Laptop repair scam

Ad found on Craigslist - PC Service Technician (Santa Ana)

Link:

Code: Select allhttp://orangecounty.craigslist.org/sof/4285046451.html

I submitted my resume for employment and received this email reply:

From: Adam Paige <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: PC Service Technician

Hello,

I need you to do the following on 9 of my HP laptops

1 Format Hard Drive
2 Install Windows 8
3 Install Microsoft Office Package
4 Norton Virus Software
5 Adobe Acrobat Reader
6 diagnose Hardware, Hard drive, video card, processor.

what is your service charge and time frame to get this done? Note that
we will provide you with all necessary software.

I replied to them and received this:

Your charges seems fair to me. I will prepare a Certified check for
you within the next 3 working days. It would be delivered to you via
USPS. As soon as you receive it I will make arrangement for the laptop
to be delivered to your place.

I need the following information in order to send the check and the laptops.

Name:
Address:
city:
zipcode:

Thanks

Note: I have already notified Craigslist due to the information I found here. I have stopped all communication with them. Thanks for the information. Keep up the good work.

Welcome rgsr! So glad that this information was helpful to you. Thanks for taking the time to post the information on the scammer you were in touch with so that it will help others! Let us know if you have any questions.

I've responded to the same posting and asking the person to call me to further discuss details.

Let's see how this goes. Will keep you posted. Just saw the posting 5 days ago.

THanks

Welcome pr337s! The listing is very definitely a scammer, and any payment would be fraudulent. I advise that you discontinue contact. Please let us know if you have questions about how the scam works.

I just got this, is there anyway to involve law enforcement and help get these guys caught?

Welcome to Scamwarners Quazel,

The scammers that operate these scams use fake names and free email providers. We really do not know who they are for real.

These scams are operated in different countries. In most cases they are not in the US.

Got this one the other day. Glad I found this site before proceeding any further. I have not yet received the check and have informed the sender that I no longer have the ability to work on their devices. I doubt this will dissuade him but that's the last he'll hear from me.

The email was from "Steven Snyder" with "Westernmark Captal Solution". The email address is "[email protected]" He even appears to have a g+ account set up for this address as well.

Hello
I have 8 of my company's laptops (HP 635). Below is a list of work needed to be done on each PC.
1 Format Hard Drive
2 Install Windows 7
3 Install Microsoft Office Package
4 Install Free AVG Virus Software
5 Install Adobe Acrobat Reader

I have back up files for all computers and Kindly get back to me with total cost for the service charges for all the 8 laptop, i mean how much total is your charges if you are to fixed all the laptop for me.

All computers are the same model,and I will be providing windows 7 Professional Cd and License keys.

Looking forward to read from you.
Regards.
CEO
Steven Snyder
westernmark capital Solution

Hope this helps someone else down the road. Thanks for such a great site!

Hi Everyone! I got the same email scam couple of days ago like this

I have 6 of my company's laptops (HP pavilion g6) for upgrading/reformatting, advice if this is part of your service line, Below is a list of work needed to be done on each Laptop.
1 Format Hard Drive
2 Install Win 7
3 Install Microsoft Office Package
4 Avast Virus Software
5 upgrade all computers from window vista Business to windows 7 professional.
I have back up files for all computers and Kindly get back to me with total cost for the service charges for all the 6 laptop, i mean how much is your charges if you are to fixed all the laptop for me.
All computers are the same model,and I will be providing all the windows 7 Professional Cd and License keys for all the 6 laptop.


Looking forward to read from you.
Regards.
Steven Snyder
Western Sizzlin Solution

I have received the Check of total amount $2950.57 yesterday even i haven't received any laptop yet so do anyone have any idea what i have to do with this check...i didn't send any money thru western union...

Please help me...

Arsalan

Welcome to Scamwarners archeema,

The check is either a complete fake or is stolen. The best thing to do is to shred the check and move one.

Never cash a check and send part of the money to another person because is always a scam.

If you have any additional questions about this scam please ask,

Thanks to all of you for the great information, i was about to complete the whole process and getting ripped off.

******I received this email after they had posted on craigslist:

I have 8 of my company's laptops (HP dv2500)for upgrading/reformatting, advice if this is part of your service line, Below is a list of work needed to be done on each Laptop.

