Scammer: [email protected] via Gumtree

Dear all,

I am new here and this is my first post.

I have been purchasing online for many years, primarily through ebay. Although I am usually weary of fraudulent emails and have not much problem identifying them, I have recently let my guard down and came close to falling prey to an online scam.

Here are parts of the exchange (forgive me but I am unfamiliar with using codes):

From: [email protected]
Hello how are you doing today,i want to know if this item is still
available for sale reply asap..

From: Kolo Toure <[email protected]>
Hello i am Mr K Toure from United State Of America how are you today and how are
your families ? hope all is good ? well i am interested in buying the item for my daughter in London, because it my daughter that need it and i hope she would like it , so kindly get to me with the total
cost of the item including the shipping cost to her address below with post office, i pay through either Paypal or Bank transfer ok reply soon.

First Name :Janice
Last Name -Gerrard
Address: flat 4-18,boxing house Greenwich
City-London
Zip-Code : SE10 0ES
Country : United Kingdom

Thanks and have a blessed day

Hello am happy to tell you that I have made the payment into your paypal account,kindly check your email both inbox,spam and junk email for the payment confirmation from paypal what you have to do now is that you get the item shipped and send the Shipment receipt and Tracking Number to paypal for verification and after paypal verify the Shipment the money will be fully credit into your account thanks reply asap..

I received an email from [email protected] but it appears as [email protected] under the "from" heading in my inbox. Because of the word "paypal" in the address line, the email was filtered into my paypal folder. This email was sent twice but I was careless in not realising that was a red flag.

This email said:

Dear Valued Customer,

This message is originated from paypal company. We have received an order from our client ([email protected]) making a payment into your paypal account ([email protected])

Description:GOODS
Amount -$xxx

Buyers Verified Shipping Address
First Name :Janice
Last Name -Gerrard
Address: flat 4-18,boxing house Greenwich
City-London
Zip-Code : SE10 0ES
Country : United Kingdom

The payment has been successfully made but due to security reason we have to receive the shipment tracking number before the next 72 hours for the processing of your order.

This a new measure we are taking to protect both our sellers and buyers against fraudulent customers.
Once you have shipped the item send us the shipment tracking number for verification after the number has< /span> verify your account will be credited instantly.This PayPal® payment has been deducted from the buyer's account and has been "APPROVED" but will not be credited to your account until the shipment reference/tracking number is sent to us for< /span> shipment verification so as to secure both the buyer and the seller. Below are the necessary information requested before your account will be credited. Send tracking number to us or email us through this mail [email protected]


**PLEASE NOTE **
Once shipment has been verified and the tracking number sent to us, You will receive a "CONFIRMATION Email" from PayPal® informing you that the Money has< /span> been credited.
Note: eBay and Paypal will be responsible for the item loss or damage once we recieve the tracking number
Thank you for using PayPal!
The PayPal Team

Again I was careless in noticing the grammatical errors and the unusual new practice. I also checked my paypal account but no transaction or notice was made but I didn't think much of it then. I dropped the item off at the post office, got a tracking number and replied. Fortunately, I then realised the email originated from @usa.com instead of @paypal.com, did a quick google on [email protected] and realised I had been scammed. I rushed immediately to the post office and recovered my item and received a full refund of the postage.

His latest email reads:

Hello ,
Thanks For the Shipment.
Now i just received a notification from the PayPal about our order , Is it true that this is the first time you are receiving a money transfer from usa ??? your account is not yet activated ??? im not happy about this at all, because your account needs to be activated before you can take the transfer from PayPal USA ,PayPal has debited the account activations fees which is USD-410 from my account ...

Now your account is activated anyway , U only need to send back the USD-410 via western union to the provided address which i believe PayPal should have sent to you by now and send the western union receipt and information to PayPal....

The USD-410 is just a form of verifications (As said by the PayPal) it will be credited back into your account with the SGD-265, so total you will get in your account after you have transfer the USD-410 via western union and send the western union receipt and information to the paypal is USD-410+SGD-265......Hope u know western union office in your area?

