Here's the sequel to my busting the troll thread at http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=249111 A few weeks ago fellow 348 Brother Lane (Saint Bastage) contacted me via PM asking if I knew a certain Mark Malley in London who was selling a canvas 348 foldable roof. I didn't recognise the name, but told Lane I would help in any way I can. Mark had seen Lane's wanted ad on a US Ferrari owners club website and he had emailed Lane. What follows is the transcript of what went on. Mark Malley My name is Mark Malley I saw your Wanted Ad, so I decided to e-mail youto see if you still wanted it as I have it to offer. Just list out the parts you will be needing. Mark Malley N17 9YA London, UK. +XXXXXXXX55397 Lane Yes I remain interested in the folding roof for my 348. Could you please reply with pictures and more details of yours including condition and desired price. Could you also inquire regarding the shipping costs to Connecticut USA as I am not sure of the weight or shipping size. Standard delivery would be acceptable Thanks Lane (XXX) XXX-XXXX Mark Thanks for the mail. I have the requested folding roof in a mint condition, and am asking a 1340GBP including postage to you, As i can ship via Royal Mail on a next day delivery and will accept payment via Western union or Money gram. Been trying to attach pictures for you to take a look at but it keeps failing. Whats your complete shipping address? So i can in quire for the postage to you. Thanks. Mark. Lane 2 of your emails received indicate 130 GBP, another indicates 1340 GBP. The 130 is to low and must be a mistake but the 1340 is way to high. I was thinking a mint one with the carrying satchel should be around 750 GBP. Also, pictures are critical. That will be the first indication of mint. If we can come to agreement on these 2 items, I will send over a friend, local to you, for inspection. Lane Lane got a little suspicious at this point. Mark had sent two different prices and was not sending any pictures. using teh old "computer won't work" excuse. Mark Thanks for the mail. What i meant was a 3000GBP for it including shipping. Been trying to attach pictures to you but it keeps failing trying to attach. Whats your complete shipping address? So i can inquire for the postage to you. Mark I meant 300GBP. How much are you offering, and if your price is okay with me then we can deal. Whats your complete shipping address? So i can inquire for the postage to you. Thanks, Mark. Lane I have to see pictures to proceed Mark Am having problem sending the pictures to you, but they are in a perfect condition. Lane With your permission, I will provide your address and contact info to a friend in London. He will be in contact with you and schedule a visit to inspect the item. Will that be satisfactory? Mark Sure that is acceptable. Lane Sy should be getting in touch with you soon. I'm thinking early next week sometime. I sure hope we can reach an agreement. It raining here nearly every day. Mark Hope to hear from you soon. Give me a call on my Mobile +44XXXXXXX5397.
Enter Angelis... stage right. I called Mark up on his phone. First thing I noticed was that the dial tone was different and wasn't a UK based one. It was being directed elsewhere. Maybe he was holiday. English isn't Marks first languagae. couldn't quite make out teh accent, but he definetly wasn't British. I introduced myself and asked if we could meet up as he was only 30 minutes away from me. He replied by asking me to email him as the phone line was very bad... although i could hear him okay. Quickly asked hom the price and he gave another figure and by this time even iw as confused as to how much he wanted. My first email to Mark.... Angelis Hi Mark, Just spoke to you on the phone regarding the 348 roof. Lane from the US asked me to give you a call so that i can check the 348 item. I'm in london so can come and have a look at it if possible. My mobile number is 07XXX XXX XXX Regards Sy Now things got interesting..... Mark Like it told lane is a 300GBP, and before i disclose my residential address to you, i will accept a half payment, and make sure he is really interested in it. That's the best i can do He now wanted money up front before the item could be viewed. My scamdar (scammer rader ) was now twitching strongly. So I suggested we meet up at a public location. Angelis I'm more than happy to meet you at another location like a McDonalds drive in. How about the one in Leytonstone High Road? Mark Sorry tell lane to make a half payment so i can proceed and then you can come over to my place and see the items and then pay the balance why taking it. It was obvious that he was definetly a scammer, but I had to be sure. Sooooo... I asked to to verify the item he had by telling me what teh seriual number was. So i asked him... Angelis We need to know if it is the correct item, before paying. Does it have this serial number stamped on the inside of the frame? 