1 Format Hard Drive
2 Install Win 7
3 Install Microsoft Office Package
4 AVG Virus Software
5 upgrade all computers from window vista Business to windows 7 professional.
I have back up files for all computers and Kindly get back to me with total cost for the service charges for all the 8 laptops, i mean how much is your charges if you to fixed all the laptop for me.
All computers are the same model,and I will be providing windows 7 Professional Cd and License keys.
Looking forward to read from you.
Regards.
CEO
Michael J. Long
Arrow Electronics Company

*******Then received this response:

Thank you for the prompt response,all i wanted you to do is to Format Hard Drive,Install Windows 7,Install Microsoft Office Package,remove Trojan virus that attacked all The computers and re install avg free anti virus Software and upgrade all computers from window vista Business to windows 7 professional and thank you for the price total of $480,it is okay,as far you are going to do a good job an obey our instruction that was given to you cus we have more laptop in future,I will instruct one of our clients near you to mail to you the payment of your charges which will be in excess form of a certified cashier's check 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. and if you are satisfied with the offer,please get back to me with your name and mailing address and also a valid phone number 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.
I will appreciate your quick response if you are satisfied with the offer
Looking forward to read from you.
Regards.
CEO
Michael J. Long
Arrow Electronic Company

*********Then his last response:
How are you doing today?? thanks for your usual cooperation and sorry for the late response,we have been busy working on a project we have at hand at the moment,i will like to inform you that the package containing your payment for repairing and shipping the laptop to your location has been sent to you via USPS with tracking number (9405501699320023########)you can track it on USPS website so as to know the delivery status.
As soon as you have receive the check which is a certified cashier check and the check is for ($2850)
Kindly visit your bank to deposit it into your bank account or through (ATM ELECTRONIC MACHINE), and the funds will be available for withdrawals 24hrs after it has been deposited and i will be waiting for the confirmation message if it is deposited.(kindly email me the deposit slip given to you after the check have been deposited into your account in other to make the funds AVAILABLE).As soon as you have the funds you are to deduct your charges for all the 8 laptops and KINDLY GO TO WALMART have the balance of the funds split into two and send the first half of the funds to the shipping agent VIA WESTERN UNION and send the other half Via MONEY GRAM
also,The first funds will be used to have them delivered to you and while the second will be used to have them picked up immediately you are done working on them,Also deduct the transfer charges from the funds to be available in minutes from the rest of the funds you are sending to the shipping agent,Immediately he received his payment he will shipped the laptop to you and have them picked up at your location when you are done working on them.Here is the shipping agents Information you will send the rest of the money to:
Name : Teresa Dustin
Address : 23S.Colby st
City : Valley Center
State : KS
Zipoce : 67147
Kindly get back with the transfer details as soon as it's completed and they will immediately ship the units to you as soon as shipping payment is made and they will also come over to pick up the laptops from your location once you have completed the
upgrading/reformatting.
Once the money has been sent,kindly get back to me with the western union transfer information like:
MONEY GRAM & WESTERN UNION REFERENCE NUMBER:
TEST QUESTION AND ANSWER:
Amount sent after MONEY GRAM Charges:
Sender Full Name And Address:
Looking forward to read from you.
Regards
C.E.O
****** At this point i have discontinue communication with this person, and i have received text messages stating they have sent me email and instructions on what to do*****

Please be aware of this people. thanks alot to all of you sharing your experiences.

Hello ririgo10,
I am happy to hear that your found us before you lost any money to these criminals. Please post the telephone numbers and email addresses used by this scammer. this information will make good search keys for others who may be searching for information on this scam.

If you have any additional questions about this scam please ask.

Hi I almost got trapped in to this too, luckily I checked with google just to make sure everything was ok. THANK GOD I FOUND THIS. Otherwise I would have been in such a sticky situation. Here is the email I received:

I really appreciate the prompt respond to my Email.I have been
contracted to fix up some HP laptops but at the moment am in
Hopkinsville KY attending to some other jobs. In view of this we
are looking to offer you this job and we want you to handle the
fixing of the laptops on agreed terms.

These are what need to be done on the laptops.

