Copyright ©1997-2008 Glenn Fleishman except as noted otherwise. All rights reserved. For permission to reprint, contact Glenn Fleishman at glenn at glennf.com. Photo © 2008 Laurence Chen; used with permission.
Copyright ©1997-2008 Glenn Fleishman except as noted otherwise. All rights reserved. For permission to reprint, contact Glenn Fleishman at glenn at glennf.com. Photo © 2008 Laurence Chen; used with permission.
Turning technology from mumbo-jumbo into rich tasty gumbo
� The End of Miss Jean Brodie | Main | We Just Don't Get the Same Quality of Car Thief We Used To �I've written (and others, too) about how Nigerians aren't just trying to hook people with "I am the son of the former dictator" money-transfer scams, but they also defraud bookstores in the U.S. They typically place special orders, use stolen credit-card numbers or forged cashier's checks, receive shipment, and then resell to Russia and other places. Very strange scams. (Here's a good two-year old article. I wrote about it around the same time.)
I got my latest in email today; I get these because I run isbn.nu, a book-price comparison service. I wrote back to the scamster explaining their schemes are well known and, surprise!, got a response.
From: Tolu Adekunle <rashos07@yahoo.com>
Subject: Mail Order Needed ASAP........
>Hello Sales,
> This is Tolu Adekunle, I am highly interested in purchasing
>order from your store to my store in Nigeria and i will like you to
>give me the cost of the order listed below and i will like to pay with my accept credit card info as method of payment. Look forward to hear
>from you with cost of the order including the EMS GLOBAL EXPRESS 3-5
>DAYS DELIVERY for the shipment cost.
>Look forward to hear from you and God bless you {Amen}.
>Happy Day .............
> Best regards
> Tolu.
I wrote back: "These scams are now well known in the United States. If you try to commit fraud, Nigerian authorities will arrest you." (This is somewhat true; Nigeria is finally enforcing some fraud laws.)
The witty response: "U ARE STUPID MAGAR."
Did he or she mean Magyar? Like a Hungarian?
I wrote back: "I'm not the one trying to rip people off. Just listen for the knock of the police at your door..."
Can you freak out these kinds of fraudsters? Probably not. And they're not sophisticated enough for me to worry about electronic reprisals.
Posted by Glennf at April 18, 2006 9:49 PM
TrackBack URL for this entry:
https://db.isbn.nu/mt3/mt-tb.pl/3633
This has just reached England, I'm glad that typed in the name to google and found this site. I was not aware of this until now. I have been trying to sort out a shipment for this person for a couple of weeks, I am glad it has not been possible to send it as they are asking for flammable goods to be sent by UPS. Thank you for posting info on this otherwise I would have been out of pocket and looking very stupid!
Posted by: Debbie Tomlinson at November 3, 2006 2:56 PM
Thank you for posting your info on the Nigerian scammer. I received such an e-mail wanting to purchase teas from my business. A little bell went ding in my brain when I found I had received the email twice, with no business name, and a phone # the person was very eager for me to call. I remember a scam that was going around with people accessing your phone# and running up very high bills. I typed in the person's name into Google (Tolu Adekunle) and found from your site it was a hoax. I would not call international anyway (that is what email is for) and I am always very cautious when getting email from Africa. Thank you for confirming my doubts. Have a great day and I will be visiting your blog often!
Charlotte Clauson
Clauson's Fine Teas
Posted by: Charlotte Clauson at August 21, 2006 9:59 AM
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