Lachouette Posted April 30, 2007 Share Posted April 30, 2007 Wise, learned and experienced colleagues,I can usually spot the usual scam of African origin, involving travel agencies and Western Union but this one has made me feel uneasy, so I'd like another opinion please. A couple of days ago I received the following message:"Hello,I am Dr. Franklin Altman Stokes from Franklin Yoga Consultancy,and I wish to make a reservation with your for a group of 4 guests coming for a family Vacation.We will like to know if you have vacancy for the period of 18th September to 28th September 2007.Please Calculate the total cost involved for the services which includes and taxes for 10 days, and get back to me if the dates mentioned above are free.We appreciate your prompt response.Yours Sincerely,Franklin Altman Stokes+447024062538+447024091908Fax#: +442125042704http://franklinyogaconsultancy.tripod.com/franklinyogaconsultancy@hotmail.co.uk+447024062538, +44702409190852 TOKYINGTON AVENUEWEMBLEY.HA 96HL"It made me smell a rat, and I checked out his website, which shows his yoga courses priced in $s in London, supposedly.I've replied asking exactly what he's looking for in the way of rooms, and today received this:"Hello I got your email.They shall be staying for 10 DAYSthat will commence on the 18th to 28th of SEPTMBER 2007. Number of Guests=4 AdultsNumber of rooms needed= 2 Superior Double RoomsCheck in date:18th SEPTEMBER. 2007Check out date:28th SEPTEMBER. 2007Payment Mode:100% deposit via Credit card Please give us your rates,for the entire period, andget back to me with the grand total for the period oftime i requested. Your prompt response will be appreciated. Thanks for your co-operation.Regards"No signture this time, just the message. We don't take credit cards and as we're GdF 3 épis, don't rate as 'superior', so my next email may well knock the whole thing on te head, but what do others think.Thanks,JanSorry about the formatting - it's past my bedtime on night off! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tresco Posted April 30, 2007 Share Posted April 30, 2007 I saw that discussed here. Scroll down the pagehttp://possumworld.informe.com/viewtopic.php?t=145&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=30 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LesLauriers Posted April 30, 2007 Share Posted April 30, 2007 From the internet.....Dr. Franklin Stokes+447024062538, +447024091908 Fax#:+447884514786 , +44704712105 6th Floor Gwent House Gwent Square NP44 1PL Dr. Hanks Payne,Baird Hall,High Street Linlithgow,+447024062538West Lothian EH49 7ESScotland Why have an 0702 number? • Getting a new mobile, but want a number you can take with you? • Using your mobile for business and don't want to give out your real mobile number? • Have to give out your number a lot, but would rather keep your mobile number private? • Want one number for family and friends and another for business, or new aquaintances from your social scene? ...Sounds simple, but how does it really work?All you need to do is select your number from the link below and Ophone will connect you. 0702 is NOT premium rate. When customers, family or firends dial an 0871 number, they will be charged at K rate. K rate may vary depending on your phone provider, contact your phone provider for more details. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lachouette Posted May 1, 2007 Author Share Posted May 1, 2007 Thanks very much - looks like others have been there before. Got another this morning, strangley enough with the same phone number so will be ignoring both!Jan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chine tour Posted November 24, 2007 Share Posted November 24, 2007 I tend to agree this is just another scam. But still not sure why the h... this guy should send such an email. But here is the email I received today with strong resemblance to the one your mentioned above. And I do not care to reply to it. Anyone knows how we can report or punish those scam writers? Thanks. [:)] Hi, I will like to book reservation for 6 people that will be coming for vacation in your area on the 12th january to 22nd of january 2008. If you have vacancy for the specified period, give me the total cost for the whole period of 3 single or double rooms for 10 nights for 6 guest. Also, confirm if you will accept major credit card for your payment. Thank you and looking forward to hearing from soon. Kind Regards,Dr. Johnson Frank ,Baird Hall,High StreetLinlithgow,+447024062538West Lothian EH49 7ESScotland Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillan Posted November 24, 2007 Share Posted November 24, 2007 As far as reporting them goes the only advice available from the UK police (because you have a UK address and phone number on the email) is contact