Crossing
Paths With A Professional Nigerian Internet Scam Artist
Jimmy
Moore
August 9, 2007
I
have to share something with you today that has absolutely nothing at all to do
with livin' la vida low-carb, but is too important for me not to share. Especially
if you engage in selling items on the Internet on popular trading post sites like
eBay and Amazon, then you will most definitely want to pay attention to the following
story that just happened to me.
I've
been regularly selling all kinds of products online for over ten years, including
music CDs, DVDs, videos, as well as the occasional electronic device to pull in
a little extra cash when money gets tight. For the most part, the transactions
have been seamless and I've gotten paid sans the small percentage that eBay or
Amazon takes to make their money.
It's
an easy thing for virtually anyone to make out well, especially if you price your
merchandise competitively against the competition. Don't you wish everything you
bought was handled this way? Sure would make prices come down on those really
expensive items you want.
Anywho,
I recently put my iPod up for sale at Amazon because I purchased the new iPhone
(I'll be sharing my experience with this bad boy soon, but let's just say it's
WORTH EVERY PENNY!) and no longer need it. The iPod was a little more costly than
the CDs and DVDs I post, but I didn't think twice about listing it there.
Within
days, I received a flurry of e-mail inquiries about the iPod and what all came
with it. All the questions people had about what I was specifically selling were
promptly answered, but no sale. Then on Tuesday I received another message from
Amazon that a potential buyer had a question for me about the iPod.
Here's
that e-mail from Amazon and the prospective customer:
Hello
from Amazon.com.
A
potential buyer has sent you the following message about an item you have for
sale on Amazon.com, or about your store at Amazon.com. Please respond to the individual
directly by replying to this e-mail. For your reference, the buyer's e-mail address
is mrssarasam02@yahoo.com.
Item:
Apple Ipod 20GB 4th Generation [ASIN: B000JVWED6 ]
Important
Notice: The following order payment methods are not covered for reimbursement
by the Amazon.com A-to-z Guarantee: wire transfer, money orders, check, cash,
or credit card transactions that occur off Amazon.com. Only orders using Amazon
Payments are supported. This is the payment system used when you use 1-Click or
the Shopping Cart to place orders through the Amazon.com Web site.
--------------
Begin message ---------------------
Apple
Ipod 20GB 4th Generation
Used from $149.99
i
an intrested in buying this item,can i pay to amazon?
--------------
End message ------------------------
Notice:
Amazon.com may retain copies of all forwarded e-mails, and takes no responsibility
and assumes no liability for the content of any messages forwarded to you.
Amazon.com
will never e-mail you and ask you to disclose or verify your Amazon.com password,
credit card, or banking account number. If you receive a suspicious e-mail with
a link to update your account information, do not click on the link--instead report
the e-mail to Amazon.com for investigation. Go to amazon.com/phish to find out
more.
It
was an odd question since most people already know you pay Amazon for the sale
directly, but I graciously replied back with the following e-mail:
Sure!
If you select my iPod to purchase, then you pay Amazon, I ship you the iPod and
Amazon pays me. I look forward to your order. :) THANKS!
After
sending that e-mail response late Tuesday night, I then received the following
e-mail plea from the buyer whose name is "Mrs Sara Sam" on Wednesday
morning with special instructions about how and where she wanted her iPod shipped:
Date:
Wednesday, August 8, 2007 9:38 AM
From: Mrs Sara Sam
To: Jimmy Moore Livin'
La Vida Low-Carb
Subject: Re: Product details inquiry from Amazon customer
Size:
5 KB
Thanks
for the reply.I have just made my payment to amazon. Please this item is to be
shipped to my husband who went on a forestry resarch in Nigeria he called me that
the one he went along with to Nigeria dropped and got damaged so he asked me to
help him send another one.But for now i am not in the state i am in Germany for
a seminar from my working my office and i will not be back until next two week.
So
i will like you to help me ship it to him in Nigeria directly i have paid enough
to amazon for the shipping please kindly help me ship it out to him as soon as
possible as he compalined he needs it urgently.And please king ship it with USPS
Global express mail.
Here
is my husband address in Nigeria where the item should be shipped to.
MR
A.O Samson
P.O.Box 140
MOKWA
NIGER STATE
913001
NIGERIA.
Please
email me for any question. THANKS FOR THE SALES
At
this point, HUGE red flags were going off that something was just not right. Why
was the buyer contacting me about these special instructions, hmmm? Wouldn't she
just place the order through Amazon and then indicate how she wants it shipped
with them?
Plus,
the extremely poor English was a clever ruse and could very well be accurate for
this person. But shipping to Nigeria would cost me a bundle, especially for overnight
service. Nevertheless, "Mrs Sara Sam" assured me she included enough
money to cover the shipping costs as well.
Now,
as if all of that wasn't stranger than fiction, here's the really freaky part
of the story that probably would have convinced an unsuspecting newbie seller
to mail their iPod to Nigeria. Hopefully this will keep this from ever happening
to you in the future!
I
received the following "official" e-mail confirmation from Amazon about
30 minutes prior to hearing from "Mrs Sara Sam" and her impassioned
begging for me to mail the iPod as soon as possible:
Date:
Wednesday, August 8, 2007 9:03 AM
From: Payment-message@amazon.com .
To:
livinlowcarbman@charter.net
Subject: AMAZON PAYMENT CONFIRMATION APPROVED.