My most Consign now is the Western Union Charges,am not happy to pay it but i have no choice.

Here is the Information for you to make the refund below.
First Name:Christopher
Last Name:Oti
Address:No-7-99 Garden platia amerikis
City:Attiki
State:Athens
Zip-Code:10446
Country:Greece


Let me know when it's done!

Regards!

I then read about scambaiters and find this very interesting. I have not replied to him yet and he has no idea that I'm onto him as the tracking number that I had sent earlier still works. I am very tempted to try scambaiting out. Would any expert care to lend a hand?

Hello johndoe142367, Welcome to Scamwarners.

I am glad that you realized it was a scam and was able to retrieve your merchandise. Most are not so lucky. It is very common for these thieves to try to extract more by asking you to send money after you have shipped your 'item'.

If the scammer has any of your real life details please drop him. If you want to bait him go to our sister site http://www.419eater.com and learn how to do it properly. They are very helpful there.

Thank you for reporting this. It will help others avoid this scammer.

I have a very similar experience!

Exact same email messages were used. I think it's a template, then only the subject changes, depending on what item they're buying.

Some things to look out for:
1. No mention of what item he is buying in the email body.
- Lucky me, the item he wanted was out of stock, so I was asking him to choose between other available items. He never chose, even when he 'paid' for the item.
2. "Paypal confirmation email" is in a very distorted template.
- Lucky me, I have transacted with Paypal before and have an email to compare against. Difference becomes very obvious then. A capital [email protected] versus a small letter [email protected] (real). I'll paste the rest of the body here: (It does'nt show here but the body is full of logos of paypal, as if to further convince you of it's authenticity)

Dear Valued Customer,

This message is originated from paypal company. We have received an order from our client ([email protected]) making a payment into your paypal account (your account here)

Description:GOODS

Amount - (amount here)

Buyers Verified Shipping Address
First Name :Anne
Last Name :Balson
Address:No:7-99 garden platia amerikis
City:Attiki
State:Athens
Zip-Code:10446
Country:Greece

The payment has been successfully made but due to security reason we have to receive the shipment tracking number before the next 72 hours for the processing of your order.

This a new measure we are taking to protect both our sellers and buyers against fraudulent customers.
Once you have shipped the item send us the shipment tracking number for verification after the number has verify your account will be credited instantly.This PayPal® payment has been deducted from the buyer's account and has been "APPROVED" but will not be credited to your account until the shipment reference/tracking number is sent to us for shipment verification so as to secure both the buyer and the seller. Below are the necessary information requested before your account will be credited. Send tracking number to us or email us through this mail [email protected]


**PLEASE NOTE **
Once shipment has been verified and the tracking number sent to us, You will receive a "CONFIRMATION Email" from PayPal® informing you that the Money has been credited.
Note: eBay and Paypal will be responsible for the item loss or damage once we recieve the tracking number
Thank you for using PayPal!
The PayPal Team

PayPal, an eBay company
Copyright‚© 2005-2009 PayPal. All rights reserved.


PayPal, an eBay company
Copyright © 2005-2007 PayPal. All rights reserved.
PayPal (America) Ltd. is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority in the United States as an electronic money institution.

3. "ASAP" at every end of email message.
- This particularly alerted me because there was no charm to it. He wanted it rushed and kept rushing me. I started to feel suspicious because he was pushing me to overlook some steps and just ship his item.

Anyway, I have emailed him back saying no such payment has been received through my Paypal account. He emailed back insisting that I should have received Paypal confirmation email by now.

I think you have received the Payment Confirmation from PayPal and it
is said there that you have to ship the Item first and send the
tracking number to PayPal and after PayPal get the tracking number
your account will be credit with the money thanks

I've also reported this incident to Paypal, I'm waiting for their reply before I deal with this scammer.

Just a warning guys, always verify payment before shipping out. Customer service should not come at our (sellers) expense.

