Scam emails

[khatley]

I got a email very similar to this a few weeks back and I knew it was not legit but I played along and replied, went back and forth and I finally asked for a phone number and then got no reply. Then I get the same email from a different person but it is even more broken English than the last. I am also getting a bunch of hits on me website from China and Chinese domains signing up for my email subscription which I am not sure if it is related but I got this email a few minutes after another sign up for the newsletter. I have no idea what someone could gain from this but I am curious. Any one else getting these or have an idea what they are up to?

>>>>>>>
Hello,

Am Richard Brown, Doing my searching i got your contact and i will like to know more about your photography works,Actually my daughter will be having her wedding next month and i want to ask for your good service at the wedding taking pictures at the occasion,kindly let me know if you will be available so that we can proceed from here.kindly let me know if you will be available on the 22/10/2011 this is date of the occasion,also let me know what other details you will need from me kindly get back to me with your website or attachments of your past works.

I would be so glad to have a very clean and perfect pictures from you and if possible you can copy the pictures in a CD .please see below the date and location of the occasion.

Date. 22/10/2011
location.Texas
Time:11:00 am

Please do get back to me with the list of services you render with prices so that i can select my desire plan.


Regards
Richard Brown
<<<<<<<<<<

[khatley]

certainly the same person...I just looked up the old email.

> Hello.
> Am Raymond Adams,i got your contact from a friend who has told me more about your photography works,actually my daughter will be having her wedding next month and i want to ask for your good service at the wedding taking pictures at the occasion,kindly let me know if you will be available so that we can proceed from here.
>
> Regards.

and

Hello .
Thanks for the mail,kindly let me know if you will be available on the 30th/09/2011 this is date of the occasion,also let me know what other details you will need from me kindly get back to me with your website or attachments of your past works,a friend called Andrew Jones told me about your works.

I would be so glad to have a very clean and perfect pictures from you and if possible you can copy the pictures in a CD .please see below the date and location of the occasion.

Date. 30th/09/2011
location.Dallas
Time:11:00 am

Please do get back to me with the list of services you render with prices so that i can select my desire plan.


Regards

[mrsrice22]

LOL, nice.

No clue what they'd be up to but I'm such a paranoid person that I wouldn't even respond for fear of them then having my actual email address and then spamming or sending viruses. losers.

[khatley]

I am too...I didn't use my email address to reply!

[BenE]

It works this way:

First of all, if you reply, they now know for certain your email address is a valid one.

After contacting them, and after a few exchanges they decide to hire you. They tell you they will send a check for whatever amount you have asked for, plus an additional amount that they want you to forward to another vendor; florist, caterer, , etc.

So, you tell them you require $1,000 for a retainer, and they send a check, or money order for $1,700. You then send $700 to Billy Bubba's BBQ Post office box, in Podunk.


Then their check bounces, and you are out $700, because the bank honored your check. It is probably impossible to trace whoever cashed your check.

If you received a money order, and deposited it, it will be found to be fake.

That is just one way it works. There are some others.

Best to just delete the emails and do not reply.

[khatley]

Yeah that is kind of what i figured. I am not sure if it is related but I had a bunch of bots hacking away at my website all night. subscribing to my newsletter and spamming my blog. Everything is being blocked so not a big deal. I just went in and blocked a few IP's permanently. Some people have way too much time on their hands.

[kenw]

Originally Posted by khatley

Some people have way too much time on their hands.

this is how they make a living.

[khatley]

I found out how to block by ip so they will get a 403 Forbidden Error message when accessing my site now.

[gcccaldw2]

Originally Posted by BenE

It works this way:

So, you tell them you require $1,000 for a retainer, and they send a check, or money order for $1,700. You then send $700 to Billy Bubba's BBQ Post office box, in Podunk.


Then their check bounces, and you are out $700, because the bank honored your check. It is probably impossible to trace whoever cashed your check.

If you received a money order, and deposited it, it will be found to be fake.

Best to just delete the emails and do not reply.

A friend of mine was a victim of a very similar scam while looking for a roommate. They over "paid" for six months of rent with a very legitimate looking money order and had her send the over payment back. She deposited the money order at her bank and waited for the money order to clear her bank before sending the rest of the money back via money order. Then, about 3 weeks later, when the fraudulent money order was sent back to her bank, Bank of America withdrew the money from her account to the tune of $2000.00. The scam artist was in the process of getting another money order from her and berated her over the phone when she refused to send the second round of money. She was fresh out of college, in a bind looking for a roommate to split the rent and this wiped out all of her savings account. I went with her to her bank and there was nothing they would/could do to help.

This is a very common scam and usually originates out of Nigeria.

[khatley]

Nice article on how to block china, nigeria, russia from getting to your website. Block China Web Traffic IP Addresses and Chinese Hackers

[MT Stringer]

"Location: Texas"

What???

Nobody in their right mind composes an inquiry like those posted above...at least not folks from Texas.

[BenE]

Originally Posted by khatley

Nice article on how to block china, nigeria, russia from getting to your website. Block China Web Traffic IP Addresses and Chinese Hackers

Thanks for that link.

[jkderby]

Originally Posted by MT Stringer

"Location: Texas"

What???

Nobody in their right mind composes an inquiry like those posted above...at least not folks from Texas.

Texas has a lot of aliens.

[revjvegas]

Originally Posted by khatley

Nice article on how to block china, nigeria, russia from getting to your website. Block China Web Traffic IP Addresses and Chinese Hackers

Excellent info, thanks.
htaccess files now updated

[FireHeart Photography]

I get at least one of these a week - I just put them on my blocked list and delete. I never put my email out of the web of any publice source without doing something like this email:nameatphotograpybusinessdotcom.... they don't get to you that way....