the local police station. Basically nobody wants to know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunday Driver Posted November 24, 2007 Share Posted November 24, 2007 Check out the [url=http://www.ukapas.ross-web.org.uk/?page_id=2]United Kingdon Accommodation Providers Alert System[/url] for many more examples of this type of letter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitty Posted November 24, 2007 Share Posted November 24, 2007 Can someone help me out? Why are these letters/emails seen as being scams? I need to know as we run a B&B.I checked out your link, Sunday Driver, and now know about the cheque/credit card scam - thank you for that. However, I do not see how the original letter tooks like a scam. Can someone enlighten me? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillan Posted November 24, 2007 Share Posted November 24, 2007 [quote user="Cathy"] Can someone help me out? Why are these letters/emails seen as being scams? I need to know as we run a B&B.I checked out your link, Sunday Driver, and now know about the cheque/credit card scam - thank you for that. However, I do not see how the original letter tooks like a scam. Can someone enlighten me?[/quote]First I think it's just a feeling you get probably based on the amount of very similar emails you get. If you use good personal (I mean software residing on your PC as opposed to your ISP) anti spam software that 'talks' to anti spam databases then usually such emails are reported and the email comes up as spam.If you take this particular email there are a couple of things. Firstly the 'vacation in your area' is a bit general and the word 'vacation' is an American description where as a Brit would probably use 'holiday', agreed its not always the case but it does make you read the rest more carefully. I had one saying they were attending a three day conference in central Paris and thought my place looked nice to stay at for those days. It takes me 8 hours to drive to Paris.In some cases your suspicion is further enhanced by the poor standard of written English in a letter supposedly from a 'professional' person like a doctor, barrister etc. Many use these titles in their letter because we all trust doctors, lawyers, barristers etc, don't we ? [:D]The next issue is the phone number, the correct code for the road used (the post code is correct by the way) is 01324 according to www.192.com .Next there is actually no such address (Baird Hall is in Glasgow and is a 'Hall of Residence' for the university and was build in 1937), nobody registered with that name in that road on the electoral road, in a phone book or in the last census. This information can be acquired by using www.192.com.You can also use 'reverse number look-up' (which is where you type in a phone number and it tells who has it http://www.ukphoneinfo.com/section/tci/locator.shtml ) in this case it's Magrathea Telecommunications Limited who are a 'use anywhere call forwarding number' this is a number that's allocated to a person and not a phone. This company is often used by people perpetrating frauds of some kind according to the Fraud Watchers Organisation in the UK (information source click HERE).Now to put the cherry on the cake as it were they want to pay by credit card. Credit card and Euro cheque payments are often methods used by scammers as explained in the link SD has given (thanks for that SD I never knew it existed and now have it bookmarked). Credit card type payments are easy to deal with as I said before use PayPal as it is online and requires the 'magic' three number code from the rear of the card which scammers more than often don't have. It checks the card before accepting the transaction, scammers know this so if you ask the scammer to pay using PayPal they will either never answer or come back probably with the Euro cheque proposition.Another 'test' you can do is give a price and put one or two zero's on the end i.e. a 900 Euro stay becomes 9,000 Euros. Scammers are driven by greed and will see the importunity of getting more money out of you so will go for it where as a real person will say HOW MUCH !!!!!!! and you can say 'Sorry my finger slipped on the old keyboard'.Hope that helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitty Posted November 24, 2007 Share Posted November 24, 2007 QuillanYou are the most lovely man in France (apart from my nearest and dearest)... Not only have you got me back into the Forum after a frustrating absence, you have also answered my post in the most helpful way. Your wife is very lucky! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillan Posted November 24, 2007 Share Posted November 24, 2007 Oooooooh [:$] [:$] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Katie Posted November 24, 2007 Share Posted November 24, 2007 I'm watching..............................