African Grey Parrot

Hey Guys,

Registered to alert people do a probable scam here in Scotland!

An African Grey Parrot was advertised in a Freecycle site for 'free to good home' and I emailed it for details and register an interest. At this point, I had no idea how much the parrots were actually worth. Anyway, after getting a reply, something did not sit correct with me. I went and used google to check out details of price, try to track email addy and done a local search on the surname of the email sender. Price suggested that no-one without exceptional reason would actually give one away freely, the name is not within the area and could not get a lead on the email addy.

On further discussions via email, I noticed they were wishing to gain information on all my details and have me pay for transport costs from London, the other side of the UK. Alarm bells and then more google work revealed this is a scam...the language is similar to known scams and I came here to red flag it to save others frome being caught out!

Here is the emails...hopefully it is of some help and picked up via net searchers to help others..

From: Charles Kimberly
To: Ryan *******
Sent: Friday, March 30, 2012 1:36 PM
Subject: RE: African Grey Parrot


Hello,
Thanks for the mail The Parrot is still available .She is home train, hand fed and well tame.. She loves to be pampered with her and above all keeps to instructions especially in English. She is DNA tested and will be coming with all vet documents and with cage food toys and food. She is very friendly and loving.She loves the company of kids and other
pets at home.... She has been hand raised since she was 14 days old and is played with every day, so she is very well socialized for human interaction! She will make an excellent companion.She is been fed only with high quality foods.This lovely parrot has been weaned onto Zupreem Avian Maintenance Pellets, Nutriberries, Avicakes, fruits, veggies,homemade parrot foods, and more! She is called Bella and she is 3 years old.her vocabulary consists of hello, I love you, look at me, Thank you,goodbye, ok, ouch and loves dancing when you sing to her. She loves giving kisses and getting kisses back. She is constantly surrounded by my children 3/5/6 and a dog, cat and a pup. She comes with all her toys. She is not a plucker ,We want her to go to a good home.I love Bella and I am trying to place her in the best home possible.

Hope you wont mind if i ask you a few questions:
Do you have kids?
Do you have any experience with Birds?
Are you a breeder or will you breed her in the future if i let you have her?
Will you send us updates about her from time to time and pictures?

I am just being concerned about the type of home she will be going to ,so that is why i am curious to know. I love her so much and we want to make sure goes to a family that will show her the affection she deserves. Thanks.

Hi,
Thanks for keeping me posted and for rightly answering the questions.I am glad i could find such a home like yours for the little girl.I believe you will offer her the best of love.I am giving the parrot free to a loving and caring family .i am doing this in deep pains and tears but there is less i can do as i will be leaving to Australia for work. my fear is that might be i will not be able to get the best of home for the parrot. are you sure you can provide the best for the parrot?
I can arrange with a transportation agency that will come over with her to your address so that you pay the expenses directly to the agency? which do you prefer? i presently live in London,Merton and will be sending the parrot from here. what do you think? get back so that we can sort this out please .attached are pictures of the parrot .Thank you for your time and expect to read from you soon.If you are ready to get the parrot , I will need your Full address,Phone number and names in full to complete the transportation requirements . with all that i will do the transfer of ownership documents when you send the details.

thanks

The email addy of the scammer is - [email protected]

The emails orinatge from [41.202.197.169] which is Cameroon, Africa.

He is gonna love this email i sent him from a ghost acct I have...

'Ello Piker,
Do you still 'ave that parrot you advertised ?...I live in Newcastle I do and want to 'ave a parrot to go with me Pirate suit,
Write me back.
Cheers Mate,
Billy

Really funny. I was looking through Google after an ad for Blue and yellow macaws on Freecycle and a tip about them selling african greys too. I end up here.

The person I dealt with wanted just money for transportation. they also seemed to think merton and belfast were in the same area! And strangely the email address of the person in question is [email protected], goes by the name of Camille Kimberly. Which is very simialr to the detaisl you state.

Also check out the first line of the email

'Hello,

Thanks for the mail The Parrot is still available ..She is home train, hand fed and well tame..

Seems a little too much of a coincidence. And without sounding discriminative, their langauge grasp was terrible throughout the emails, that was until the last email I sent with much suspicion asking for her exact location and date stamped pictures of the bird. The reply I got was worded with perfect english and grammar.

And now having read all of your post, I note that the emails are exactly the same, word for word!

Hi everyone,

Thank you so much for waking me up. Please assist me to find this person who claims to be an actress and stuff .. her email is [email protected] . I also got to chat with the persona and she said that the parrot would come with all the documents and i need to pay the 350 dollars only upon receiving. I feel its not true . Please provide me some guidance. Thank you so much.

The Email :

Hello
Thanks for the mail and interest in these male and
female offspring.
I'd like you to know that these parrots are still
available and ready to take your home.
Also to let you know that these parrots are not for sale
all I need for these parrots is a good home and
care.

I am giving these parrots out due to the nature of my
work that is too long to serve.
I am an international film producer and actress
Also the only person who was taken care of
these parrots for me is my daughter, who died three weeks in a
car accident while returning from school.
So every time I see these parrots its brings me sad
memories of my daughter and which help to bring down my career.
So some of my friends with whom I work with, advise that i seek
a loving home that will take care of these beautiful birds for
me as children since i can no longer give them the love and care
they need as before.

I'd like to let you know that these parrots are vet
checked, vaccinated and registered.
They are called Rex and ROW and I am offering as a gift
because for me, pets are like children and as such can not
sell.
They are 18 weeks old.

So I'm giving as a gift to anyone who is ready to show
them the love and care they need.

So before taking these parrots, I want to know a few
things about you which are,

Where are you located?
Are you a breeder?
Do you have children?
Are you a veteran?
Do you have children because they enjoy the company of children and other
house hold pets?
Have you ever had a parrots before?

I will be happy to read behind you and to let you know that
I'll get back to you with more photos of these parrots in response
to this email.

Thanks again for the interest of these parrots.
Expect a response from you soon.
Greetings.



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You are absolutely right to be suspicious.

This is a scammer who has no parrots to sell. "She" is using the story of a dead daughter to make her seem more trustworthy and sympathetic (though frankly it doesn't even do that, as it would be hard to feel sympathy towards a mother complaining about her dead daughter affecting her career!) In reality "she" is a young African male.

Hi ,

Thank you for the confirmation. What should I do if she says that I can pay the charges upon complete delivery I t birds or some crap .

The whole point of the scam is to convince you to send money for birds the scammer doesn't have. There will always be a reason you have to pay something in advance. The scammer might offer to ship the birds without charging you, and "she" may even tell you they are shipped (and might direct you to a fake tracking system so you can "track" the birds). But then you will suddenly get a message from the "shipping company" or "customs" or someone else, claiming there is a problem with the shipment and you must send money to fix it.

Whatever the reason, in the end the only certainty about this scam is that you will be asked to part with money without having received any birds.