PC Repair for Brian Jones

I advertised on craigslist for computer repair and got the following email:

Hello,

I have 7 of my company's laptops (HP dv2500)for upgrading/reformatting, advice if both is part of your service line . All i need is you to remove Trojan virus that attacked all seven computers and re install avg free anti virus, And i want you to upgrade all computers from window vista Business to windows 7 professional. i have back up files for all computers,They have been attacked by various Trojan. Kindly advise the service charges for all the 7 laptop computers asap.

All computers are the same model,i want AVG home edition free anti virus,I will be providing windows 7 Professional Cd and License keys.


Looking forward to read from you.
Regards.

CEO
Brian Jones
BRIANECHTECH O Computer Systems, Inc

I then replied that I would charge $120 for the work on all 7 Laptops. He then responded with this:

Hello,

Thank you for the prompt response,all i wanted is you to remove Trojan virus that attacked all seven computers and re install avg free anti virus, And i want you to upgrade all computers from window vista Business to windows 7 professional. thank you for the price : total of $120 , it is ok. I will instruct one of our clients near you to mail to you the payment/your charges which will be in form of a certified cashier's check, please do get back to me with your name and mailing address as to been written on the payment and also the laptops will be mailed to you as soon as my shipping agent gets all of the faulty units together from our various offices. Also the payment will be in amount of your money for repairing the system and shipment fee to dispatch the devices down to your location and you will deduct your fee and have all the rest money sent to the shipping agent via western union.


I will appreciate your quick response if you are satisfied with the offer



Regards.

CEO
Brian Jones
BRIANECHTECH O Computer Systems, Inc

It's very odd that he's not shipping directly from his business, nor sending the Shipping Fees to his "Shipping agent" (That's a buzz phrase to look for in any scam.) Who uses a shipping agent? Why is it a cashier's check? Why not one from his company? And craigslist ads are for local area jobs. Furthermore, who ships 7 laptops to a perfect stranger? What an Idiot!!

I guess his "Computer Systems" corporation doesn't know how to work on it's own computers!!

I replied to that same posting...and got the same email back as well as 2 other emails. I got an email today saying the check would be mailed to me this morning by fedex, and sure enough when I got home it was here. its a pretty big check too. I'm supposed to go cash or deposit it, subtract my fee and wire the rest back by western union. then the laptops will be shipped to me. I didn't get home in time to go to the bank so I haven't done anything yet (not sure if I would've yet anyways). I'm kind of iffy about this, but I mean as long as the check gets cashed, I get my money and send the rest back, could anything really happen? (oh and I thought the same thing about a computer company not being able to fix it themselves!...) have you done anything more? and should I?

Hi heidio182, Do not cash the check! It is a fake.

That's the scam angle, they get you to process the bogus check at your bank, then wire real cash to themselves or one of their accomplices. Once your bank discovers the fraud, it'll be you who will have to cover the difference.

so where do I go from here? do I burn the check? send it back? I have no idea what to do. if I would of known the check was gonna be like that I never would of emailed him back

Here are your options...

Burn it.
Take it to the police and tell them it's fake.
Take it to the bank and tell them it's fake.
Mark it as fake (just in case) and keep it as a memento about how you were nearly scammed.

haha OK. thanks a lot for your help. I knew something was fishy. so I don't have to worry about anything happening as long as I don't go cash the check, right? i can just burn it and go on with my life like this never happened? (my husband has kinda been freaking out.)

The same person tried scamming me again!!!

I got 7 Pentium IV dell laptops . Below are the things needed to be done one on each laptops.

1 Format Hard Drive
2 Install Win Xp with Service Pack 2
3 Microsoft Office Package
4 AVG Virus Software (Free Lifetime Updates)
5 Adobe Acrobat
6 Laptop Cleaning of the keyboard, screen and other case.
7 Diagnostics of the entire system after to check hard, cdsrom, floppy,
etc. Get back to me with your total cost for the services of 7 Laptops. I will pay you with a certified check .

I await your urgent response so that i can make Moving arrangements and payment as soon as possible....
Thanks


Nicholas

He can't spell and I guess he doesn't know that there is a SP3 for XP. What an Idiot!!

... so I don't have to worry about anything happening as long as I don't go cash the check, right? i can just burn it and go on with my life like this never happened? ..

Yes Mark it down as a learning experience and be watchful about it happening again. It's pretty much assured that you'll get more of these scammers targetting you. Just ignore them or delete their emails.

I got another email saying he was going to take legal action. and that he has my address and ill hear from his attorney soon and he has better people to take the job, and also that im letting lots of important clients down. and he finished the email with" thanks for the disappointment, David" wait I thought his name was brian?... he"s just trying to scare me right?

Yes, he's just trying to scare you. Scammers will regularly threaten people with law enforcement action. He'd obviously never go to law enforcement since he's the one committing a crime. Any "attorney" would just be him using another email address. You have nothing to worry about.

We have more information about this laptop repair scam in the Scams targeting businesses forum, here: viewtopic.php?f=43&t=24038

To add to what Jillian said--sometimes the scammers will even send you fake letters from the police or FBI.

All of these things are simply the scammers' attempts to get you to cash the fake check. Just ignore them completely.

thanks so much for all yalls help! very glad I found this site!

This scam has given me some new insight on how to handle the people doing these scams. Now I just reply with an email calling them what they are and that they're idiots. I never hear from them again. No threats, Nothing. Maybe this just pushes them elsewhere, but the FTC is not following up on any of these scams. Nobody is chasing them down. Laws look great on paper, kinda like FEMA. Lots of talk about it, but no action. So the moral of this story is you can only protect yourself and share information on blogs like this. If I had the time and resources, I'd chase some of these jerks down myself.

glad I search before I respond to stuff because this scammer is still at it.

The first few things that tipped me off were the fact that the email was actually brianjonesrepairit when it was a foreign name attached to it. Then the response I received.

I have 10 of my company's laptops (HP dv2500)for upgrading/reformatting, advice if both is part of your service line . All i need is you to remove Trojan virus that attacked all seven computers and re install avg free anti virus, And i want you to upgrade all computers from window vista Business to windows 7 professional. i have back up files for all computers,They have been attacked by various Trojan. Kindly advise the service charges for all the 10 laptop computers asap.

All computers are the same model,i want AVG home edition free anti virus,I will be providing windows 7 Professional Cd and License keys.


Looking forward to read from you.
Regards.

CEO

Brian Jones
BRIANPRVTTECH O Computer Systems, Inc

Tell me that doesn't scream scam.

Welcome to ScamWarners blueyestm and yes, it is a screaming scam! Thank you for posting it.