A Scam Artist on Craigslist Gets it Back - Searching the Mind of a Criminal
'05 Red KLR 650 - $3800 (Sacramento)
What follows is an email conversation between a scam artist and me. I have received way too many of these emails lately and this latest one started me thinking - what if I played the exact same game back? The evil one inside of me laughed with wicked delight and made plans to balance the scales the very next day. Here is the first email from "Wheechel."
Hello,
Is this item still available for sales? Please get back to me with your phone number...
Regards.
Wheechel
Hmmmmm. Okay, notice the use of the word "item" to describe my motorcycle? Yes it was for "sales" (plural), but I wasn't completely sure that this was a scam and decided to write the "buyer" back just in case.
Hello Wheechel,
yes this "item" is still available. This is an interesting email, I've had some scammers contact me lately asking about an "item". Would you please verify that you are indeed a real buyer by sending me your number, and perhaps maybe a little more specific knowledge of the "item" you're interested in. I do apologize if you're an honest buyer.
Note that I made sure to delete the description in the subject line of the email and did not mention what the item was specifically in my return email. This is Nincompoop's response:
Hello,
Thanks for your prompt reply.I really appreciate your detailed breakdown and frankness on this. I tried calling your phone# but didnt get through. sure i'll make a try later when im
free.Unfortunately, Im on my way to uk on an official trip(I'm a marketing Executive) and wont be back for another two weeks, I would have come to inspect the Item personally. Im taking your word for true on It though . Im okay with the price, I think it worth it anyway. If you'd like to know, Im relocating to the UK soon and I'm trying to gather some good stuff for my new abode.Im buying yours amongst others,quickly! before some one else grabs
it.So, I'll arrange to send you payment ASAP.
However, I'll have to notify my shipper who's helping me move my stuff from the US,to get set for the pickup of the item from your place as I MIGHT be delayed in India depending on how things goes.Thanks,
PS: In the mean time, kindly get back to me with your contact address and also your home phone# so I can get certified check prepared and have it sent out to you ASAP.
Regards.
Wheechel
Huh? what breakdown? I didn't tell him anything! I suppose I was being frank, but since he couldn't tell me what I was being frank about, he had no clue whether I was being frank or not. At this point, I decided that these must be preset lines that the criminal copies and pastes into the body of the email. But that doesn't make sense either since the language structure is so bad, you would think that if Nincompoop had someone writing it for him, he wouldn't know how to put it together. I think there's something bigger going on here, maybe there is one mastermind pulling the strings, a fat Nigerian, (no dig on Nigerians, that's just where the bulk of internet scams seem to originate), sitting behind twenty computer screens busily typing away with nary the minute to proofread anything or even read his "clients' " emails.
Then there's the mystery of the claim that he tried to call my number and didn't get through. Since he and I both know that I haven't divulged that information, I have to assume that he is using another tactic to wrangle it out of me. Human psychology is weird. When someone challenges you, and you feel that you are in a compromising public situation and you refuse to give in, there's a slight bit of guilt at "causing" the manipulator distress. So when they smile and raise their eyebrows and ask you the same question in a roundabout way that assumes you meant to give them what they wanted, you might be tempted to give in. So Wheechel is either doing that, or he is just fishing randomly by trying different combinations of words and intent. I think the former rather than the latter is true as can be seen by his last email, but we are not there yet.
I think that Nincompoop is writing this out for each email, because at one point he abbreviates United Kingdom with small letters (uk), and a few lines down correctly (UK). So what we have here is a semi-intelligent lazy slob that is used to success in his chosen career. It is a known fact that criminal activities are often a lucrative undertaking, but how can anyone live with themselves preying on the naiveté of others and taking what they did not earn and leaving the victim to pay the bill?
Lastly, the deception of Nincompoop being an affluent, busy, traveling businessman is supposed to impress and awe and make the seller feel small, which makes him more willing to please. The seller's eyes are supposed to get bigger, realizing that this "traveling businessman," has a lot of money and power merely because he has the ability to "have" his shipper come by to pick up the "item." It makes me sick, because in addition to taking your money, they might be brazen enough to steal your car or bike and leave you with nothing. If I EVER get the chance to take these demons down, I will. I have to remind myself that the Lord said, "Vengeance is mine."
