Mildly entertaining new scam
Discussion
I thought I would share with you a new scam I have encountered when replying to an ad here on PH for a smallish fast Audi. I've naturally supplied the full details to the PH police, but thought I'd post here as well - partly as a warning, but also as entertainment. Let me explain.
I respond to said ad, which seems to be a mildly over-cheap price for the vehicle, but just about within the realms of possibility. There's no phone number, which is a bit strange, but I use the email feature to try and get hold of 'Chris' in Somerset - worst case, he's only a few miles away, so I can inspect the car and owner for any signs of dodginess. There's no response for a few days, and then I notice that a phone number has been added to the ad, but also a good few thousand quid on the asking price. I assume that the original price has been a typo, and has now been corrected, with Chris not unreasonably discarding any replies so far on the grounds that most original responders would not be interested in the car at the new price. I forget about this car and move on - until today when I get an email back.
The first alarm bell is that the reply is from a Thomas Tanner, rather than 'Chris', the second is that they want to use the eBay escrow scheme (fair enough, but I've been checking for one of these cars on ebay too and its not advertised there), the third is that the guy is now claiming to be on the Isle of Man with work, and the fourth is the obviously wildly fluctuating price as its now down to the price at which I responded again. I'm convinced this is a scam, but it's a new one on me so I decide to play along for bit to learn more about how this one works, asking him to explain the above discrepancies.
Most scammers usually go pretty silent when picked up on this, but this one's game, and responds that he had some help from a mate (presumably 'Chris' of Somerset) in putting up the ad, and blames the fluctuating price on PH doing things to the ad without his permission. No elaboration on the car's location, but here's a link to the escrow scheme on ebay. Except of course it isn't. It looks quite a lot like a link to ebay, but actually redirects to a pretty convincing facsimile of an ebay page on (I think) Wordpress.
Any lingering doubt about it being a scam is now, of course, gone, but I've gone ahead and sent him another email seeking clarification, partly to waste their time and partly to see what other incriminating knots he can tie himself in. I await his response.
So far, so tedious, but there is a little entertaining twist; I quickly google "Thomas Tanner scam" to see if he's prolific, and instead find links to this book on amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samanthas-Viking-Jennas-Romance-Series-ebook/dp/B00D19NN3S.
There's a little synopsis with this highlight: "Detective Thomas Tanner doesn’t always play by the rules when it comes to crime-busting, but his arrest record is the envy of the department, and he takes pride in his reputation for getting the job done. So when his identity is stolen and FBI Agent Nathan Cuddy shows up at headquarters with accusations of Internet fraud via a romance scam, Tanner goes ballistic. Cuddy, Tanner’s nemesis is not above twisting the facts to get to Thomas, but the complaint against him is right there in black and white, claiming he bilked one Samantha Savage out of ten grand… and Thomas knows there’s only one way to set things right.
So, there you have it, nasty evil scam, though quite well constructed and written, with a nice little easter-egg for anyone who can be bothered to do a bit of googling.
I respond to said ad, which seems to be a mildly over-cheap price for the vehicle, but just about within the realms of possibility. There's no phone number, which is a bit strange, but I use the email feature to try and get hold of 'Chris' in Somerset - worst case, he's only a few miles away, so I can inspect the car and owner for any signs of dodginess. There's no response for a few days, and then I notice that a phone number has been added to the ad, but also a good few thousand quid on the asking price. I assume that the original price has been a typo, and has now been corrected, with Chris not unreasonably discarding any replies so far on the grounds that most original responders would not be interested in the car at the new price. I forget about this car and move on - until today when I get an email back.
The first alarm bell is that the reply is from a Thomas Tanner, rather than 'Chris', the second is that they want to use the eBay escrow scheme (fair enough, but I've been checking for one of these cars on ebay too and its not advertised there), the third is that the guy is now claiming to be on the Isle of Man with work, and the fourth is the obviously wildly fluctuating price as its now down to the price at which I responded again. I'm convinced this is a scam, but it's a new one on me so I decide to play along for bit to learn more about how this one works, asking him to explain the above discrepancies.
Most scammers usually go pretty silent when picked up on this, but this one's game, and responds that he had some help from a mate (presumably 'Chris' of Somerset) in putting up the ad, and blames the fluctuating price on PH doing things to the ad without his permission. No elaboration on the car's location, but here's a link to the escrow scheme on ebay. Except of course it isn't. It looks quite a lot like a link to ebay, but actually redirects to a pretty convincing facsimile of an ebay page on (I think) Wordpress.
Any lingering doubt about it being a scam is now, of course, gone, but I've gone ahead and sent him another email seeking clarification, partly to waste their time and partly to see what other incriminating knots he can tie himself in. I await his response.
So far, so tedious, but there is a little entertaining twist; I quickly google "Thomas Tanner scam" to see if he's prolific, and instead find links to this book on amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samanthas-Viking-Jennas-Romance-Series-ebook/dp/B00D19NN3S.
There's a little synopsis with this highlight: "Detective Thomas Tanner doesn’t always play by the rules when it comes to crime-busting, but his arrest record is the envy of the department, and he takes pride in his reputation for getting the job done. So when his identity is stolen and FBI Agent Nathan Cuddy shows up at headquarters with accusations of Internet fraud via a romance scam, Tanner goes ballistic. Cuddy, Tanner’s nemesis is not above twisting the facts to get to Thomas, but the complaint against him is right there in black and white, claiming he bilked one Samantha Savage out of ten grand… and Thomas knows there’s only one way to set things right.
So, there you have it, nasty evil scam, though quite well constructed and written, with a nice little easter-egg for anyone who can be bothered to do a bit of googling.
Well of course there's nothing truly new under the sun; it's all a variation on a theme, but I thought there was at least some originality in the quality of the responses I got (they actually seemed to be written by someone with English as their first language), and the use of trash vanity fiction as a clue to their intent.
So score +1 for quality and imagination, but -100000 for being a lowlife scumbag.
So score +1 for quality and imagination, but -100000 for being a lowlife scumbag.
Wow, even though I've posted this thread and reported his ad so that it got taken down, he still thinks I'm a mark and has emailed me back. So I've contacted him back to ask him where he and the car are on the IoM, as I've a few good friends there from being a fan of the races there who'll check it out for me. Oh this is fun!
Alex. Nothing to do with the topic, but what a pleasure it is to read someone using the English language properly. No bad grammar, no lack of correct pronunciation, no misspelling, correct use of full stops and commas etc., etc. On top of that, an interesting story. I calculate that 50% of the contributors to PH never paid attention during English lessons in school.
datum77 said:
Alex. Nothing to do with the topic, but what a pleasure it is to read someone using the English language properly. No bad grammar, no lack of correct pronunciation, no misspelling, correct use of full stops and commas etc., etc. On top of that, an interesting story. I calculate that 50% of the contributors to PH never paid attention during English lessons in school.
I used to proof and edit for a living, so I should at least be vaguely competent!
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