Archive for The scam
October 21, 2006 at 9:56 am · Filed under The scam
Our scammer is apparently going to emerge in yet a new persona, “Richard Williams”, the husband of “Dr. Lilian Williams”. At 5:31 pm he/she wrote:
HELLO,
I AM GIVEN YOU JUST TODAY TO SEND THE OVERPAYMENT,AM NOT GOING TO CALL THE POLICE IF YOU DO THAT BEFORE 7.00PM TODAY SO I URGE THAT YOU DO TO WESTERN UNION OR MONEY GRAM OR BETTER STILL YOU CAN SEND IT ONLINE.GET BACK TO ME AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
MY HUSBAND WILL GIVE YOU A CALL SOON TO GET THE MTCN NUMBER.
Nine minutes later, we heard from the shipping clerk:
.HELLO,
YOU BETTER GET TO OUR CLIENT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE BECAUSE WE ARE JUST TO ARRANGE FOR THE PICK UP AS SOON AS WE GET MONEY.
VELECIA FARMER.
And at 10:31 pm last, well past deadline, Ayres got this from Richard Williams:
i am still waiting for the information used to send the money.
Oops, missed the deadline. I guess Ayres can be expecting a call soon. I’d be really impressed if the scammer called up and tried to bluff Ayres further by pretending to be the police, but more likely he’ll call as Richard Williams. Rob will let us know as soon as he gets the call. He’s all ready with excuses for why he hasn’t sent it (he’s worried that the FBI will think he’s a terrorist because he knows they watch money orders, etc.).
Today we are heading into Washington DC with Bobby, Danine, and the girls, to see either the National Zoo or a museum.
October 20, 2006 at 11:04 am · Filed under The scam
This morning I got an early email from Rob Baker (co-host of the Vintage Airstream Podcast) offering to take the call from our scammer Valecia, AKA Dr. Lilian Williams AKA Alvaro Mendoza.
So Ayres wrote back to the “shipping clerk”:
OK I have a lot of questions so call me at 703 ***-*****. I don’t like Western Union, maybe we can work something out. I still have the check too because I didn’t get to the bank yet, and I still have a bad case of aluminitus and the doctor says it could get worse and become bauxitis.
And Ayres wrote back to “Dr Lilian” too:
I didnt deposit the check yet so dont worry. Dont call the cops because my unckle is a cop and he will kill me. Im already in trouble with him because of the car accident. He had to hide the police report again for me. Still sick but I will get to the bank soon. I email your shipper today too.
Meanwhile, Rob and I have been collaborating on things to say during the phone call. I am hoping he’ll be able to record it. If so, I’ll either type up a transcript or provide an MP3 file for downloading.
October 19, 2006 at 9:05 pm · Filed under The scam
We left Jane’s house this morning with the intention of meeting some Airstreamers-in-the-making along the way, and then proceeding to Cape Charles, VA. But fortune intervened. We met Bobby, Danine, and their 6-year-old daughter Elise in the parking lot of the Annapolis Mall and found we had a tremendous amount in common.
They are planning to sell their house next year and go out on a 10-month voyage around America. They are considering buying a Airstream Safari 30, just like ours. Being readers of this blog, they are considering the Nissan Armada or Titan as a tow vehicle. They are planning to homeschool Elise. So we had a lot to talk about …
By the end of lunch, they had convinced us to stay in the area a few days longer and courtesy park at their in-laws’ house. We’ll take the girls to the DC-area sights over the weekend. I know Emma will like the Museum of Natural History, since she’s into rocks and creatures. So we are now in Falls Church VA parked in a tree-lined suburban cul-de-sac. We’ll resume our originally scheduled route on Sunday or Monday.
We are getting no solar power lately. Everywhere we park we are under trees, and today has been very cloudy. Fortunately, our courtesy parking hosts have been allowing us to plug in, so it has not been a problem at all.
By the way, our water heater, which absolutely refused to do anything yesterday, is now working perfectly. I have no idea why.
Our scammer is getting bold. Today he started to threaten Ayres!
hello,
i got a message from my mover that you cant use western union,what do you mean by that,i am beginning to think this is a whole else of ****,if they dont get the money today via western union,i will invite the appropriate authorities.
thanks
Talk about cajones. A person who writes phony checks drawn on non-existent banks, uses four different aliases, and commits fraud is threatening to call in the authorities?
The “shipping company” wrote in too:
HELLO,
JUST TO REMIND YOU THAT WE ARE NOT THE BUYER BUT JUST THE SHIPPER,WE DONT TAKE
ANYTHING OTHER THAN WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER,I AM LOCATED IN VA AND I DONT
KNOW HOW YOU WANT TO FIND YOUR WAY.I AM JUST THE MOVER SO I URGE THAT YOPU FIND
A WESTERN UNION OUTLET OR MONEY GRAM OUTLET AND SEND THE MONEY AND IF YOU ARE
CONFUSED ON WHAT TO DO LET ME HAVE YOUR NUMBER SO THAT I CAN GIVE YOU A CALL.
GET BACK AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
VELECIA FARMER
Does anyone want to take “Velecia’s” phone call? Talk about an opportunity for fun! I’ll start the bidding at $1. 😉
October 18, 2006 at 5:21 pm · Filed under The scam
She’s back to upper case. I think desperation is setting in:
HELLO,
YOU MUST SEND THE MONEY VIA WESTERN UNION OR MONEY GRAM TO THE INFORMATION
GIVENT TO YOU,YOU CANNOT COME WITH CASH.