I can see there are two ways this bum can scam me. He will either send me a check that will simply bounce and steal the bike, or he will come up with some ridiculous story about how due to legal issues, he has to write a bigger bogus check and please could I cash it and give him the remaining amount, with a little bonus for myself of course. Not only is Nincompoop a criminal when doing this, but he automatically makes me one too! I even had one scammer begin to explain how to make a fake check. When I read things like "printer's ink," I had to put aside my disbelief and accept that this nut was actually teaching me how to make a fake check. That might be a Federal offense, I'm not sure. But I'm sure as hell not rooming with Bubba.
Normally they demand a home phone number and a home address. They NEVER give away any contact information. I wonder why? Obviously this buffoon, uh, sorry, I mean Nincompoop, thinks the deal is moving ahead and right on track. Little does he know there is a watchful hawk under this sheep-like exterior, I want to get him. But even hawks miss nine out of ten times.
Here is my first attack.
Great! I am so relived to be able to sell the item. Thankyou thankyou thankyou. My name is Ray Barstow, and I am redy to sel. Please send me your fone number ASAP so I can contact you. Last week, my wif went into laber and I dropped my cell fone in drivway to the E.R., and before I could go back and retrive it, an ambalance had run over it! I am sooooo mad. Anyways, my provider is Verizon and they refuse to replace the fones, can you belive it? So now I have no fone and I can only call from a pay fone. Please, I'm dasparate, give me your # qikly because I don't have the money to buy a fone until I sell the Nisan to you. I also have use the money pay off the medecul bills for the hospitel since I just lost my job and all I have is 10 dollars in the bank, (and a secret stash in my house, but I cant tell anyone about or use unless it is a big emergencie), so as soon as I can sell the car, the sooner I can get my feet. Please help, this importent to me. I will even lower the pryce for you because you seem like honast guy and you have to make carful arangents to get overseas yurself, so I understand you totallly. Email me your number soon so we can get this proccesed imediatly and help each other out. Sincerely Ray Barstow.
My apologies to anyone whose name is Ray Barstow. I tried to pick a generic but yet unusual name and this had a nice ring to it. Obviously I overdid it, but I meant to, I wanted to give him a little of his own medicine, and I was counting on him to be stupid, and that was what I was testing out. This is why I claimed to be selling a Nissan, completely different than a motorcycle, which is what Nincompoop originally contacted me for. In the next email you can see he has no idea who he is dealing with at any one time because he doesn't mention the fact that it's a car instead of a bike. I also tried to entice him with a small stack of cash, but that was more of a wasted effort because he is running an honest scam here, he is not an ordinary thief! Sniff. But I was also trying to keep his attention with the idea that I had resources he could possibly use to exploit me with. The submissive and dependent behavior was meant to make him feel that he had me, but he is very focused on his proven tactics. It makes me mad that using the same language with him, the spelling errors, the manipulation, the sob story, has absolutely no effect, which in my eyes makes him the most rancid of liars, someone who deserves a very unpleasant fate.
I will wait until you get a cell phone because currently am on my way out of the country but my shipper will come for the pick up after we might have concluded the transaction..kindly get back to me with your contact address and also your home phone# so I can get certified check prepared and have it sent out to you ASAP.
Regards.
Wheechel
So now Nincompoop thinks that he can just keep chugging away and give me the same bull. If he suspects I am only trying to manipulate him, he wouldn't bother writing back. If he really thinks I am serious, that means I have succeeded in completely fooling him. This gives me some hope, but he is a hard head and knows what works. But now he is so lazy he won't even bother to acknowledge my aforementioned troubles. This makes him one of the lowest forms of life in my eyes, (not THE lowest, but close), he uses a proven formula, and once he thinks it works, he doesn't even bother with the pretense anymore and if you were to look him in the eye, he would stare at you like you were a dead piece of meat, waiting for you to keep going through the motions and expecting that you are not expecting reciprocal behavior. That's not just lazy, but evil. Here's my last email that went unanswered, and I think that it was not answered because he lost interest since I could not fill his step by step formula with the information needed.
