Craigslist Lessons Scam

I posted an ad under lessons on craigslist and received this email as a reply.

Hello,

I hope you are doing fine today..Can you pls let me know if you are able to give lessons my Son and how much it will cost for a minimum time of 3hrs per week.

Pls get back to me asap so as to proceed with the arrangement.

Thanks


Matthew

First off, the email came from the name and address Matthew Medley ([email protected]). What tipped me off immediately was the word dentist in the email address. For someone with an education, the composed message was definitely lacking in spelling and grammar. I did respond, due to my curiosity as to what stock message might come next. I'll be sure to post the response. I'll most likely get the infamous Western Union scam message.

Be sure to watch out for the name and email.

After googling "craigslist lessons scams", this thread came up.
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=2019

If you look at the 4th message from the bottom of page 1, you'll see that our friend changed his name from Timothy Yalamanchili to Matthew Medley. Same stock message.

I'll be sure to post encounters in the future. This is my first time posting on this site. I'm glad such a site exists.

Welcome to scamwarners. I don't think it's possible now to place a Craigslist ad without attracting scammers, It's like turning over a stone. The same bugs crawl out.
He'll send you a fake check, then come up with a reason for a refund via WU. It's also unlikely that he registered dr.mmedleydentist7 as dr.mmedleydentist1 through dr.mmedleydentist6 had already been taken. Earlier addresses in the sequence had probably been shut down (something we don't support).
No doubt whatever that it's a scam.

Thank you Arnold for the pleasant welcome.
Since my last post, I've received a few more scam messages.
All with similar stories about a young man coming from another country.

Here are a few of the others. I'm posting these messages with hopes that it will prevent someone from falling for the bait.

Reply from Matthew Medley <[email protected]> (notice that his email is no longer [email protected]). He can't even spell his own fake name right in the first paragraph.

Hi ,
Thanks for getting back to me and for your commitment..Just to introduce myself to you...I am Mathew Medley, a practicing Mechanical Engineer...I was born and raised in Fresno,California, but am currently based in Manchester,United Kingdom with my wife and children where i work as a machinist for a Textile Company..

My Son will be coming for a Vacation in the States,and i want him to be busy with something gainful and productive.Therefore, i just want to know if he can always come to you and teach him great things on Photoshop 3 times a week of 1hr lesson per day..If this is possible,i will want you to get back to me with the cost of you teaching him for a month which can start as soon as he arrives..

He will be in the states in very soon and will be coming to your Place for 1 hour each morning/afternoon/evening..I do have someone that will always drive him down to your Place,i mean a Nanny or perhaps you can as well come to him..

My Son's name is Alex,he is 14 years old and he is just a beginner in Photoshop. I will want you to calculate 1 hour per day for Monday,Wednesday,Friday or you can as well set 3 days that suites your availability for a MONTH,and get back to me so that we can arrange on payment.Kindly get back to me with...
Thanks and waiting to read from you soon.

Matthew

Email from James Mcdowells ([email protected]), reply to [email protected]. Shouldn't the D be capitalized in Mcdowells? Why the S at the end (McDowell)?

Hello Teacher,
I Am James,I read your description and I am highly impressed and interested in your lesson.My son is coming for an holiday pension in your area,he is 18 years old,I don't want him to be less busy and I have make decision that instead of him being less usy ,he should be attending your lesson, so he will be coming for 1 hour in a day (9am to 10am) or at your leisure period,so I want you to calculate the cost for 3 week and let me know the total cost and i will be paying you with Cashier's checks that will be easy for you to cash in your country,so get back to me with your cost. If intrested in teaching my son,...get back to me with this information below,,,
Full name..........
Full address.........
Phone number................
Thanks,

Email from Jide Samuel ([email protected]), reply to [email protected]. Almost the same message as above. Why does everyone feel the need to capitalize the words son or daughter?

Hello Teacher,

My Names are Jide Samuel , 46 years old from Cotonu(Benin Republic). I read your description on Craigslist.org and i am highly impressed and Interested in your lessons.I need a Lessons Teacher for my Daughter ( Rose ) and i got your advertisement on Craigslist when am searching via the Internet. My daughter will be coming down to your location for vacation and i don't want her to be less busy without doing something, and I have make decision that instead of her being less busy, she should be attending your lessons.