[:D] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wendy Posted November 24, 2007 Share Posted November 24, 2007 We get our share of these 'enquiries' and delete them as soon as we see them nowadays. The bookings are always for a minimum of ten days, written with bad spelling/grammar, nearly always request single rooms despite what you advertise, the sender is a 'Doctor' or whatever and, lastly, that hotmail/yahoo address gives them away. What I'd like to know is why they simply do not book an etap if they are genuine?.I can't believe people are still submitting these for verification here![8-)]. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bino Posted November 24, 2007 Share Posted November 24, 2007 Also the telephone code for Linlithgow is 01506, don't know Baird Hall, in High St, (Linlithgow is 4 miles from us). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted November 29, 2007 Share Posted November 29, 2007 I'm not sure about this one. What do you think? Any words of profound wisdom greatly appreciated. [:)]From The Desk Of DavidZongo. The Head Of File Department,African Development Bank (A.D.B).Ouagadougou Burkina-Faso West Africa . "REMITTANCE OF $5 MILLION U.S.A DOLLARS CONFIDENTIAL IS THE CASE" Compliments Of The Season Blessed One to Who I Is Now Writing Forgive my indignation if this message comes to you as asurprise and may offend your personality for contacting you without your priorconsent and writing through this channel. In my department we discoveredan abandoned sum of $ 5 million U.S.A dollars ( Five million U.S.A dollars ordollars five to the million) . In an account that belongs to one of our foreigncustomer who died along with his entire family in (Monday 31st July 2000) in aplane crash (GOD BLESS HIS SOULS). Since we got information about his death, wehave been expecting his next of kin to come over and claim his money because wecannot release it unless somebody applies for it as next of kin or relation tothe deceased as indicated in our banking guidelines, but unfortunately welearnt that all his supposed next of kin or relation died along side with himat the plane crash leaving nobody behind for the claim. It is therefore uponthis discovery that I and one official in my department now decided to makethis business proposal since nobody is coming for it and we don’t want thismoney to go into the bank treasury as unclaimed bill. Afterseries of prayers/fasting over 40 days and nights I was divinely directed tocontact you among other names found in the data base Yahoo tourist search. Ibelieve that God has a way of helping who is in need. I am (DavidZongo),the Head of file Department in African development bank (ADB). When i was searching for a foreign reliablepartner. I assured in a vision from the Lord our GOD (BLESSED BE THE NAME OFTHE ALMIGHTY) of your capability and reliability to champion this businessopportunity.The Banking law and guideline here stipulates that if such money remainedunclaimed after a certain period of years, the money will be transferred intothe Bank treasury as unclaimed fund. The request of foreigner as next of kin inthis business is occasioned by the fact that the customer was a foreigner, anda Burkinabe cannot stand as next of kin to a foreigner. We agree that 40% ofthis money will be for you as foreign partner, in respect to the provision of aforeign account, 10% will be set aside for expenses incured during the businessand 80% would be for me and my woman colleague. There after i will visit yourcountry for disbursement according to the percentages indicated. Therefore to enable the immediate transfer of this fund to you as arranged, youmust apply first to the bank as relations or next of kin of the deceasedindicating your bank name, your bank account number, your private telephone andfax number for easy and effective communication and location where the moneywill be remitted. Upon receipt of yourreply, I will send to you by fax or email the text of the application I willnot fail to bring to your notice that this transaction is hitch free and thatyou should not entertain any atom of fear, no my dear sir in all confidence bedealing with me as I speak from GOD, as all required arrangements have beenmade for the transfer. You should contact me on my cell phone number 00226-7685 5660. Immediately as soon as you receive this letter. Trusting to hear from youimmediately. Your’s faithfully, David Zongo. FROM (ADB) OUAGADOUGOUBURKINA-FASO.GOD BLESSINGS, PROTECTIONS AND GUIDIANCE TO YOUR ENTIRE FAMILY. FILL THE THE FORM BELOW AND RETURN TO METHIS FORM BELOW PLEASE AND RESEND ITWITH EFFECT AS PROF OF YOUR FAITH AND TRUSTINGWORTHINESS TO ME1) Your Full Name.............................2) Your Age.......................................3) Marital Status................................4) Your Cell Phone Number…………..5) Your Fax Number………………..... 