1. Format Hard Drive,
2. Instal Win 7,
3. Microsoft Office Package,
4. AVG Virus Software (Free Lifetime Updates)
5. Adobe Acrobat,
6. Diagnostics of the entire system after to check hard drive, cdrom,
floppy, etc.

So if you are capable of handling this get back to me with the
total cost for handling each unit based on a total cost of 7 Units.

And i have all the necessary software and license needed for the service
installations, Please kindly get back to me with your full name,address and
cell phone number immediately so that my secretary can prepare a check to you.

Note: I have a reliable shipper who will be responsible for the
delivery of the laptops to you and also the pick up after you have
completed the job. A check with excess amount on it will be sent to
you, all you need to do when you receive the check is to deduct your
service charge and send the rest fund via Money Gram to the Shipper
who will be shipping the Laptops to you as i will instruct you
later on.

I will be looking forward to hear from you...Thanks,
Catherine David.



I replied with the cost, and other personal details such as Name, Address, and Cell phone number. Hopefully they cant use any of those details against me. Kindly let me know if they can and what I can do to prevent it.

This is the follow up email I received:

I got your name and address.So be rest assured that the check will be
sent out to you via courier and i will let you know when exactly it
will deliver to you. One last important thing to note
I want you to know that it very important to make sure that all
payment arrangements are met as at when due by all parties involved.

In view of all this i discussed with my accountant and we have reached
a conclusion that the payment should be issued to you in your name to
save time and cost. I will get back to you with the tracking number
as soon the check is sent out.

All you will have to do is to receive the check,remove your own
amount as agreed including $100 i included for the running around
and gas fee you use to send the rest fund to the shipper and send
the rest to the shipper via western union or moneygram money
transfer who will be shipping the Laptops to you as i will instruct
you later on and i want a reassurance from you that you can handle
this project and also that the payment issued to you will be taken
care of promptly as agreed.

I will be looking forward to hear from you...Thanks.
Catherine David.

After this I checked google, and thankfully I found this post. And replied saying: "I apologize, I checked with my finance department and we are not able to take checks at this time. For the time being we are only able to take customers that are locally present here."

Hopefully this helps anyone else that might have got such a message. I will keep you all updated if anything else develops.

What email address did "Catherine David" use?

It is unlikely that this obviously African scammer will do anything with your name and address.

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for keeping me from falling right into a scammers trap. I received the following email yesterday and was pretty tired at the time so I didn't read it too carefully. Today I re-read the email and started doing some checking because it didn't seem quite right.


linda orsborne <[email protected]>
6:24 PM (19 hours ago)

Hello <removed> MW
I have 8 of my company's laptops (HPdv2700).i will be providing all the Windows 7 professional Cd,License keys and Microsoft Office,Below is a list of work needed to be done on each PC.
1 Format Hard Drive
2 Install Windows 7
3 Install Microsoft Office Package
4 Install Free AVG Virus Software
5 Install Adobe Acrobat Reader

I have back up files for all computers and Kindly get back to me with your total cost for the service charges for all the 8 laptop, i mean how much total is your charges if you are to fixed all the laptop for me.

All computers are the same model,and I will be providing windows 7 Professional Cd and License keys.

Looking forward to read from you.
Regards.
Michael .C. Hullander
Hightech-solutions


Thanks for the heads up everyone, I hope this helps others out in the future also.

The following email shows how the scam works. The scammer will have a fake check sent to you for more than the amount of the repair and asks that you send the overpayment to his shipping agent via Western Union.

Email from Michael Hullander [email protected]

Hello
Thank you for the prompt response,all i wanted you to do is Format Hard Drive,Install Windows 7,Install Microsoft Office Package,Install Free AVG Virus Software and Install Adobe Acrobat Reader and thank you for the price total of $1,100,it is okay,I will instruct one of our clients near you to mail to you the payment of your charges which will be in excess form of a certified cashier's check which you will deduct your fee and have all the rest money sent to the shipping agent via western union,please do get back to me with the following:

FULL NAME...
ADDRESS.....
CITY........
STATE.......
ZIP CODE....
PHONE NUMBER.....

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

Looking forward to read from you.
Regards.
Michael .C. Hullander
Hightech-solutions

Additional information on this type of scam.
http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/01 ... variations