KINDLY GET BACKK TO ME AS SOON AS YOU SEND
Ayres wrote back tonight in his own fractured English:
Sorry had a wreck with the car. It has bent fender and in police inpound. Do you want to buy anyway? I can knock off $50 and come by with cash tomorrow. Why don’t you take cash? This is America after all.
October 17, 2006 at 9:20 pm · Filed under The scam
A quick scam update tonight. Our scammer has switched to lower case, and is wondering why Ayres didn’t wire $1800 on Monday. Ayres received two emails. The first was from the “doctor”:
hello,
have u sent the money?i am expecting the mtcn number as soon as possible.
dr.lilian williams
And the second email to Ayres came from the “shipping clerk”, in response to his promise to send money on Monday:
okay,get back to our client with the mtcn number as soon as you send it out.
thanks.
velecia farmer.
Boy, don’t those emails seem similar. And of course I got one too:
hello,
whats going on whats going on?why havent you sent the money./
dr.lilian williams
So Ayres, being an upstanding fellow, has made the following offer:
Hey I live near Hampton where you are. Instead of sending money Western Union can I just come by your office with cash? Give me an address and I’ll come by with cash. Been busy this week and don’t like Western Union. They always give me a hard time since I don’t have a drivers license for ID anymore. Lost it when I rammed a police car with my car few months ago.
Somehow, I doubt Velecia Farmer will want Ayres to come by with his pile of cash. And I wonder if Velecia will be concerned that the car being sold seems to have been in an accident recently?
October 15, 2006 at 10:10 pm · Filed under The scam
I had to post another blog entry tonight because this is just too good. Our scammer has written back, twice. The first email goes as follows:
From : CARGO SHIPPERS
Sent : Monday, October 16, 2006 12:09 AM
To : ******@hotmail.com
Subject : SHIPPING ARRANGEMENT OF CAR
HELLO ,
WE HAVE AN INSTRUCTION FROM OUR CLIENT (DR.LILIAN WILLIAMS) FOR THE SHIPPING OF THE ITEM ABOVE INDLY GET BACK TO US FOR THE SHIPPING ARRANGEMENT AND SHIPPING FEE.
WE ARE TO GET A PAYMENT AS SHIPPING FEE FROM YOU,KINDLY GET BACK TO US TO CONFIRM THE MONEY SENT.
THANKS.
VELECIA FARMER.
ACCOUNTING PERSONELL.
COSCO CONTAINER LINES
—-
I particularly like the fact that the email timestamp was Monday at midnight and I received it hours earlier in Eastern time. Hmmm … coming from Nigeria perhaps?
At the same time, this email was sent:
From : richard williams
Sent : Monday, October 16, 2006 12:09 AM
To : *******@hotmail.com>
Subject : Re: FW: Fwd: ATTENTION PLS!!!
HELLO,
WHATS GOING ON?
——
Ayres has replied to the cargo shipping clerk: “I will send the money on Monday.” But in fact he won’t get to it until Tuesday, because Ayres is a lazy sort of person. 😉
Besides, we’ll be driving to New Jersey on Monday and I won’t have a chance to get online until evening, when we’ll be visiting with Bert & Janie. Our friend in Nigeria (and his associate in Virginia) will have to wait a bit longer for their payday.
October 13, 2006 at 11:34 am · Filed under The scam
In the morning yesterday Emma practiced some reading. She’s coming right along, which is exciting. We challenge her with things to read, and she says she can’t do it … and then she’s always amazed that she can.
Most of the day was lost in intense work but I did manage to get out and refill our propane. I also had to pick up a pair of quicklinks for the trailer’s safety chains. Installing the Hensley hitch meant we had to add a link to each chain to accommodate the extra few inches the hitch requires. As it turns out, we should have added two links. I noticed yesterday that one of the welded chain attach points was bent, no doubt due to the chain being too short in a sharp turn. It’s still secure, but I’m going to have that spot bent back and re-welded anyway. In the meantime, an extra link has been added to each chain so it won’t bind again.
Last night Emma was feeling a bit out of sorts when they got back from errands yesterday. It seemed like she might be coming down with something, so she and Eleanor stayed in while Mike, Bonnie, and I went to the local BBQ place, the “Chili Head”.
Today it turns out that our suspicions were correct: Emma seems to have a cold. The cold & flu season has begun. Time to head south a bit more! We’ll be leaving tonight or tomorrow morning.
Our scammer has not given up. I’ve got to give him points for persistence, at least. I sent a message from “Ayres” using a Hotmail account. Ayres wrote that the check was not certified and so he needed to wait seven days before sending the Western Union payment. I figured this would end the deal, but it didn’t. Last night Ayres T Reem received this message:
HELLO,
THANKS FOR YOUR REPLY,PLS I WANT YOU TO MAKE IT FAST BY SENDING THE OVERPAYMENT TO MY SHIPPING COMPANY SO THAT THE CAR CAN BE SHIPPED TO ME.KINDLY GET BACK TO ME AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
THANKS.
DR.LILIAN WILLIAMS
—–
Our scammer is starting to parrot himself. Geez, what do I have to do to end this, kill poor Ayres? Brett has already suggested he die in an industrial accident. I’d like him to go out in some ironic fashion. I’m open to suggestions.
And here’s a sign of the week for you:
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