Welcome to ScamWarners cpieces. You give some good advice. I hope you will listen to some good advice too. Do not try to deal with this scammer. He had information about you and it is not worth taking the chance he could do something with that information.

It is great that you realized this was from a scammer and that you posted the information here. If you want to learn to mess with scammers go over too www.419eater.com.

Thank god I found this post, this scammer is so persistent.
He emailed me as well.

Hello i am Mr J Balson from United State Of America how are you
today and how are
your families ? hope all is good ? well i am interested in buying the
item for my daughter in Greece (EUROPE), because it my daughter that
need it and i hope she would like it , so kindly get to me with the
total
cost of the item including the shipping cost to her address below with
post office, i pay through either Paypal or Bank transfer ok reply
soon.


First Name :Anne
Last Name :Balson
Address:No:7-99 garden platia amerikis
City:Attiki
State:Athens
Zip-Code:10446
Country:Greece



Thanks and have a blessed
day.

Welcome to ScamWarners comiccat and thank you for posting. Did this message come from the same email address as listed above? If not, please post the email address.

Yes, scammers work all of the time. They consider scamming to be their "job", so they keep going. Often, they purchase of steal a script from another scammer. That is one reason the emails are the same. Yes, scammers are an infection to the internet.

hi i have the same issue


From: [email protected]
Hello how are you doing today,i want to know if this item is still
available for sale reply asap..


Kan Bongo [email protected] to me

Hello i am Mr J Balson from United State Of America how are you today and how are
your families ? hope all is good ? well i am interested in buying the item for my daughter in Greece (EUROPE), because it my daughter that need it and i hope she would like it , so kindly get to me with the total
cost of the item including the shipping cost to her address below with post office, i pay through either Paypal or Bank transfer ok reply soon.


First Name :Janet
Last Name :Balson
Address:No:10 parkson platinum amerikis
City:Attiki
State:Athens
Zip-Code:10446
Country:Greece

Thanks and have a blessed
day


Kan Bongo [email protected] to KS
+306954761379...That is my daughter number that will be on the parcel thanks

--- i think some our friends must be very caeful for this kind of people----

i got the same email too...

Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2011 01:46:37 -0800
From: [email protected]
Subject: RE: Reply to your "Adidas Originals collection signed by Kazuki ?uraishi ZX MOCC" Ad on Gumtree
To: Removed personal information. ~Bubbles

Hello i am Mr J Balson from United State Of America how are you today and how are
your families ? hope all is good ? well i am interested in buying the item for my daughter in Greece (EUROPE), because it my daughter that need it and i hope she would like it , so kindly get to me with the total
cost of the item including the shipping cost to her address below with post office, i pay through either Paypal or Bank transfer ok reply soon.


First Name :Janet
Last Name :Balson
Address:No:10 parkson platinum amerikis
City:Attiki
State:Athens
Zip-Code:10446
Country:Greece



Thanks and have a blessed
day

Hi Guys,

I have suffered from this scam and worse still, they asked me to pay a USD900 stating it is an account activation fee before the money is transferred to me.

Currently, the item has been sent and according to the tracking number, the item has been received at destination transit centre (USA) but it was not collected yet.

Anybody here has any recommendation as to how can i recover my item or recover my money.

I feel so stupid falling into this scam:(

Welcome to ScamWarners jaywong, I am sorry to hear that you were taken in by this scammer. If the package has been delivered, there is little chance of recovering the item. You may contact the shipper and tell them what has happened. You may also contact the police and see if they can guide you. I am assuming the item was shipped to an address in the country you live in. If the item was shipped to another country, there is nothing the police will be able to do.

Because scammers hide behind anonymous email accounts, don't provide their real names of locations and are almost always in a different country from where you are, there is not much hope to retrieve your money or item.

I do want to caution you that some times scammers will come back to a victim who has lost money with a Recovery scam, in which they claim they can get your money back for you. All you have to do is send them some money. Don't fall for this kind of scam either.