Rose is 18 years old and will be 19 years by Next Year June 14th ,she'll like to learn anything that come her way. So she will be coming for 3 hours a day (9am to 12pm) 5 times a weeks or at your leisure period, so I want you to calculate the cost for 4 weeks lessons and i will want us to make an arrangement for a Hotel or Motel for her in your area where she will be staying for the period of the vacations. And let me know if i can make subsequent amount to show commitment in this lessons.

If you are interested in Tutor my Daughter,... Kindly get back to me with this information below....

1.She will be coming for lessons 4 times a week....
2.Your Experienced In It....
3.Charge for an Hour.....
4.Total Charges for 4 weeks.....

And if you wish to get through to me via my yahoo Im , you can reach me on jidesamuel12345

Regards,
Mr Samuel

Anyways, I'll be sure to spread the word about ScamWarners. I'll be back to post again soon.
I'm going to go have some fun with my new potential students.

Take care.

Hi Matti

Thank you for adding this additional information on scammers, it does help to save many from falling prey to these lowlife theives, well done

Shouldn't the D be capitalized in Mcdowells?

Not necessarily. There is McLean and Mclean, for example. Different names, and even pronounced differently.
Erratic use of upper case does indicate a West African origin though.

Not necessarily. There is McLean and Mclean, for example. Different names, and even pronounced differently.
Erratic use of upper case does indicate a West African origin though.

Thanks for the update. Learn something new everyday. Perhaps next time I'll do some research before assuming.

Hi Matti

Thank you for adding this additional information on scammers, it does help to save many from falling prey to these lowlife theives, well done

Hi Ralph,

You're very welcome. However, there's no need to thank me. Better yet, thank you! A site like this definitely needs to exist. Perhaps one day there will be enough awareness out there to the point where there is no reason for these con-artists to exist. Well, we can only dream.

I actually found this site by running a google search and it pointed me to a specific thread that answered my questions on the spot. In the case that someone else finds themselves performing the same task, I wanted to make the information available to them. From my perspective ScamWarners is like that of a knowledgebase for Scam/fraud prevention. I figure, what use is a knowledgebase if you don't update it by adding your personal accounts? Therefore, I feel as though it's the only fair and just thing to do. To give knowledge in return for knowledge.

It's a bit of a minefield. I only knew because an old girlfriend belonged to the Clan McLean. I only mentioned it because in this case, erratic spelling doesn't mean a scammer.

FYI, I got a similar response to my math tutor ad. Looked suspicious and remembered "Google is your friend" and ended up here. Thanks to you guys it all ends with me ignoring the message. It would be fun to play it out but I have better things to do! I think it's funny that craigslist specifically warns against this kind of scam right at the top of the email!

---------------------------------
From: Matthew Medley <[email protected]>

** CRAIGSLIST ADVISORY --- AVOID SCAMS BY DEALING LOCALLY
** Avoid: wiring money, cross-border deals, work-at-home
** Beware: cashier checks, money orders, escrow, shipping
** More Info: http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams.html

--
Hello,

I hope you are doing fine today..Can you pls let me know if you are able to give lessons my Son and how much it will cost for a minimum time of 3hrs per week.

Pls get back to me asap so as to proceed with the arrangement.

Thanks


Matthew

Hi jdreyer,

Thank you for the additional information. It may help prevent other people falling victim to this scammer. Sadly many people either do not read or entirely ignore the warning provided by Craigslist. We're glad you did.

FYI I was recently scammed on craigslist I was selling a sax I thought that I investigated everything possible I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach that something wasn't right like first of all never ship out anything before you have money in hand don't fall for ship it out then contact paypal with the tracking # so they will credit your account I found out thats not how paypal does it if only I called them sooner but the kicker is now the shipment is in transit and I recieved an email from this person saying that paypal took more out of her account than they were suppose to so she wants me to western union her the difference RED FLAG went up and thats when I called paypal to look into this further sent all of my emails to [email protected] to find out its all a scam. The only thing is it went express mail through usps then its goes fedex and fedex told me if I can get their tracking # that I can stop the package so thats my only hope now I'm praying for that. this persons email address is [email protected] hope no one else falls for this scam.

Welcome to Scamwarners Cheryls.

I am sorry to hear you have been scammed, the only good news here is that had you not taken steps to check with PayPal you may have lost even more.

Ralph has put together an article on this type of scam which you can see by clicking here

The part where they insist they have overpayed by paypal is new to me, I have seen where they will insist that refundable fees need to be paid but this is new.

