From a Kindly Contributor in Poland who was trying to sell a property:
I am forwarding to you the very dodgy e-mails I have received.
I try to sell the property in Poland and posted some adverts in the
Internet.
As response I got the first e-mail in Polish asking general questions if I
speak English and about the price of property.
Then I received these odd two emails as below.
Capsule version of a typical rental or real estate sales 'format':
- scammer demands deposit or escrow fee or something like this
- you send money order - that's the scam
- variation: scammer says 'You don't have to send the money order to me, send it to a friend of yours, just tell me the money order details'
- scammer shows up at Western Union before your friend, collects money order using details you provided
|
"Michael Rowells"
Scammer expresses interest, in Polish, but asks to switch to English
January 8, 2012 Witam,
Czy mówisz po angielsku?
*Link do oferty http://www.bezposrednio-nieruchomosci.pl/details-omitted
Mieszkanie sprzeda. - location xxxxx*
*Cena xxx,000 z. (xxxxx z. za m2) * x pokoje Hi,
Do you speak English?
* Link to the offer www.bezposrednio-nieruchomosci.pl/details-omitted
Houses for sale. - Location xxxxx *
* Price xxx z (z xxxxx per m2) * x rooms
Kindly Contributor
Good Morning Michael,
Yes, I speak English. If you would like to see the advert in English there are details below:
The offer number is: xxxxxxxxx http://www.xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx/xxxx Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any further questions. If you wish we can call you back or find you on Skype. Kind Regards
"Michael Rowells"
Suddenly the story becomes more dramatic! Subject: I WILL BUY IT Hello, I have received your response concerning your advert and i hope you will understand my Mail reading in English, I will surely buy your property the one you advertised on the website for sale. I am contacting you based on trust and confidentiality that you will keep this as top secret. Don't be scared or surprise. Before beginning let me introduce my self to you I am Lt. Col Michael Rowells commander of 401st Army Field Support Brigade currently in Afghanistan. I contacted you in confidence hoping that you can be a trustworthy person and would also be helpful in a matter like this. I am the commander in charge of 401st Army Field Support Brigade on war against terrorism, Based on the United States legislative and executive decision for withdrawing troops from Afghanistan come this year, I have no option than to retire from military service, Our mission is to help beef up terrorist targeted states, mostly the United states and the European Union (NATO)on war against terrorism. During my stay here in Afghanistan, I was able to make the sum of $4.7million USD. Part of this money came from our raid on Taliban's. Secondly, I am a uniformed person and I can not be parading such an amount so I need to present someone as the beneficiary. I am an American and an intelligence officer, I have 100% authentic means of transferring the money through diplomatic courier service .I just need your acceptance and all is done. The only way to be safe with this money is to invest it, So i need someone i could deal with, If you accept i will transfer the money to you where you will be the beneficiary as soon as the next red cross flight goes to Europe. I decided to find someone that is real and not imaginary and that is why i went to the website where i can be sure that the person is real. Where we are now we can only communicate through our military communication facilities which is secured so nobody can monitor our emails. If you are interested please send me your personal mobile number so i can call you for further inquiries when i am out of our military network. You can also send me a confirmation email so that we can move forward with this deal and discuss the percentage that you will be entitled to out of the amount. Regards, Michael This is now a classic IRAQ AND A HARD PLACE 'format', borrowing from the plot of the film Three Kings. The tale of the soldier who needs your help to move Saddam's bullion is another take on the old Lettre de Jéresalem from the 1830s.
Here's the thing. Lt. Col. Rowells is a real person, whose name the scammer must have plucked off a web site.
Kindly Contributor
... knows this is a scam, but replies politely Hello Michael,
Thank you for your e-mail.
"Michael Rowells"
Tries a bit of psychological pressure - time is short, etc., and this is a secret! January 10 Dear {Kindly Contributor},
Thanks for your mail, i truly need someone(SINCERE FELLOW) to partner with
me in this. I wish to advise you that we don't have much time to get this
deal done.
As soon as i am through with the diplomat's arrangement here, i will get
from him the contact of the diplomat that will deliver the consignment to
you and forward his contact and phone number to you so you can have an
appointment with him to know when you can come claim the consignment.
As soon as the Red Cross jet departs, I will send you a copy of the Air way
bill receipt which you shall forward to him. I do not know if you know how
dangerous it will be for us to trust anybody with this secret. Nobody
should know the secret of our wealth. This should be our top secret; nobody
should know how we made our money. This is to keep our future investment
safe out of trait from any body who may know this secret. There is no time for delay i have the consignment ready for deposit and the consignment shall be forwarded to their London regional office to be combined with the Red Cross jet. I will stamp the consignment with an official United States stamp so there is no way any security agent or custom will ever open the box for any inspection because of the diplomatic and military authorization Tags placed on the box. I can not be directly involved in the control in London because all i can do here is to send the consignment to you because we can not handle this money or spend it here because the global world is watching on us. Furnish me with the information below, as I did tell the Red Cross officer that we shall be intimating him with the information of the rightful owner of the boxes. This is all i require from you now:
1. Your Full name.............................................. Once i receive this i will prepare every document making you the rightful owner of the consignment immediately and will contact you as soon as i conclude arrangement with the diplomat here. This i know may have to take me nothing more than 3days. In fact, as soon as the next Red cross jet is living Afghanistan to Europe. I await your immediate reply. Regards, Michael
Kindly Contributor
[... did not reply! Fortunately she recognized this for what it is, and was kind enough to share it with us.] |