Size:
19 KB
Dear
livinlowcarbman@charter.net,
You have been sent an Amazon Payment of $269.99
from one of our clients, Mrs Sara Sam for the item purchase from you (Apple Ipod
20GB 4th Generation).
BUYER
PAYMENT STATUS
Order
Status:
Amazon
Order #72484884912434775180
Order Placed 08/07/2007
Buyer
Billing Information:
Status
Processed successfully
Card Type VISA
Card Number 4***********1166
Exp.
Date 10/2008
Name on Card Mrs Sara Sam
Street Address 1127, West 9th Street
City,
State, Zip Washington, Missouri 63090
Country USA
Seller
Payment Information:
Amazon
Item Description Apple Ipod 20GB 4th Generation
Quantity 1
Buyer's Price
$149.99
Postage & Handling $120.00
Total Amount $269.99
Seller e-mail
address livinlowcarbman@charter.net
Below
is the shipment information as shown in the payment Master
Name: Mr A.O Sam
Address:
P.O BOX 140
City: Mokwa
State: Niger
Zipcode: 913001
Country: Nigeria
This
Amazon payment has been deducted from the buyer's account and has been"APPROVED"
but will be credited to your account as soon we are able to recieve the shipment
tracking number sent to our customer's service for shipment verification so as
to Secure Both the Buyer and the Seller. Below are the necessary information requested
before your account will be credited.
1: Make sure you receive the Amazon Payment
comfirmation before any shipment.
2 : Make sure the approved mail contains
the total amount for the item bought.
3 : Make sure you ship the item to the
address the buyer gave to you which is written above, immediately you receive
the approved comfirmation.
4 : Make sure the shipment tracking number is sent
to our customers service for shipment verification so as to secure both the buyer
and the seller. Make sure the shipment tracking number is sent to us ONLY through.
( amazonordercashtransfer@mailpanda.com)
5:
Make sure the shipment tracking number is mailed to us ONLY and not the buyer.
You
can contact our customer service at (amazonordercashtransfer@mailpanda.com)Thanks
for using Amazon We look forward in serving your online payment. Amazon.com; An
Amazon's Company
Copyright 1995-2007
Very
official-looking...um, sorta. HA! I've dealt with Amazon long enough to know they
wouldn't allow that many mistakes to get through in their very precise e-mail
verbage.
Incidentally,
that address in Washington, MO is legitimate according to Google Maps, but I didn't
find a listing for A.O. or Sara Sam anywhere. Weird would be putting it very nicely
at this point.
As
if all of that wasn't throwing massive bells and whistles off in my mind (and
it had long done before I got this far in the process), looky what I found at
the very bottom of that last e-mail which supposedly came from Amazon:
Get
your free email from http://freemail.asiamail.com
Why
would Amazon, the world's largest online retailer, need a free email account,
hmmm? Also, why would they need to use another web hosting service like mailpanda.com
(notice the e-mail came from amazonordercashtransfer@mailpanda.com) when they've
probably got unlimited e-mail accounts for amazon.com?
These
professional Internet scam artists aren't exactly the brightest bunch in the world
now are they? Of course, they're trying to hit the most gullible people who aren't
privy to their devious and deceptive tactics.
I
guess they didn't realize who they were messin' with this time! :D
My
many years of experience being online and selling items prevented me from becoming
yet another victim. Here are my five easy tips you need to be aware of so you
don't ever get trapped by these idiotic crooks:
1.
Always confirm orders through the selling agency. Amazon started requiring sellers
a few months back to go online to complete their transactions in part, no doubt,
because of these kinds of fraudulent practices that are happening. When I checked
my Amazon seller account for this sale from "Mrs Sara Sam," there was
no order for my iPod listed there. ALWAYS CHECK FIRST BEFORE SHIPPING!
2.
NEVER follow the personal shipping instructions you receive from a buyer. All
the details about your order will be provided by the selling agency and Amazon
will even send you an e-mail to let you know you made a sale. They DO NOT send
anything like a confirmation approval e-mail like these Nigerian shysters did.
3.
This goes for any e-mail, but look out for punctuation in the subject line. That's
usually a clear sign that there's something screwy going on around here. You'll
notice in that e-mail that was allegedly from Amazon confirming the sale, the
subject line read "AMAZON PAYMENT CONFIRMATION APPROVED." with the period
at the end. Nobody puts a period in an e-mail subject line.
4.
Additionally, check the specifics of the e-mail address in the "From"
for any e-mail you receive. The one in the example above showed "Payment-message@amazon.com
. " (again, notice the period). The e-mail address inside the is ALWAYS the
point of origin. But notice how tricky these scam artists tried to be by listing
"Payment-message@amazon.com" to fool you. Tsk tsk! Be aware of ANY correspondence
you receive and look out for these traps.
5.
Don't ship internationally unless you are absolutely CERTAIN of the sale. The
cost to ship that iPod would have run about as much as what I was asking for it.
So not only would "Mrs Sara Sam" run off with my iPod and deprive me
of my money for it, but I'd also be out over $100 for the expedited Global shipping.
Double whammy!
You'll
be pleased to know I didn't fall for this trick and ironically sold the iPod while
writing this blog post. See, everything works out in the end after all! That is,
if you stay alert, be smart, and refuse to get taken by the professional Nigerian
scam artists that are out there.
They're
waiting for their next victim...don't let it be YOU!!!
