ddd Scams - sss, ccc

Classified Ad Scams: ddd

Scams and scammers using these names: sss, ccc, bbb
"ttt"

Are you looking to ddd? Did "sss" claiming to be from bbb contact you? Note that he says: "ttt".  That's a clue to a scam right there!

Here are the clues that this is a scam?

1. First, you will notice the syntax and grammar.  Often, is it not pathetically bad, it's just plain strange. It looks like it was written by someone who is not a native English-speaker, and writes very rarely in English. This is very typical of scammers, who largely are in Nigeria and have little formal education and probably none in English.
2. Next, he wants to write a check in excess of the required amount. Why? That makes no sense at all. If he hasn't got a bank account, he could always pay in cash or get a money order.
3. Then, he wants the "excess" from the check sent BACK to him or to other individuals, often in many different locations, and always by Western Union or Money Gram! Alarm bells should be going off by now.  Western Union wires and Moneygrams are not only untraceable, they're irretrievable.  Once the recipient picks them up (which can be done at ANY Western Union office in the world), the money is gone, gone, gone!
4. And then there are the little clues; signs like the strange name changes.  Maybe, first he's "David Rapheal", then he's suddenly "Shawn Nickolas", supposedly in England, yet the first name has an American spelling and the last name is spelled more like an Eastern European or Germanic origin.
5. The scammers typically ramble on about issues ("ttt") that are irrelevant to such a sale or rental; such as, how they are doing this for charity, or recently moved to the UK, or are traveling in Africa right now.  You as a seller / landlord, don't and shouldn't care about these issues: you are trying to find a legitimate buyer or renter for your item at a fair market price.  The scammer knows this and is merely trying to cloud the issue and provide excuses for not complying with the basic requirements of a sale. He's also trying to engender trust; one of the key elements of any con game.
6. Look at the huge number of misspellings, weird use of capital letters, poor punctuation and made-up words.  Again, this is typical of the scammer filth who live and operate in Nigeria.

An actual email that illustrate this type of CraigsList scam:

Any highlighted passages below are to draw your attention to typical scam clues:

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Email 1 - from the victim:

The e-mails below are the scam...I'm looking for an apartment and "Susan" is trying to get me to Western Union the money.  I want to see the apartment and she asked for a small brief application before she went further with the process to see if I was even acceptable.

She provides her e-mail and a phone number (both I assume are fake)  She still thinks I'm interested.  How can I inform someone so they might be able to catch her?

Email 2 - from the scammer (Tracie):

From: Tracie Roxanne [mailto: tracie.roxanne@gmail.com ]

Sent: Thursday, April 03, 2008 3:41 PM

Subject: PROFILE ACCEPTED

Dear  ,

Thanks you very much for your reply, I can see your willingness in this apartment. I want you to know that i'm satisfied with your profile and also believe l can trust in you because l will not like to experience what l experieced from my last tenant again.I will like to know the exact date you will like to move into the flat,l showed your profile to my husband and daughter in africa, they said they are ok with it.l want you to know that we can let you stay in my flat till the period of time you wish to.

I want you to know that the rent fee is among the flat utilities all included, so you can use them anytime but make you take proper care of my properties.We will come and pay you a visit after you have moved into my home to see how you are maintaining it,I will be receiving the first months deposit payment from you via Western Union because l think it reliable,secured and fast,l wish you best of luck in your work, from your profile l can see that you are responsible and a hard working person may the almighty Lord lead you in what ever you wish to do.l see no reason l why l should collect damages deposit since you have promise that you will take proper care of my home l think we're ok.

Amenities 

..........................................

# Bedroom : 1

# Bathroom : 1

# Extra Toilet : 1 

# Extra Guest Room: 1 

# Sofa Bed : 1 

# Bed Linen

Accommodation Features

................................................... 

Wood Floor : 

Heater : 

Central Heating :

Equiped Kitchen : 

Tv: Cable/Satellite TV: 

Video/Stereo: 

Internet : 

Air Conditioning:

� Full Kitchen

� Refrigerator:

� Garage/Car park

� pets  allowed.

 

Kitchen Features

...................... ...........

Washing machine:

Juice Machine : 

Iron : 

Toaster: 

Oven :

Dishwasher : 

Coffee Maker :

Microwave : 

Refrigerator:

Stove:

As soon as the first 2months deposit payment has been confirmed by me via Western union,l will go ahead and commence on how the apartement keys/Documents will be delivered to you via DHL on next day delivery and it will be delivered to the address you provided.Let me hear back from you as soon as possible so that l can go arrange for the delivery of the keys/Documents.

Once again l'm giving you this apartment on trust and do not dissapoint me because l dont want our house to be destroyed again, if you wish to move in with your own properties,we still have one extra room that is empty so you can easily put our own things that you think you dont need in there.

Here are the contents that will be delivered to you via DHL courier service.

1) Entrance and the rooms Keys

2)Paper/Permanent Flat form(Containing your reference details)

3)The Flat documented file.

4)Payment Receipt.

5)Full address and description of the house.

My husband will like to talk to you,you can call him as soon as you get this mail his number is 0112348083710680 or +2348083710680.

Get back to me vian email if you will need me to send you the information which you will use to make the deposit payment via western union to my husband in west africa.

Thanks and God bless you...

Best Regards,

Tracie