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Beware! Another Scam


Quillan

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Hot news - just received another mail from Alice Ford.  Oddly addressed to bearsbandb@hotmail.com, but happily it reached my mailbox.  I would not have liked to miss this:

Hello Dear,

 

Sorry for the delay in writing you, my Dad suffered a stroke

a few days ago and his condition is critical. I'm just coming from the hospital

and I haven't had time for anything else. The doctors say it's really bad and I

pray to God that he survives this.

 

Just to let you know your payment is

on the way. My finance director left a message for me at the office, saying

payment has been mailed to you. You should receive it early next week at the

lastest, do kindly let me know when it arrives.

 

Many thanks,

Alice

Ford.

What a shame, eh? [:D]

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Here is the response:

Dear Alice

I’m so sorry to hear that.  I hope that his condition improves soon.  I’ll let you know when we receive the cheque.

Phil

Fingers crossed that dad pulls through -  I'd hate to lose the booking.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...
[quote user="Quillan"]

[quote user="Coco"]Am I being stupid?  What is the scam?  I've had several genuine ones like this, with almost as much information - just not the age.  Is the address real?[/quote]

We had one the other week from Oz wanted three rooms for two weeks in high season plus half board. Never had one of these before except for the scam ones there they want to take all the rooms for students visiting Paris (considering we are about 8 hours away by car). I asked for half the money up front by PayPal and waited. A week later the money arrived, I could have lost 1,400 Euros if I hadn't given it a go.

[/quote]

Well my Oz Guests are here and they seem rather nice. They have paid the full amount on arrival in cash because they didn't want to carry it around with them. I shall check the family silver before they go.

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Oh for gods sake why are we still warning people about having anything to do with anything from Nigeria?

If they do its their own fault.

Also, booking enquiries regarding long stays from email addresses with a yahoo address requesting bank transfers, and or, cheque payments.

Hasn't this all been done before?.

 

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woolybanana (ex tag) said "Do you always have to check the family silver after guests go? Is keeping a B n B so fraught with danger? Do they often pay half or more in cash? Is that acceptable? My own plans are not yet far advanced but I am beginning to feel cold water under my feet."

People who have being running B&B's for a long time thought that these particular guests and the method in which they contacted me to be scammers. My point at the time is that you can't tar all with the same brush and these weren't.

Of cause it's dangerous, would you have people to stay in your home who you have never met before without any references?

People can pay many ways and cash is just one way. It still goes to the bank and it still gets declared to the taxman. There are some, I have heard, who put cheques etc in the bank and cash in their pocket. The problem comes when you sell up and move on, your profits and turnover are not so attractive.

Why not buy an established, up and running B&B. I'm sure you will know at least one person who has one for sale. Judging by the lack of reported trade by others this year there may be more than one.

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[quote user="Quillan"]People who have being running B&B's for a

long time thought that these particular guests and the method in which

they contacted me to be scammers. My point at the time is that you

can't tar all with the same brush and these weren't.[/quote]

Just in case anyone thinks that "the people who had been running a B&B

a long time" is a reference to any of the B&B owners on this forum, some - like Miki and myself - were actually highly amused at the idea that a scammer would be stupid

enough to send payment by Paypal.

None of them said that the enquiry in question was a scam - not one of them saw it.

The only person I can find who even suggested that the enquiry

from the Aussies looked like a scam was Quillan himself!

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