Possible New Scam - Page 1

Hi everyone, I thought I post this as a warning: Last week, I advertised a litter for sale in our local newspaper, the Washington Post. Late Friday night (at 11:00 p.m.), I received a phone call from a relais center which is basically a service for the hearing impaired to communicate on the phone. The very first question was: "This is Mr. Beckham, how much do you want?" This irritated me, first because of that kind of question and second because of the late hour. I told the operator that her client should send me an email and state would he is looking for, and that I am not discussing anything else at that late hour. Later, he sent me a mail, just inquiring about information in general in bad English. In my reply email, I took my time, explaining about the litter with a link to the parents' pedigrees here, their titles etc. Today, I received the following reply (copied and pasted): ... Hello am intrested in buying one Thanks very much for your email, you have to bear with me as I have hearing problems. The reason I am sending you this email is to make final reconfirmation of (puppy ) and also to let you know that payment will be by certified USPS (United States Postal Servce) Money Order. In view of this I need you to email me any information that may be required to send the Money Order, as I do not want to send the Money Order to a wrong location lest they gets into the wrong hands.Regarding the shipping, I have a company that takes care of the pick up of my consignments for me and ship to my destination anywhere in the U.S.A, you do not worry about shipping, the company will send down a representative to arrange the sales documentation ! and the pick up from your end for onward transfer to my destination. I also want to alert you on the fact that you will be recieving an overdraft Money Order, which will cover the money for the pickup (pickup and shipping to the final destination) as well as the money to be paid to the company that will take care of the pickup and the documentation with you. So please, as soon as you receive the Money Order, go and cash them immediately, deduct the money that accrues to you, and send the balance to the Head Office of the company that handles the shipment in Usa via the nearest Western Union agent in your area. Deduct the Western Union charges from the balance and send the remaining to Usa immediately . The Money Order will be in your name to make it easier f! or you to receive payment, deduct your money and send the balance via Western Union as regards my earlier direction, please reconfirm your detailsone more time. I will give you the details of the company that you will send the balance of the money to in Usa once I get a reply and agreement that you will send the money to Usa via Western Union money trnasfer immediately you cash the Money Order. Once the money is received by the agent in Usa , the shipping agent will contact you immediately to arrange the documentation as well asthe pick up immediately. So in view of the above, here are some of the details I will need for final issuance of the USPS Money Order to you. (1) Full Name (2) Mailing address, no p.o.box p! lease (3) your direct telephone number (4) acceptance of my offer Once you get back to me with all the above, the Money Order will be issued out immediately and it will be sent to you . Hope to hear from you immediately. Regards, Fanadez Beckham. N.B. : I will pay you extra $50 to reserve this for me ... This must be the newest scam. It is bad to use a service for the hearing impaired for that. I wanted to post this as a warning for all of you. Chris

Not a new one, actually, just a variant of the 419 scam. Sad to hear they have moved to dogs, but not too surprising. From wikipedia: "In another variation of the scam, the scammer places calls through IP Relay (www.ip-relay.com), a federally funded internet telerelay service for deaf/hard of hearing/speech-disabled individuals. The scammer calls various businesses, attempting to purchase items with stolen or fraudulent credit cards. Oftentimes, individuals are targeted as well, most of whom have advertised a product or service online. Typically, in an IP-Relay scam call, the scammer will place several calls using a Relay Operator. Calling to businesses or private parties, the scammer will inquire about merchandise/services offered, and then immediately and with few questions asked, attempt to purchase the merchandise. The Scammer then proceeds to ask for an e-mail address, by which he can contact the victim to proceed with the closing of the fraudulent transaction. The scammer proceeds to send the victim a counterfeit money order, with instructions requiring that it be cashed, and that excess funds be sent back to the scammer (advanced fee fraud). When it is determined that the money order is counterfeit, the victim is usually arrested by the authorities for playing a role in the scam. It is worth noting that credit-card fraud is not the only kind of fraud reported through IP Relay. A relay scammer typically will use IP Relay for all fraudulent-related transactions/telephone calls within the United States. This includes the "love bug" scam, as detailed below. The relay operators are well aware of these scams, but can do absolutely nothing to stop it. Operators are never allowed to make judgements about the legality and/or legitimacy of any relay call. Warning or trying to tip off a potential victim can result in the operator getting fired and being escorted out of the building with threats of lawsuits from the relay company. Calls are randomly monitored in live time, and the operator never knows about it until after the call. Operators are in a very difficult position. If you would like to learn more about the operators and their feelings on the matter, visit their forum at http://relayscams.aimoo.com/"

HI to all,This is not new as we in England have had this last year,always broken english,always western monies union,always own shipping which we found out is a scam that you are obliged to pay after you have been ripped off,usualy a name like Benny Heen.

MJMemphis, this is exactly what my caller ID said: IP Relay, area code 408, CA. Of course, I won't fall for a scam as described in the email, but I never thought that they would go that low to use a valuable service like that. That was new to me. And obviously, they also must scan newspaper advertisements. Thanks, MJMemphis and ICHall for answering. I will just ignore this email, as I am sure reporting this won't do any good. Chris