Scam Alert

[BrandYourself]

I recently received an offer for not one but two of my domains.
I was immediately suspicious of the over friendly tone of the email my suspicions were confirmed when the bidder immediately accepted my price !
We all know that in the domain game life is rarely this simple

here are copies of two email he sent:

HELLO ANDY,

HOW ARE YOU TODAY? FINE I GUESS.

THANKS FOR YOUR URGENT RESPONSE AND I REALLY APPRECIATE IT.

I AM WILLING TO BUY THE DOMAIN NAME FROM YOU FOR $1200 AND THE ONLY METHOD OF PAYMENT AVAILABLE FOR NOW IS A CERTIFIED CASHIERS CHEQUE DRAWN FROM A BANK IN THE U.S.A AND YOU WILL ONLY TRANSFER OWNERSHIP TO ME ONLY WHEN CHEQUE CLEARS YOUR BANK.

I WILL ALSO WANT YOU TO KNOW IF YOU ARE OKAY WITH MY MODE OF PAYMENT.

HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY AHEAD OF YOU.

MIKE STEPHEN.


the second email was


DEAR ANDY,

HOW ARE YOU AND YOUR FAMILY TODAY ?GUESS FINE .I GOT
YOUR MAIL AND I'M OKAY WITH THE PRICE,SO I WOULD NOT
WASTE TIME IN
PURCHASING.

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED IS THAT I'M TO BE PAID THE AMOUNT
OF £2,900 BANKER'S DRAFT BY MY ASSOCIATE IN AN
INVESTMENT COMPANY.

SO WHAT I WILL DO IS THAT ,I WILL INSTRUCT THEM TO
WRITE THE BANKER'S DRAFT IN YOUR NAME AND SEND IT TO
YOU SO THAT YOU WILL CASH IT ,REMOVE YOUR £690 AND
THEN YOU WILL SEND THE BALANCE OF £2210 TO MY
PERSONAL ASSISTANT THROUGH MONEYGRAM MONEY TRANSFER.
AND AFTER THE BANKERS DRAFT IS CLEARED FUNDS YOU CAN
THEN TRANSFER THE OWNERSHIP TO ME.

.SO I WILL WANT YOU TO SEND THIS INFORMATION
BELOW SO THAT THE DRAFT BE WRITTEN IN YOUR NAME AND
THEN SENT TO YOU.

FULL ADDRESS........
MOBILE PHONE NUMBER......
MAILING ADDRESS......

I WILL BE EXPECTING TO READ FROM YOU SOONEST SO THAT
THE DRAFT WILL GET TO YOU QUICKLY.

STAY BLESSED AND'VE A NICE DAY.

REGARDS,
MIKE STEPHEN.


The way this scam works is that in the uk his partner in crime will indeed send a payment and the average uk bank will show this in the recipients account as cleared funds when in reality the funds arent actually cleared as the process for clearing international checks takes much longer - the person who has received this check may then in good faith send the excess fee to this scamster and then low and behold the check paid into his/her account will bounce

BEWARE !

 

[webmasterinfo]

thanks for the heads up!
Cheers,
Jens

 

[seeker]

almost sounds like a mini version of money laundering to me.

 

[cache]

there is a similar thread here:

http://www.namepros.com/domain-name-discussion/165919-i-get-offer-but-i-think.html#post1077573

 

[Aggro]

Can you reproduce the initial inquiry email for reference?

 

[edwinfelix]

Thanks for the notice. These types of mails are getting increasingly common in my mail boxes.

 

[Untitled]

Thanx alot ! Added reps! .

 

[smub]

yes agreed ... these types of emails are in my inbox everyday good thing, i changed it to the spam and now i am recieving 5 per day

 

[Dannoth]

thanks for the heads up

 

[Toolbox123]

Like Bobba and others, thanks for telling us.

 

[fonzie_007]

Anyone who is typing a who email in caps like that, with broken english, and non-existent or very poor punctuation... BEWARE! Probably those silly Russian scam artists again.

 

[deet]

Anyone who is typing a who email in caps like that, with broken english, and non-existent or very poor punctuation... BEWARE! Probably those silly Russian scam artists again.

YES~! BEWARE OF THE CAPS!!!!!