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Beware! Another Scam


Quillan
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Picture this. They are thinking of a holiday somewhere in Europe and send a mailshot to several different locations. Certain words are changed to reflect the location. The poor english could just be due to the fact that the sender is not english or has limited use of the language.

example.

Hi,
 
My name is Alice Ford,I got your details from English tourism directory and would like to rent your accommodation. I will be going on my annual leave on the 14th of April and my husband & I will be coming to Winchester, Hampshire on holiday for 2 weeks. We would be staying from Sunday 15th of April 2007 to Saturday 28th of April 2007.
I would greatly appreciate your thoughts and recommendation on a suitable accommodation if you have availability for 14 nights (2weeks) and the costs. Any discounts for long stay?
I'm 37 years old and a senior accountant, working with UNESCO here in the United Kingdom. I look forward to hearing from you, many thanks.
 
Alice Ford,
42, Parkville Rd,
London, SW6 7BX
United Kingdom.
Email:[email protected]

That said, it could be a mass-mailshot as part of a scam, but don't scams seek to obtain money or goods from you fraudulently ? I can see no sign of that in this request for information. Or does that part come later?

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Picture this.

Anyone with half a brain in this biz will know a genuine enquiry from a pathetic no intention to book enquiry. That will equally be the ones from scammers and waste of spacers alike.

Even badly written ones are easily put in to the booking probable or simple idiots just having a game on the net. Most will fit in to a frame fixed in ones mind, that many will instantly know, is a genuine enquiry or not.

I also think soz should take his turn in giving the Nigerians a nice break, seems like one or two have done so in the past [:)]

Mind you, am I alone in hoping to hear from the scammer who just leaves money in ones account, now that's a real scam.................. or total b*******s [:)][;-)]

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[quote user="Miki"]Picture this.

"Anyone with half a brain in this biz will know a genuine enquiry from a pathetic no intention to book enquiry. That will equally be the ones from scammers and waste of spacers alike."


[/quote]

 ROTFL 

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[quote user="Bugbear"]

[quote user="Miki"]Picture this.

"Anyone with half a brain in this biz will know a genuine enquiry from a pathetic no intention to book enquiry. That will equally be the ones from scammers and waste of spacers alike."

[/quote]

 ROTFL 

[/quote]

Damnation, I was being double serious as well [;-)]

So it was a scam after all...well I never, the very thought.......................[:)]

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Well, knock me down with a feather, Loiseau - who would have thought it. [:)]  Nice one. 

Only thing is, the example they give says:

Hi,

My

name is Kathleen Reynolds; I got your details from the Canada Tourism

Directory and would like to rent a Room. I will be going on my annual

leave on the 30th of January and my husband & I will be coming to Canada on holiday for 3 weeks. We would be staying from Wednesday 31st of January 2007 to Wednesday 21st of February 2007.

I

would greatly appreciate your thoughts and recommendation on a suitable

accommodation if you have availability for 21 nights and the costs for

2 persons. Any discounts for long stay?

I'm 37 years old and a senior accountant, working with UNESCO here in the United Kingdom. I look forward to hearing from you, many thanks.

Kathleen Reynolds,

80, Romford Rd,

London, E15 4BZ 

United Kingdom

That differs from the one I got in several respects.  I suppose there's a 60% chance they could be related, though.

I am still awaiting a reply from my own senior accountant at UNESCO.  I'm hoping she will pay me by Paypal and then forget about the whole thing.

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[quote user="Cassis"]
Only thing is, the example they give says:

 

Kathleen Reynolds,
80,
Romford Rd,
London, E15 4BZ 
United Kingdom

That differs from the one I got in several respects.  I suppose there's a 60% chance they could be related, though.
[/quote]

Well, Alice of Fulham is obviously a more upmarket friend of Kathleen. [;-)]    I expect they met while working at UNESCO and hit it off, and since they clearly both have an interest in travel..... 

Angela

 

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No probs.  But wait for this - I have this minute received a reply from Alice! [:D] [:D] [:D]

Dear Phil,

 

Many thanks for your cordial message. I'm glad to hear you have

availability covering the period of our stay. I'll take your accommodation which

you are offering for 45 euro per night,and I'll pay you in full to hold it.The

total comes to 630 euro for the 14 nights.

 

UNESCO pays for my flight, accommodation and holiday expenses, so payment

will be sent to you from our head office. I will instruct our finance department

to send you a Money Order on my behalf covering the total cost of my stay. For

this I would need your Full Name/Address/Telephone Number and

also the Grand Total Cost, which is : Cost for the accomodation

+ (plus) All Taxes Payable so payment can be posted to you as soon as possible.

I've been looking forward to this trip for a long while; I do hope it will

meet my expectation. Thank you and I look forward to a wonderful holiday.

 

Best regards,

Alice Ford.

Okay, Chris, Miki, Bugs, Loiseau and everyone else - how should I play the fish? [Www]

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Phil,

Ask her what airport she will be flying in to and why her company is not sending you a simple UK cheque.  Ask her why her address was not right and why no Alice Ford was found to be in employment with  UNESCO?  At the same time ask her why she was booking in to a place in Saint Malo at the same time...................

Warning !!

You may hear no more and lose the booking . [:)]

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[:-))] No surprise there then!

Given your contact details are on your website can it do any harm to send the information? I would play along with her before doing what Miki suggests???

As I am sure you are well aware Cassis, from what I have heard from others in this biz, and if this is the usual kind of scam, you will receive a cheque for your costs plus a whole lot more ... in the hope you will rush off to cash it, and while you are waiting for the cheque to clear you will get an email asking to immediately return the difference by Western Union in the hope you will do so before the cheque clears. And, as you know, the original cheque will bounce. And if anyone thinks this does not work, it happened to an old lady in our commune last June. The police here, and in London (the address for the return of the extra dosh was given as a London address), didnt want to know. She lost 1000 Euros.

If this is the scam, you could wait for the cheque, 'deposit' it, and then when you get the email requesting an immediate transfer, say you will do so as soon as the cheque clears. Going on others' experiences you will get a few frantic emails asking you to send it immediately for various reasons, and then they will give up. By which time the cheque will have bounced.

If you suggest a Paypal payment Alice will certainly say shey can not do one of those, and blame it on UNESCO.

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[quote user="Cassis"]

Kathleen Reynolds,
80,
Romford Rd,
London, E15 4BZ 
United Kingdom


That differs from the one I got in several respects.  I suppose there's a 60% chance they could be related, though.

[/quote]

OR, you could check your skills as a statistician and ask if she is related to Kathleen[:D]

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As Tommo said, I've no problems giving name, address and phone number as they are all public knowledge anyway.  But I think I'll ask if they can make the payment via Paypal first - I may hit lucky and get the most cretinous scammer in world, like the one Quillan was fortunate enough to find.

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Here's the reply, then:

Hello Alice

Here is our address.  Re. payment, we can only take cheques on a

French account.  Alternatively, can you

make payment by Paypal?

I confirm the total payable is 630€.  We will accept a deposit for 50% of this

amount – no need to pay the full amount unless you really want to!

Phil Graham

La Basse Cour

72610 ANCINNES

France

I've not bothered sending her our phone number.

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Not just UNESCO,most of the UN and a lot applies to the EU lot in Brussels and don't forget all the other politicians-remember the Uk ones who all get free parking at UK airports(and a lot more).
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Yes, I remember the irony filings. I always wondered where the school actually bought them from, and had visions of Chinese sweatshops with little men slaving over heaps of scrap metal all day just to give physics teachers something to play with.

Then I was introduced to the metalwork workshop...

 

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