Scams Targeting Yacht Charter Businesses

Hi Guys,

A very "precise" scam attempt is on right now. i was sent an email by John Howard [mailto:[email protected]] asking for boat charter in october. he seems to be very generous even at the very beginning. i will not make him to understand that i have already understood that he is a scammer. i will wait till his final bunch of requests like withdrawing cash from credit card and sending a portion of it to him via WU. i have the full headers etc of his email. is there any way to get this guy arrested? i will keep my correspondence fresh with him but i'd like to know if there is a way to conduct the communication to a specific level where he would be arrested at the end of his game? any suggestion is welcome.

one more thing... we are all here to identify scams and scammers just to alert people and arrange them to stay away from these idiots' traps. what occurred to me the other day is, there may be scammers within scamwarners.com as well. i think site managers should consider this threat too. under any circumstance, keep yr eyes and ears open. sometimes the costly losses may lead people to blindness and deafness. stay safe and be careful..

Welcome to Scamwarners.
Getting scammers arrested is just about impossible. His IP address will likely belong to a West African Internet cafe and your local police aren't going to start an international investigation to try and track down an anonymous scammer, especially when you haven't actually been scammed. The best you can do is report the credit card details as compromised.
We can't stop scammers reading the forums or joining Scamwarners, but the few that do join, don't last long. 17 minutes in the case of "site_admin". viewtopic.php?f=4&t=2015&p=8707#p8707
I'm not going to go into how "staff" are appointed here, but it's absolutely impossible for a scammer to get that far.

I have received the same mail from John Howard. After a number of emails, I have decided to google "John Howard" and found this web site - great! I have a yacht charter business and get a lot of these scams.

This is an example:
-----Original Message-----
From: John Howard [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Thursday, September 09, 2010 6:25 AM
Subject: Booking Enquiry
hello,
I want to inquire if you have boat available for reservation on the 23rd to 30th of October,2010.Do check if its available for the week stated above and get back to me.The number of guest to expect is 6,also confirm if it will be suitable for 6 guests.
Warm regards,
John Howard.
Scotland .
+44 703 592 5708

All e-mail enquiries that show a +44 (0)70 for telephone contact captaincarlo can be tossed in the trash can immediately.

It's a UK telephone redirect service that passes calls on to any part of the world and it's a service used a lot by scammers, and there's no reason for a bona fide person to use it.

Scammers use other services and some may have regular landlines but the +44 (0)70 ones are scammers.

They are using a similar method for hotels as well.

Name: Mr George Smith
Email address: [email protected]
Phone Number: +447024041464

Comments and Requests:
Dear sir

I want to make a reservation in your facility for four (4) Expertriates from
Greece who will be visiting your country for a seven(7)day vacation holiday/religious
programme in the month of October 2010.Find below my booking details:

Arrival Date : 27th October 2010
Departure Date: 3rd November 2010
Number of guests: 4 persons
Number of rooms: 4 singles or 2 doubles.
Types of rooms: standard or deluxe or suite
Number of Nights: 6

Kindly confirm availability and get back to me with the cost so we can make a deposit for

the rooms to be reserved for them. I am waiting for your swift response.
Await your swift response

Regards,

George Smith
(Regional Chairman)

ERSTE FOUNDATION UK
164, Chatsworth Rd
London E5 0LT
England
Tel: +447024041464
Fax: +448447748760
Email :[email protected]

Welcome to Scamwarners. It's the same scam, but not necessarily the same scammer. It will pay with stolen credit card details then ask for a partial refund by Western Union as some of the participants can't attend.

This is too Funny!

As a charter boat captain, I received the same email from Mr. Howard.

The guy is an idiot and I knew it was a scam when he is trying to book a cruise in the middle of winter as I am in the Northern Part of the US. Nobody wants to boat in November and December. This guy really does his homework.

I have been having a little fun and going along with everyone. I am at the point where he has sent me his credit card information.

I am almost tempted to run it and see if it goes through for the $15K booking that he is looking to do and keep the money and see if I can scam him by continuously saying the money has been sent. I am sure that the credit card has been stolen or some other form of BS. I am sure that he would put a stop payment on the card.

The interesting fact is that when I checked out the credit card, I was told that it was a US bank issued card, so I may have some backing.

Oh, the scam is that his travel agent does not accept credit cards and he would like me to send the travel agent $5K of the $15K to pay for his guests airfare.

Thank you to everyone for sharing!

Hi, CaptainChris! Glad you found us, and glad you saw it as a scam.

If the scammer contacted you at your real-life email address, please drop him. As ridiculous as his emails may seem, these guys are dangerous criminals, and it's better to be safe if your real life info is involved.

If you're interested in emailing advance fee fraudsters for the purpose of wasting their time and resources, I'd like to direct you to our sister site, http://www.419eater.com. There's a huge community of scambaiters there that can teach you the basics to baiting safely.

Welcome CaptainChris!

I am at the point where he has sent me his credit card information.

Oh, the scam is that his travel agent does not accept credit cards and he would like me to send the travel agent $5K of the $15K to pay for his guests airfare.

We see these scams targetting merchants or people who offer services and can accept credit card payments. The victim of this scam would be the credit card owner or if the charges are contested by him/her as fraudulent, the credit card company. The card company would then come back to you as the business that charged the card. The card details are stolen from an innocent person. He wants you to process the charge to the card and wire the money to his supposed agent. The credit card needs to be reported as stolen. You can call the card company to report it or send me the information in a private message and I will report it for you.

As Fred has mentioned, it's not a good idea for you to continue to string along the scammer using your real information. Please do check out 419Eater.com.

I have been scammed by the same individual asking for a boat trip on the Lake and since we are small company we asked for a bank TT. Same words in every mail, same request of Credit Card Payment.

Welcome here sailonthelake.

I'm sorry you got scammed. Did you loose any money? Or did you get suspicious too before it went too far?

Hi,

I am new one here on this site and I came here because I checked some info from my email that I have received about yacht charter and here I have seen that some people also had the same requests.
Here is what I have received:

Hello,

Do you have boat available for booking from November 14 - 20 2010.The
number of guest to expect is 6 people.

Get back to me if you have opening for reservation during my stated date.

Warm Regards,

Robert Fletcher
16 Blythswood Square
Glasgow
G2 4HJ
Scotland
+44(0)-703-592-5708

Welcome Vanja. It sounds as if you already know this is a scam, but for visitors who may not know--there is no doubt that it is indeed a scam. Thank you for posting it here, as it will help to alert others who may not be aware of how these scams work.


Can you also post the email address it came from?

As a side note, any UK phone number that starts with "070" is a redirect number. That means that any calls placed to that number will be redirected to another phone -- anywhere in the world.

There is no valid reason for someone actually based in the UK to need a redirect number, so that alone is a HUGE red flag whenever you are evaluating whether an offer is legitimate or not.

just got this email which is identical to one posted by Vanja on Sept 23rd:

Hello,

Do you have boat available for booking from November 14 - 20 2010.The
number of guest to expect is 6 people.

Get back to me if you have opening for reservation during my stated date.

Warm Regards,

Robert Fletcher
16 Blythswood Square
Glasgow
G2 4HJ
Scotland
+44(0)-703-592-5708

His email address is listed as Robert Fletcher [email protected]

I aslo get a few of these scams as a charter boat captain - I guess occasionally they get through...