You Run The Risk Of Meeting Scammers Even If You Are Selling Things Online!

I always thought that scammers only target people who are buying things online. Boy, was I wrong!:)

Some time ago, a friend said she needed help to sell a branded wallet and I offered to help her post an ad online.

Shortly after I posted the ad online, someone replied! He first asked if the wallet is still available. When I replied that it was, he sent this to me:
------------------------------------------------

From: Dan Webster ddwebtt@yahoo.com
To: Angel Peng
Sent: Sunday, 22 July 2012, 13:01
Subject: Re: Preloved Genuine Brown Gucci Wallet For Sale

Ok! Thanks for your reply...I'm in USA but want to send it to my wife in Malaysia , Kindly send me total cost including postage to her address below & also bank to bank or Paypal is ok for payment.....

Name: Shane Webster

Address : B - 4 ,Suria Kinara Condo,47100 PUCHONG, SELANGOR

City : Kualar Lumpur

Country : Malaysia

Regards

Dan

-------------------------------------------------------

I told him that I was looking for someone in the same country who could pay and pick it up. But if he is really interested, we will only ship the wallet upon receipt of payment and not before.

So he said...

-----------------------------------------------------_
From: Dan Webster ddwebtt@yahoo.com
To: Angel Peng
Sent: Monday, 23 July 2012, 15:08
Subject: Re: Preloved Genuine Brown Gucci Wallet For Sale

Hello Angel,

Is it ok we make total cost 200SG$? confirm back if yes and i'll proceed with payment....Can you still ship today if i make payment now? Don't know what time is it there..Maybe post office closed. Confirm back!!!

Dan

------------------------------------------------------------

So I told him I will only post it out after the money is in our bank... Cos by then, I started to get a little suspicious already...

------------------------------------------------

From: Dan Webster ddwebtt@yahoo.com
To: Angel Peng
Sent: Tuesday, 24 July 2012, 2:38
Subject: Re: Preloved Genuine Brown Gucci Wallet For Sale

Hello ,

It's done....Do check your email for the confirmation mail from the bank (citi bank)....Kindly ship asap and send the shipment receipt to them for their verifications so they can verify and credit your account just as the normal procedure.

Regards

Dan

-----------------------------------------------

and THE ONE COMING UP, has to be the BEST part of all our email correspondences!

When I checked the so called email from citibank, I laughed till my sides split!

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject:	***MONEY TRANSFER CONFIRMATION MAIL***Online Banking Ref#466484-KL
From:	Citi-Bank Group (customerservicehelp@usa.com)
To:	123@yahoo.com;
Date:	Tuesday, 24 July 2012, 2:39

                                                         TO

Dear  Valued Customer,

 

This acknowledgment sets forth certain terms upon which Mr  Dan Webster is interested in acquiring some Items and he/she paid the Total Amount of (SG:$200)

                                                                                       

                                         

 Transfer Number : 1Z92Q74699885MK

                                                                                                                              

Below-Noted Name and Bank account there in.

                                                                                                                      

RECEIVER'S ACCOUNT DETAILS
		Account Number	Description
	UOB (SG)	380-102-146-6	Auctions

BUYER'S ACCOUNT DETAILS
Mr. Dan Webster	8070516301	Citi Bank (USA)	Current Account	ddwebtt@yahoo.com

Your Payment has been Processed Successfully on your behalf and it remain the final process to Transfer your money into Your Bank Account, but before this we will need the  -Shipping Service Shipment Tracking Number of the item before we can activate your bank account.

                                                                                                                              

Buyer's Shipping Address :

Name: Shane Webster

Address : B - 4 ,Suria Kinara Condo,47100 PUCHONG, SELANGOR

City : Kualar Lumpur

Country : Malaysia

Please do allow 24 to 72 hours to activated your bank account after verifiying the shipment of the item to the buyer.

 

 This is how we work things out here,Concerning the payment for goods and we do hope you will understand us well and comprehend with us about our form of payment to secure both the buyer and seller interest from any type of risk and fraudulent practices that is very rampant via online transactions.

We urge you to please send to us the - Shipping Service   scanned receipt of this shipment for a through verification.

*THE SCANNED RECIEPT*

 This scanned receipt must be digitally snapped and sent to the customer care department of the   Bank.

The scanned receipt serves as a reference for the Accounts Department of our Bank .

The receipt number occupies a space on the form for the transfer of the payment to the bank account sent to us by the payee to the Accounts Department.

*DATE OF TRANSFER*

Normally, Items are Shipped after the conclusion of the bank with the necessary verifications and processing of the transfer,This takes about 24-48 Hours .

However, The Bank Concludes and Transfers Payments under 24 hours in a situation whereby the Transfer Processing have been concluded with.

Chairman, CEO and President
©2011,CITI BANK GROUP.
Manager.
Marcella Troy
                                                                                                  

Maybe we should play SPOT THE SCAM ALERT game here...:)

The Red Alert Signs that are shouting "SCAM!" everywhere:

1. Since when will CITIBANK send you an email with a non citibank email address?
2. Did you see the blinking 'welcome' sign? No serious, proper bank or corporate company for tat matter will use this sort of thing in their emails!
3. Why is this email approved by the 2011 president if it was sent out in year 2012?
4. Did you notice the half fucked of a citibank logo below? Usually, logos go to the header! Not right at the end of the email!!!!
5. Also, did you notice tat the look of the email doesnt flow. It looks like a mishmash of copied and pasted pictures. No proper big company or bank will send out such an amateurish sort of  email to tarnish their very professional image..

 Anyway, this made me VERY SUSPICIOUS. Just for good measure, I copied the name, Dan Webster into google and googled.. and i also copied and pasted this address. I found quite a few queries by pple who wanted to know if this guy is legit. They posted the email they recieved and it was exact same story and same address in malaysia...

At this point, I received another email from another interested buyer... He also sent me an email to ask if the wallet is still available. When I said it was. This email came.

-------------------------------------------------------

Re: Preloved Genuine Brown Gucci Wallet For Sale

FROM: Mack Stevens

TO: Angel Peng
Tuesday, 24 July 2012, 2:18

Hello i am Mr Mack Steven from United State Of America,   how are you today and how are your families ? hope all is good ? well i am interested in buying the item for my daughter in USA, because it my daughter that need it  and i hope she would like it , so kindly get to me with the total cost of the item including the shipping cost to her address below with post office, i pay through either Paypal or Bank transfer ok reply soon.

First Name :Joy
Last Name :Steven
Address:6-A9 silkis way xesvan
City-Edinburg
State-Virginia
Zip-Code :22824
Country :USA


Thanks and have a blessed day 
-------------------------------------------------------------

At that point, it was almost like a chop of confirmation that this is a scam! I figure that their purpose is not your branded wallet or bag.. the key is the fake bank. As to exactly how the scam will work.. i dun know.. cos I dun want to pay for another painful lesson. But my guess is that it will be something along the lines of them asking you to send some paperwork or maybe pay for some admin fee to get the money from the bank.

Anyway, I think whoever is staying at those listed addresses by the scammers should feel as if Santa is visiting them every month of the year!:) wahahaha.. With so many people sending bags and wallets and wat nots over, maybe they can also make a neat fortune from it.. haha:)

A point to note. If they say they are from the US and their english is atrocious.. or whenever the seller or buyer is using bad english, BEWARE. Cos confusion though poor grammer seems to be a common tactic...And of course, it could be that they just used google translate to translate from nigerian language to english:) wahahaha...




Just FYI, the GENUINE GUCCI WALLET is STILL available. If you are interested to see pics, drop me a note at verityy@yahoo.com. :)