6) Your Country………………..............7) Your Occupation............................8) Sex................................................9) Your Religion.................................10) Your Private E-mail Adress...........11) Your place ofbirth.............12) Your mother’smaiden name..............13) The name of yourfirst pet.................14) Your first school.......................15) Your last school....................................16) Your spouse’smaiden name......................... POST SCRITUM:You have to keep everything secret as to enable the transferto move very smoothly in to the account you will prove to the bank. As youfinished reading this letter call me immediately so that we discuss very wellover this business. POSTHUMOUS SCRAPTUM: The Good Lord our God has once again appeardedto myselves in an imagining this past nights and has received to me a cavern inthe desrt whence we are finding a large quantity of pills, watches of irreprochabelquality. I am thinking that this mayalso be of interest to you or other persons with small engines or whose womenare very demanding of services. I amconvince that a good man of upstanding as you prove as revealed to me will benefitin these delicacies. To effect disposals ofpills and watches I and a group of nunsand accountants, all of faith and profession, am proposing to visut in yourregion of FRANCE, EUROPE and wish to book for 10 weeks your ACCOMMODATIONS inFRANCE, EUROPE. Payment of Unesco bankdraft will be forthcoming on receipt of yourbankers details in the utmost hasteto facilitate. Among our parties is anequal number of womens of Eastern Romania Balkans and Russia withmanifold delights and breasts of bountifulbness. Thes are innocent ladies of good breeding an voluptuosity.We is praying that you is having thoughts, as OUR GOOD GOD WISHES that you belaying your hands and other things on them and helping of these and yourself onour arrivals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovymarisa Posted November 29, 2007 Share Posted November 29, 2007 I have a Moroccan Restaurant in NYC and this past week, I began receiving emails from a George Murray Barr from a law firm in Scotland. He wanted to make reservations for three nights for his staff. I became skeptical and googled the Law firm as well as his phone number and your email popped up. Wow! Needless to say, there is no George Murray at the Law firm either. You can see by my responses at the onset of this dialogue, that we were very eager to have a large reservation in January of course. However, today is when my instinct told me something was not right. His email reads:Hello Toni, Thanks for your reply and assistance so far.I am glad to tell you that we have concluded all payment arrangements. I will send to you my Visa credit card details that will cover the cost of our booking,and the necessary arrangement for the guests.Moreover,we also made an arrangement with a logistics agent who will take care of the following logistics to include. 1) Flights2) Airport transfers on arrival and on departure3)Transportation logistics during their stay However, the prepaid agent has just informed us that their credit card merchant/terminal is faulty and is currently undergoing online upgrading and therefore cannot charge credit cards.So, we kindly solicit that once you are in receipt of my credit card details,you are required to charge $10,000.00 in your account then deduct $2,000.00 as initial deposit and transfer $8,000.00 to the prepaid flight/travel consultant, whose information I will forward to you once this is confirmed. N.B: All checks and balances will be made with you on the final day of the booking. So confirm this and provide me with your 1. YOUR FULL NAME....................2. ADDRESS.....................................3. PHONE NUMBERS.................... for office records. You are also to deduct the visa fees and taxes involved in processing this amount.PLEASE CONFIRM IF THIS ARRANGEMENT IS OK AND REPLY PROMPTLY TO ENABLE US PROCEED. Kind regards,Barr. George Murray+447024062538+447024091908Tagine Dining Gallery /Lounge <taginedining@verizon.net> wrote: Good Evening George,Kindly find attached 3 different prix fixe menus! They are all served family style, which allows everyone to taste a variety of appetizers and entrees. My suggestion would be the Berber or the Tuareg. Also, would you prefer cash or open bar? Open Bar has three price structures:Beer, Wine and Sangria--$10per person/per hourBeer, Wine, Sangria, Well drinks - $15.00 pp/phUnlimited BAR - $25.00pp/phI have also attached our wine list. Please let me know if you would like to make any substitutions to any of the menus. Thank