348TS-122A If it ends with a B it may not be the right one. Thanks for your help. That 348TS-122A code is something i made up. ha ha ha. If he confirmed it was on the item he was a bulls.h1ter!!! Guess what.... Mark It has the serial number on it make with A. And it's the correct. That's how i do business. Cux have been burn several times so i need to be careful like my attorney said. So it's definetly a scam. I had an idea... let's see how greedy this guy is and try and get him to join me in scamming lane for £1,500. So I replied..... Angelis That's great. It's definetly the right one and very rare to get hold of. I'm surprised you are selling it for £300 as it's worth at least £2,500. A friend of mine paid £2,000 for it a few years ago. If I can get Lane to pay £1,500 for it, which I'm quite sure he will as he said he would happily pay up to £2000, will you give me a £500 cut? Unfortunatly, he didn't bite. A scammer with scruples??? Mark Thats the price i gave just because am selling it to complete my project. Time to ask for pictures again..... Angelis Can you send me some pictures please so that I can confirm teh condition and that you actually have the item. Mark Thanks for the mail. I have the pictures on my computer, but am having a problem attaching them to you. It"s the right one okay and in a mint condition If in doubt... try try again.... I pretended that lane had forwarded me the money. Angelis Lane has forwarded me the money for the seats, so i'm ready to buy them on his behalf him. Can you post me the pictures? Mark I will keep trying it's really giving me problems. Why not make a half payment. So i agreed to pay him half the money if he gave me his bank details. By providing bank details, it would give me a clue to his identity and he can be tracked. Angelis Okay. Give me your bank details and I'll transfer £150 over. but he wasn't having it..... Mark It will take long to reflect in the account, why not use western union is more fast and reliable. Angelis Only takes a few days via bank transfer. How about we meet somewhere and I hand the cash over to you direct? Mark Am really busy i can't meet with you, use Western union, i want this deal fast so i can ship to you friend or send to you. Angelis How do I know that you'll send the item? You could be a scammer. Mark Is that an insult or what. Whats makes you think something like that. You have my address right, as soon as i confirm your payment, i will pay for he postage to lane, and once he get the items, you can pay me he balance of he money. sent this email an hour ago. Angelis Well... you won't send a picture of the item, you won't meet up, won't provide bank details and you generally talk a load of bollocks. No offence intended. Will update as it goes along. If you have any suggestions for replies, please post up.
Be careful he doesn't send you an email bomb Sy, common practice for these morons. This reminds me of the Apple powerbook scam from years back, that was epic, if you've got the time read this: http://www.zug.com/pranks/powerbook/
Something tells me that you will not hear from him again. It is a shame how these guys work. And all it take is a little investigating to know if one is a scammer or not.
Very true. There was something on the news here 2 days ago about a 80yr old lady who got caught in a Nigerian type scam that fronted as a christian ministry. She lost around 150k. What a shame. There is a special place in hell for people who pull stuff like that.
To add to the story: After Sy badgered the idiot into submission I received 3 more emails from a guy with another name that were curiously similar in context. From: mudiaga ideghe Hey Mate! Saw your Wanted ads, And decided to mail you. I have it Lane Good day Sir. May I inquire as to asking price, condition, and your location? In addition could you send some pictures of the top? A few different designs have been made and the price should vary accordingly. Mudiaga Hi, Am asking a 540GBP for it. Can ship via First Flight Courier Service. Whats your shipping address. cant send pictuers to you, cause i m using a old version computer. Lane Did you get my reply??? Need some pictures Mudiaga Still Haven't heard from you. Lane Yes you have as evidence by the below…You expect me to pay you without benefit of verification. Condition is a primary function of the price. I cannot move forward without pictures. You’re going to have to find a way regardless of your “Old Computer”. Lane again Sir Barring evidence to the contrary, I need to verify the roof you have is the correct one. Could you please verify the Model number found inside the frame? It should start with 348TS and be followed by 3 numbers and a letter. I await your response to move forward with this transaction.