Scammers are constantly changing their tactics to sound more convincing/legitimate so thank you for bringing this to our attention.

If you could please post the emails and email addresses you received with your own details removed. This will help to prevent others from being scammed.

If you have any questions or concerns please post and a support team member will be glad to help you.

Hi Cheryl,
Welcome to ScamWarners

At the time I wrote that information piece on this type of scam they were not using this latest trick.

I can add a small section to the sticky to keep it current

Thank you

Editing to add

I have added this to the information

The scammers may also try to get you to send money
I have seen reports that after you send your item, they may try to encourage you to send them money as well.
This payment will normally be requested by Western Union.

I am aware of 2 methods they currently use to try to get your money after receiving your item;

1) They will contact you pretending to be from ebay and tell you that a refundable fee needs to be paid before you can receive your payment.

2) They will try to convince you using an email that appears to be from PayPal stating that a higher amount has been sent to you than you were meant to receive.
They will then ask you to return the overpayment, usually by Western Union

In particular point 2.

@ Cheryl, if this is not how the attempt was made could you please let me know so I can keep the information current and correct

Thank you

On 11/11/09, I posted an ad offering my math tutoring services. On the next day, 11/12/09, I received the following e-mail, through craigslist, from "Matthew Medley" at [email protected]:

--
Hello,

I hope you are doing fine today..Can you pls let me know if you are able to give lessons my Son and how much it will cost for a minimum time of 3hrs per week.

Pls get back to me asap so as to proceed with the arrangement.

Thanks

Matthew


The above message looks like a generic, canned response, used as the initial e-mail. It is vague and anonymous enough to elicit a response, without giving any specific details which could raise suspicion. The scam, however, becomes obvious in the next message I received from this impostor, in response to my reply. Instead of [email protected], used in the initial message, this second message now comes from [email protected]. The user name variations, numbering, and the two domain names, suggest that this person is creating single-use, disposable e-mail addresses to avoid getting caught. Here is the second message, received on 11/14/09:

Hi ,

Thanks for getting back to me and for your commitment..Just to introduce myself to you...I am Mathew Medley, a practicing Dental doctor...I was born and raised in Fresno,California, but am currently based in Manchester,United Kingdom with my wife and children where i work for with a private hospital..

My Son will be coming for a Vacation in the States,and i want him to be busy with his studies..Therefore, i just want to know if he can always come to you and teach him Math ( Algebra and Geometry ) 3 times a week of 1hr lesson per day...If this is possible,i will want you to get back to me with the cost of your teaching him for a month which can start as soon as he arrives...

He will be in the states in very soon and will be coming to your Place for 1 hour each morning/afternoon/evening..I do have someone that will always drive him down to your Place,i mean a Nanny or perhaps you can as well come to him..

My Son's name is Alex,he is 14 years old and he hardly excel in those aspects. I will want you to calculate 1 hour per day for Monday,Wednesday,Friday or you can as well set 3 days that suites your availability for a MONTH,and get back to me so that we can arrange on payment.Kindly get back to me with..
Thanks and waiting to read from you soon.

Matthew


The spelling and grammatical errors in this second message would not be typical of someone with the education level of a dentist. Furthermore, this person attempts to use a British vernacular, which contradicts the claim that he was born and raised in Fresno, California. Finally, why would someone send their 14 year-old son on vacation abroad, to Las Vegas, Nevada, of all places, where I happen to be located? This makes no sense. This is no doubt a scam. Instead of replying to this second message, I reported the scam and forwarded the messages to the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) at http://www.ic3.gov. For anyone else who is solicited by this impostor, please do likewise. Hopefully this person gets put in jail.

Welcome to Scamwarners mastermindancer. Thank You for posting this information.

It will alert and save others from being scammed. Well Done

Hi Mastermindancer

This is definately a scame email, well done ffor spotting it.

The scammers in this case will most likely be located in Africa, operating with fake names under the cover of an internet cafe.

Getting these people caught is near impossible and the scammers know it, even when they are caught they usually bribe their way out of it.

Billions of dollars pour in to Africa each year through these scams, the African governments are not terribly interested in stopping it.

A quick search on part of that email brings up another example of the same opening line, "I hope you are doing fine today..Can you pls let me know" Click Here to view the search result

It seems you are very well prepared to psot these scams but if you ever have any questions please dont hesitate to ask