you,ToniGeorge Murray <george.murray87@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:Hello Toni,I got your response, kindly revert to me the total dining cost so that i can furnish you with my credit card details to charge it, prior to our full prepayment for the reservation.Your earliest response would be appreciated.Regards,Barr. George MurrayTagine Dining Gallery /Lounge <taginedining@verizon.net> wrote: Thank you George!I will create three menus and send them Wednesday as we have a wine tasting banquet event this evening. I appreciate your detailed outline. Warm regards,ToniGeorge Murray <george.murray87@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:Hello Toni,Thanks for your kind and prompt response.Can you please forward to me your proposal of 3 or 5 different menus for each day.We will like to start with a 3 course menu for the first day.1. Number of guests: 15 adults. Time: 7.00 pm every evening3. No dietary concerns:4. We are flexible on our budget5. Mode of Payment:Prepayment by credit card6. Booking dates: 15th,16th and the 17th of January 2008I want you to get me 3 different menus as well their prices.I shall be waiting for your prompt response so that we can proceed with the payment arrangements.Kind regards,Barr.George Murray+447024062538+447024091908Tagine Dining Gallery /Lounge <taginedining@verizon.net> wrote: Dear Mr. George, Thank you for contacting Tagine from your law offices in Scotland. We are more than happy to hold a confirmed reservation for at least 15 persons in January, 15, 16 and 17th 2008. Would your colleagues like to order a la carte, or would you prefer prix fixe dinners. Also, are you interested in any form of entertainment, for instance orientalist/middle eastern dancers and/or musicians. Please feel free to call me directly on my mobile 646 373 6265 or we can continue to communicate through email. Thank you in advance for booking your corporate event at Tagine. Warm regards, Toni MarisaEvent Coordinator, Special Programswww.taginedining.com212 564 7292Tagine Dining Gallery537 9th AvenueNYC 10018direct 646 373 6265GEORGE MURRAY <george.murray01@gmail.com> wrote:Content-Type: text/plainContent-Transfer-Encoding: 8bitHello,I am George Murray, from Maclay Murray & Spens law firm, United Kingdom. I want to book dinner for my Staffs arriving from Scotland.They will all come for dinner in your place as from the 15th, 16th and 17th January, 2008 by 7:00pm each day. They are 15 in number. Get back with your response if there is availability in your restaurant.Warmest Regards,Barr. George Murray26 West Street, Glasgow,Lanarkshire, G5 8APScotland+447024062538e-mail: george.murray87@yahoo.co.uk==========================Tagine Dining Gallery/Lounge537 Ninth AvenueNew York City 10018 www.taginedining.com 212 564 7292========================== Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted November 30, 2007 Share Posted November 30, 2007 [quote user="lovymarisa"] Also, are you interested in any form of entertainment, for instance orientalist/middle eastern dancers. [/quote]If Georgie doesn't show any interest, could you forward me the details please, Marisa? [:D]Tresco's link to the original thread which gave quite a detailed explanation of how to read a scam - partly rehashed by Quillan above - does not seem to work - how strange. [8-)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wendy Posted December 4, 2007 Share Posted December 4, 2007 Yeah we have had same and such. Here are the common denominators:'Doctor'The number '4' whether it be people, singles, couples or rooms.'10' meaning the number of days required. They never ask for two, three or five days. The booking enq is always for a minimum of 10 days.'Rates for the entire period'Offer of '100% deposit' by card/chequeBasically check the grammar.And the names are usually pretty pretentious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ginger Posted March 24, 2008 Share Posted March 24, 2008 We have a very small restaurant in Newport, Oregon (USA) and had recently received a number of email requests (for reservations for a group of 10) from a "Dr. James Turner" from the UK.After several attemps to confirm information (deposit and menu selections) with Dr. Turner, we decided to do a little research of our own.I spent a good deal of time searching before I decided to enter the phone number Dr. Turner used in his emails....+337024062538 on Google. Fortunately this "link" appeared and after reading your posting...I realized we'd been a victim of a scam as well.Many thanks for posting your experience online. It was just the confirmation we needed. Thankfully, only time and energy was spent instead of product and lost wages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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