Fake seller of cheap electronics email exchange example
Fake seller of cheap electronics goes something like this:
Unsolicited email received or you find website offering cheap electronics shipped for free internationally by every know shipping/courier company and lists Western Union, moneygram or bank transfer as payment options.
The original email is long and includes every kind of cell phone manufactured by every manufacturer along with a price list.
2nd email
Quote:
Dear buyer,
Yes I still have iPhones in stock. Actually I have 13 iPhones at this point in time. If you are still interested please let me know asap. Thanks
3rd email
Quote:
Dear Buyer,
Total Price For ten items = 3900 as we gave a discount because off the bulk in which you are buying. We accept paypal but we do accept wire transfers for transactions like these. Thank You. Please get back to me as soon as possible.
4th email
Quote:
Dear Buyer,
Okay sir, here's what you will do. First you can make a payment with the balance that is in your paypal account, Then you make the remainder of the payment (3900 - amount paid by paypal) by a wire transfer. A wire transfer can be made my Western Union or Money Gram depending on what is more convenient to you. When you are ready to make the wire transfer please inform us so that we can supply you with the name of one of our available merchant bankers for you to make the payment to. These transactions are very sensitive so please keep us informed as to what you are doing so we can get the necessary paper works and shipping details together.
Thank You
5th email
Quote:
Dear Buyer,
No we do not need any paper work from you. All we are going to need from you is the tracking number you will get from either Western Union or Money Gram after you have made the payment to our merchant banker for us to be able to claim the payment. Please inform us of your address and your contact details.
This scammer hit all the red flags:
1) No mention of the buyer's name, just the word 'buyer'.
Scammers will rarely bother to personalize an email and instead, will use the word 'buyer', 'seller', 'dearest', 'love', 'investor', what ever word they think is generic and fits the situation.
2) Acceptance of Western Union or moneygram as a payment option.
Legit companies never, ever use Western Union or moneygram.
3) Pretending to sell electronics, high end clothing or jewelry cheaper than the manufacture's website.
No legit company can sell something cheaper than the manufacturer.
4) Free email address such as gmail, yahoo, or hotmail.
Real electronics companies have paid servers not free email addresses.
5) Large quantity available.
If the 'seller' really had tons of cheap electonics to sell, he wouldn't need to send out random emails, he would have a line outside his warehouse of people wanting to buy dozens of whatever he is selling.
6) Able to sell all brands and all types of phones, no matter which phone you want, he always has it in stock.
No legit company can sell all brands, makes and models and have all those in stock and ready to ship immediately.
7) No mention of shipping costs.
The scammer figures why bother figuring out and listing a shipping cost when nothing is going to be shipped anyway.
When a victim sends money thinking a package will arrive, all that arrives is another email demanding more money because suddenly the company's policy has changed and you have to send more money to buy more phones. So the victim sends more money. Then problems at the border, customs has confiscated the phones, payment for customs fees must be paid immediately. Of course, customs fees in that country are paid by the receiver in cash at Western Union instead of by the shipper with a bank account like every other country in the world. And again, more fees, costs, expenses show up. Each one must be paid immediately in cash at the Western Union counter or no phones for you.
In the end the fake tracking number the victim was given never does track anything and the scammer blocks the victim's emails and moves onto his next list of 100 email addresses of possible victims.