I am very disappointed, I can't get a fon and you ar puting me in a bind, I gess I will have to wait for somone else! why wont you giv me you number? We ar livng atmy wifs mothers and cant giv out that address. Irely want to mak this deal wit you, I desperaty need the money or we wil hav to muv out next week! can you giv me a number when you get to india or UK when you get ther? I'll do anythig, i'll even lower the pryce for you 400 dollars, if only i had a way to contac you. Please send me a # soon, you have al the money, i can't even afford a pay as you go fone! Thaks for you help, Mr. Barstow.
Maybe next time I will be more slick, tell the scammer that I don't have a phone, but give him a phone number to a phone booth and a time to call and see if he takes the bait. Hopefully a home address can be substituted with some sort of temporary mail pickup at a post office, (not a PO Box since there might be a way to trace my name), and if the check is big enough, maybe get some fingerprints off of it? I'll see. I wonder if these people could even be located, they are probably out of the country, at least that part may be true.
I hope you have enjoyed this study of how scammers dance in cyberspace, and who knows, maybe it will help you in future dealings with freaks like Wheechel. My bike is still for sale by the way, and it is now going for 3000. Of course, if you're scammer, you'd better be really slick, I'm watching for you.
Your Experiences
Have you ever fallen for an internet scam?
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Yes I did Dolores, thanks for commenting, and I'm glad you enjoyed it, that was what I was aiming for!
Excellent hub. Keep your wits about you!
Thanks Gypsy. thanks for dropping in, are you still enjoying that rain over there?
Too Funny !!!! I get these all the time but tend to hit the delete button. Glad you had the time to play with him (or her) a little. Keep up the good work. I'm enjoying your articles. :-)
Thanks Tobia, deleting them is probably less stressful, I vacilate between calling them names or preaching to them, but this made me happiest.
Too funny, I am amazed anyone falls for that.
It's hard to comprehend isn't it? Thanks for commenting gingkies.
I think this hub is going to soar. I have to admit this caused me to giggle quite a few times, but in reality you seem to really have pondered the criminal mind and taken a proactive stance. Someone has to - it's a very timely and pressing subject.
Thanks a bunch Zollstock. I don't know how much my posturing is going to help, the difficult part is luring them out of the darkness. You're probably right though, someone has to do it, and maybe I can waste their time as much as they waste mine.
Excellent. Great read and really informative. Thanks
Thanks freddyjones2009, appreciate the comment.
A great hub, Alexander. I've occasionally had emails with long-winded and unbelievable stories from people who made themselves out to be heiresses or political refugees, etc. Invariably their aim to is get your bank account details to rope in unsespecting decent guys in a chain of money laundering operations.
I usually just consign them to the 'spam' folder and hope that there is someone who tracks such emails and tries to nab the originators. They are not all just petty criminals. Some of them might be involved in financing terrorist operations. They need to use others' accounts since their own are under surveillance.
Oh wow, terrorism? I had never considered that aspect of it, but I guess that makes sense. One of these days I hope to find out more and how I can be one of those people who tracks and deals with these awful emails.
Thanks for visiting and adding your knowledge Jaspal.
This is interesting. Thanks. There are so many similar scams out there and, I agree, they seem to originate from outside the country (or possibly within within our borders, from foreigners). I doubt the actual scammer will ever see more than a small percentage of the amount he gets. I am picturing a make-shift "call center" in someone's basement or storage unit, perhaps, with hundreds of poor saps typing away depending on volume, not accuracy, to finally snag someone. I wonder how many of the people who actually get suckered are other non-natives with a poor command of the English language. This hub is both funny and sad - thanks.
Thanks for visiting and commenting Greta. Who knows how they work, but you are probably right, the reason for the mistakes and bad English probably has to do with volume vs quality. Maybe we should be thankful!
