for money in but no money out. If you are as paranoid as us, when anything's been deposited, shift it to another account.

Of course, in Switzerland, no-one would behave in such an underhand way.

Another method, with some banks, is a password-protected account for faxed and telephoned withdrawal requests - somehow not keen on that - faxes lie around large offices and anyone can read them. Who do you know who you are talking to on the 'phone?

And regarding security, it drives us mad when some bank / credit card outfit phones us to discuss something and insists on some verification from us that we are who we say we are: birthday, mother's maiden name, post-code, usual stuff - a scammer's gold-dust. Just tell them to get lost. But, they protest, we are a bank. Yeah, sure.

MG

[e-richard]

I'm a bit less paranoid than you MG, and will hand out my bank details quite easily. After all its only a repeat of what is printed on every cheque.

On the other hand:

And regarding security, it drives us mad when some bank / credit card outfit phones us to discuss something and insists on some verification from us that we are who we say we are: birthday, mother's maiden name, post-code, usual stuff - a scammer's gold-dust. Just tell them to get lost. But, they protest, we are a bank. Yeah, sure.

In this situation, I simply suggest that I call them back. BUT DO NOT take a phone number form the caller. Call the number you have on record for that institution.

[paolo]

What kind of actions can he do without our permission on our bank account

It is not so much these details that are a concern, as the additional questions: are you married, what is your job. If you answer yes I am married, the next question is "what is the name of your lucky wife, mine is called xyz..." Soon they know the answers to any security questions they might be asked by a bank, for example, to prove that they are you.

If you want to know how much damage can be done with just a phone call and a fax to a bank, see this thread where Fraise describes losing £10,000:
viewtopic.php?t=718

[Partridge]

And regarding security, it drives us mad when some bank / credit card outfit phones us to discuss something and insists on some verification from us that we are who we say we are: birthday, mother's maiden name, post-code, usual stuff - a scammer's gold-dust. Just tell them to get lost. But, they protest, we are a bank. Yeah, sure.

I'm with you on this one Mountie, my usual response now is to say 'But I know who I am, don't you ?', they say (after a bit of silence) 'ah yes but we need you to prove it before we can talk to you' I then say, 'no I don't, I never phoned you, you phoned me, so if you don't beleive me then that's up to you, goodbye'

[Eric&Delphine]

Hello all,

Thank you for your responses.
I'm surprised (and scared) to read the post of "Fraise" in Paolo's link ... Finally what is your solution (if there is one ),
Because some tenant fare prefer wire transfert than paypal (And I anderstand them) ?

Do you all folks have a special account for transfert (I have read a post about : "cahoot" account) ?

Bye.
Delphine & Eric.

[paolo]

I give out the IBAN and BIC/Swift, no problem, but certainly not to an enquiry like the one you got.

[Nightowl]

'But I know who I am, don't you ?', they say (after a bit of silence) 'ah yes but we need you to prove it before we can talk to you' I then say, 'no I don't, I never phoned you, you phoned me, so if you don't beleive me then that's up to you, goodbye'

I had a call from my credit card company recently, asking me all these details before they would tell me what they wanted. In the end I said, the same thing, look you rang me, I'm not giving you any of my security details, if you want to speak to me, go ahead, otherwise goodbye.

the cheek of them. It really irritates me when they ring YOU and you ask if it's a sales call (so you can get rid of them) and they do all this security stuff. They can get lost.

[paolo]

I had a call from my credit card company recently, asking me all these details before they would tell me what they wanted.

This sounds very fishy. I would check with the company to see if they do that. I think maybe you were called by a scammer.

[Giddy Goat]

You have me wondering now whether I was stupid enough to have fallen for that in the past!

So far, so good though so maybe it's just my imagination hard at work.