Asking for Western Union payment is a huge red flag. I would assume he doesn't even live in the UK. This is a good scam baiting site: http://www.419eater.com/
Long story, short. I was selling an item on FerrariAds.com, some scammer sends me an e-mail stating that he is interested in my item ($500.00). Here is the deal: he will send me a Certified Check for $3498.00 and I'll cash it, take-out my $500.00 plus shipping and forward the remaining money via Western Union to his "Company". Purportedly, he was an importer and had many items going from the U.S. to the U.K. and the extra funds were being used to pay his shipper. WTF??? This idiot actually sent my a Certified Check in an envelope which looked like it had been addressed by a 5 year old. After a 5 min. Internet search the check turned-out to be one of a series of stolen/forged checks from a bank in the mid-west. I sent this guy's e-mails with the header information to the aforementioned bank along with the check and envelope, contacted the USPS fraud department and even spoke to an Interpol inspector. I haven't heard anything abut how all this will turnout. You would figure these morons would realize the individuals on FChat are probably not the "best" choice for a potential victim.
Lane and Sy you two always have such great stories to read, glad you share with the rest of us.. Now go give them hell, bunch of wankers lol
Great work mate. I am a currency trader/investor and somehow a couple of my e-mail adresses have been sold to these morons. I get at least 30 e-mails a day saying that someone died and left me money; the FBI is giving me money; I won a lottery; etc. etc. I had a blast with one from "The FBI". The e-mail stated that I have money coming to me from an anti-terrorist fund but I have to give them my name; address; dob; and phone number. I wrote back and stated that being the FBI they should already have that info. I got a reply back that stated they did but just needed to "verify". I wrote back and said I would give all but the dob, because that should be enough to verify me. They agreed that the rest of the information would "be sufficient to verify me." So I gave them the name of a Federal Agent at Quantico and gave the FBI adress at Quantico including one of their fax numbers and two phone numbers. Not sure what ever happened but trust me I was busting up for days on that one.
Why not take this info to the local police? I don't know how busy they are but it seems like an easy quick hit if they are interested. Just give them a quick call. Plus it would be very nice to see this guy put away. Who knows how many people he has actually conned out of money. Scott
Dude this is way beyond the local police. Many of these guys come from Nigeria and other 3rd world countries. The FBI doesn't even have the time to go after a lot of this stuff, nor is it in the jurisdiction. This is purely an INTERPOL thing. The US does not have jurisdiction overseas. And yes, there are many, many people who are conned out of money in this economy. It is very sad and that is why it is so prevelent.
The scammers troll the aviation ads. They email *every* person trying to sell an aircraft. They always have a free email account. They are always out of the country. They always say that your aircraft is "just what they are looking for" and that they will pay any price. Then they want to send money to you via cashier's check, plus an additional amount for a PPI. They want you to then wire the "extra" to their "mechanic" for an immediate inspection. You get the cashier's check and 3 days after you wired their "mechanic" the money you learn that their cashier's check was forged. It's quite the talk out at the airport.
Man that was a good read Sy. Lane my brother, you didn't even tell me this story when we talked the other day. But then I guess we would have been on the for for way longer that we already were.
I'm not saying they aren't too busy to do this but there is jurisdiction in the U.S. because the scammer is contacting a person living here. All of the elements of the crime are being met in the U.S. You'd have to indict him here, get the arrest warrant here and then hope the country he's in has an extradition treaty with the U.S. Scott
I have always said to many that you must never ever ever ever pay someone you do not know by wire transfer. They are always always a scam. Much of it happens on ebay as well when someone elses account is hajacked. Speaking of Ebay....has anyone bought the lighted Ferrari signs that a guy has been selling on and off for a few years now. So many are bidding on these lighted signs as if they were the real thing. Wake up people....its a piece of moulded plastic with a metal back and a light inside.......They are not OEM but manufactured by this guy who also makes Porche signs. For anyone to be paying hundreds and sometimes thousands for these signs is laughable.
I get a load of scam mail from these same guys, every day from diffrent e-mails, same story how I won, or have money owed to me.. anybody know of a way to stop the e-mails? some of the email sources are msn,yahoo, etc....can those sites stop the emails? regards, Jim
I posted an item for sale on Craigs List. Got at least 3 immediate requests to purchase sight unseen for asking price. In each case they were forwarding a cashiers check etc...you know the rest.