(sorry for the repeat; bad URL posting on my part.)
Thanks for posting the text of the scammer's responses. Search engines will drive some potential victims to your site and save them from their hard-earned cash.
Kudos
Hello Scamsitebuster, thanks for the link and the comment. Those ads you have seem to always have a price that is too good to be true! I deleted the comment with the bad link.
The emails you wrote were so funny. Made me laugh. I too have gotten emails where they say they have come into alot of money and you can have a share if you only help them get to it. Crazy! I enjoyed this!
Thank you rls8994, I'm glad you enjoyed them - that was the purpose, fun at the scammers expense :-)
Great article.. Well done Alexander Mark
Interesting post. When I play with scammers and they are asking for phone numbers and addresses the local police station seems so perfect.
Thanks Entourage_007.
That is hilarious Bill, too bad you can't see their reactions when they find out they've been duped!
Interesting Hub. There is a website of a guy who likes to bait scammers like this. He even posts his phone calls with the scammers. But he cautioned that it could be dangerous.
Look up "419 Eater".
Thanks Americannj, I just checked it out. I like his principle of engaging the scammer in dialogue to waste their time and keep them from people who could otherwise be fleeced. I will bookmark that website.
i really wish i had saw this earlier today. almost the same thing is happening to me right now, but i'm young and have never really been in contact with these sort of things. i gave the person my address and phone number and i don't know what to do. please help!
Hi kimber, very sorry to hear about your troubles. Look at comment above my last by "Americannj". The website he recommends is full of useful information. I don't know if it will be much help, but you can contact the police department and tell them what happened and if they have any advice. Other than that, have no further contact with the slimebag after you tell him that whatever you're selling is no longer for sale or you are not interested in his offer, do not return any calls or letters, but be sure to keep anything he sends you in the mail as evidence. He'll probably try to get pushy about getting more info from you, and maybe harass you on the email a bit, but eventually he'll most likely go away. Craigslist knows about the scams, and you might find some information there as well. Good luck.
Scary stuff!!
I don't think you were hard enough on the scammer. They need to found and punished.
Not that I disagree with you, but there are so many scammers out there, if I hunted each one down (that would be like 20 per craigslist post), I wouldn't have time to get ahead myself. Any suggestions?
Thanks for following by the way, I am honored.
I had foreign scammers contact me when I used to sell Avon online. They'd try to make huge orders for which they weren't going to pay. Furthermore, under my representative agreement I was not allowed to sell Avon anywhere except in the continental U.S. and they knew it. They would have gotten me in trouble and they would have sold the stuff they'd stolen for full price.
It was funny that someone actually thought to play them along a little bit!
What were these scammers trying to accomplish? Free Avon supplies I guess. I even had the owner of an aircraft charter business call, asking if a certain aircraft was parked on our ramp because some Nigerian was trying an elaborate plot to get him to send them money. It's amazing what these fools will do. I'm getting the urge to do it again, maybe this time to catch one of these criminals.
Alexander what a 'hoot' LOL
It's a pity this scammer did not get back to you! It would have been really interesting to read about how the conversation went. He would have had no idea what he was going to 'buy'? Unless of course he was on HubPages reading your Hub ? lol
I wouldn't mind getting a check from someone like that so I can lift the finger prints, but they could never have my home address which is something they need I think for bigger scams. I may just be the worm he's trying to grab to put on his hook!
Alexander,
I really enjoyed reading this. I thought it was very funny how you deliberately misspelled words and made yourself out to be a victim waiting to happen (lol). These scammers really think they can fool anyone, don't they? Well... I guess maybe a few have fallen prey to their scams and that's why they keep trying; it's a shame. Thanks for the warning.
Hi Faithful, I got a kick out of writing like that, I was worried I overdid it. The only thing we can do is keep them busy for a while and I recently tried again but they're either getting too smart or too lazy to "work me" for information - I think the latter :-)
Sadly, some people have given these jerks thousands of dollars. Just like recently with the May 21 thing, one guy spent his life savings on advertising the end, I think 140K or more. Really sad.
I like your response to this. Due to lack of time I will use the delete key though. Not as satisfying probably.
It turned out to be a one or two time thing, it really is hard to spend time on something like this when we have more important and positive things to do. Glad you liked it - thanks for commenting.
Just got the same e-mail for my "item" lol. I don't deal with anyone unless they come to my door with cash!
Ha ha! Good thinking. Now, give me all of your contact info, home address, date of birth and a voided check, and I will have my shipper contact you for the item to arrange for shipping. I am an affluent, globe-trotting businessman so you know you can trust me. Just to prove it, I am telling you that I am moving from one country on one side of the planet to another on the other side. I won't be traveling first class, if I fly coach, I can donate more money to help the victims of internet scams in Africa.
Nice approach, "Barstow." Maybe if enough of us did this, the scammers would find their efforts to be less lucrative.
Whenever I post an ad for my tutoring services, I get responses from "fathers" who "are overseas" and would like their children to be tutored in "English, Spanish, French, German, chemistry, physics, biology..." These lists go on ad infinitum. And of course, the concerned parents will wire cash to my bank account :-).
Thanks Santa Cruz (my second home town by the way - great profile name!), I agree. Unfortunately, there are too many people who actually do fall for the old email routines.
It makes me mad that they target you, they probably understand very well that anyone in the teaching business has a more generous heart than the rest of us and they have no problem attempting to take advantage of you.
But the cash sounds good though!
That was hilarious, and such a perfect way to respond. I normally just delete these. I wonder if this was the same fellow responded to our ad on Craig's list to rent a house? He was ready to make the deposit sight unseen immediately. It was a few years ago, so I don't remember his words, but they had all the marks of the usual scams. He was, of course, an important overseas businessman who needed the house immediately and would send his check. I didn't have time to lead him on, but I love seeing you do it.
As a bookseller I get these scam "buyers" all the time, and laugh about them with my fellow online booksellers. They always want 50 copies each of ten different expensive books you don't even have on your web site, speak broken English, and want to send a certified check with their preferred shipper. There are several variations of this scam.
I have enjoyed reading this more than I can express.
Glad you had a good laugh WannaB, that makes the expenditure of time on those fools all worth it.
Your experiences are just as hilarious (good thing you had the sense to smell a rat though!). The hallmark of a scam artist: "important overseas businessman," and the buyer who doesn't even take the time to study your inventory before spinning an unbelievable offer.
They always ask for your complete name, address and phone number, so I shred any mail I get that merely has my name and address on it - I'm sure that that kind of paranoia will pay off in the end :-)
Thanks for visiting.
I finally had to go to bed last night, but couldn't stop thinking about this hub for a while. I am going to share it on my bookseller lists and some of the social media because I know it would be appreciated by them.
I am honored WannaB, I appreciate the sponsorship and that it will be useful beyond Hubpages.
I suggest giving them the phone number and name of the Secret Service agents that deal in these scams so that they contact them with their further attempts. *L*
In fact I'm surprised our gov't doesn't have specific lines/numbers, so that we can transfer them directly to the authorities doing a sting under these phoney numbers they provide.
It would save lots of time and man power and actually get these gangs that run these scams put away.
Our agencies aren't doing enough (defeatist attitude) and are not creative going about it either. It will take a politician's own naive family member getting ripped off before they act on these matters in a more serious manner.
Perhaps they do have numbers for us to call, many of our societal problems stem from lack of information. If I were to write something like this again, I would do a bit more research.
It is true that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, and sometimes it takes a large squeaky wheel (political / powerful / influential) to squeak before the grease gets passed around.
The rest of us are too busy to spend a half a year and lots of money chasing these scam artists across the world.
Great comment getting, perhaps it is me that has the defeatist attitude because I assumed that there was no recourse.
Dolores Monet 2 years ago
It's awful how these people will try to take advantage of innocent folks, and I can see how a gullible person could fall for it. But if it is really so awful, how come I'm laughing out loud? You must have had a wonderful time with these emails.