S/O Beggars, Moochers and Scammers

[Seven Ate Nine]

I have been getting some really fun ones lately (I'm on one of the public distributions at work... they're not coming directly to me, but to a public address that gets routed to me and a few other people).  Checking my spam box is the highlight of my day.  Apparently, Nigeria is paying repirations to those who have been scammed.  They have 5.6 billion dollars set aside for this action.  I can get about 2.7 million dollars out of it, but someone has filed a counter on my claim.  To collect my funds I only have to send all of my information, including all of my banking information.  Sounds legit, right?   

[Amara]

You know, I kind of long for those Nigerian "millions of dollars are yours" emails again. The current trend of bedbug assistance grosses me out.

[selkiewoman]

And nobody seems to care about my erectile disfunction any more.

[Elfmama]

Yep.  I still see a few, but not many.  The in thing now seems to be a "FedEx delivery" that was returned to the post office because their courier/postrider(!) couldn't deliver it.     There were 6 or 7 in my spam folder just now.

Oh, and sexy Russian girls who want to marry me.

[nutraxfornerves]

I frequent a forum that has tens of thousands of registered users. Every so often, some scammer runs a bot that sends a private message to every user who is logged on--which is usually hundreds of users. It's a sweetheart version of the 419 scam that happens on a lot of large message boards.

The PMs are from a lovely young lady who "saw your profile and knew that we were destined to be soul mates."  She asks to be contacted by email. The bot doesn't scan the profiles, so everyone gets the message, regardless of gender and whether or not the person even set up a profile.

People who have baited the scammers have found that the lovely lady usually has a relative who died and left a ton of money somewhere. She needs help getting the cash and will give a large percentage if you can help her.

Either that, or she really falls in love, but is massively unlucky. She lost her job and will be evicted if she can't pay her rent. Her mother needs an expensive operation. Her brother was arrested for speaking the truth about the corrupt government and needs a good lawyer.

If all goes well, she promises to come visit you. You'd be amazed at how much plane fare is, and there is some reason you have to send her the money instead of just buying the ticket. And there are horrendous fees for getting a visa--payable by bank transfer to a travel agency, not an embassy. She also has ot prove she has at least US$2,000 in her bank account. And so on.

[hjaye]

I'm not sure what the scam was in regards to a phone call I got the other day, but I knew the person I was talking to was lying. 

I have two cell phones, one is personal, the other is my work cell phone.  I don't even know the number to my work cell phone.  I keep the phone at my desk at work set to forward all calls to my work cell phone.  My email signature has my desk phone and my work cell phone number in it, but I never ever use that number for anything.

I got a call on my work cell phone, the person said they were responding to a survey I filled out and it had something to do with a free job search site.  I answered a few of his questions mainly because I was curious to see if I could figure out what the scam was.

I tried to ask him exactly where he got the phone number from since I knew I had not filled out any surveys, and I most certainly would not have put my work cell phone down for any kind of contact.

He ignored me and just kept on asking me questions so I just hung up on him.

[BB-VA]

And nobody seems to care about my erectile disfunction any more.

Or the size of my naughty bits.

The ones I don't have because I'm a girl.

eta clarification

[Dr. F.]

  Apparently, Nigeria is paying repirations to those who have been scammed.  They have 5.6 billion dollars set aside for this action.  I can get about 2.7 million dollars out of it, but someone has filed a counter on my claim.  To collect my funds I only have to send all of my information, including all of my banking information.  Sounds legit, right?   

Good grief! It's meta-scamming!

[zyrs]

I'm not sure what the scam was in regards to a phone call I got the other day, but I knew the person I was talking to was lying. 

I have two cell phones, one is personal, the other is my work cell phone.  I don't even know the number to my work cell phone.  I keep the phone at my desk at work set to forward all calls to my work cell phone.  My email signature has my desk phone and my work cell phone number in it, but I never ever use that number for anything.

I got a call on my work cell phone, the person said they were responding to a survey I filled out and it had something to do with a free job search site.  I answered a few of his questions mainly because I was curious to see if I could figure out what the scam was.

I tried to ask him exactly where he got the phone number from since I knew I had not filled out any surveys, and I most certainly would not have put my work cell phone down for any kind of contact.

He ignored me and just kept on asking me questions so I just hung up on him.

Pretty soon the questions you answered would have zero's him in on a perfect job for you that paid a huge salary.  You would have needed to send them a refundable fee to show that you were serious in applying.

[Hillia]

i'm deep into Craigslist rental scams now.  We're moving very soon and I'm checking Craigslist for rentals; lots of property management places use it.  The scammers will steal pictures from a legitimate listing, then put up their own listing using those pics but with a ridiculously low rent.  If you contact them, you'll get an email telling you how they don't live in the city any more (usually they're building houses for orphans or something similar) but they can tell you are a wonderful, honest person - so they'll send you the keys and you can move in as soon as you send them the rent and deposit.

They get reported and removed pretty quickly  but it's still aggravating; this finding a rental business is very stressful and this doesn't help at all.

[Otterpop]

I was just contacted by a seller from Ebay.  Seems my immediate payment through Paypal was not good enough to get the item sent "quickly."  He needs money "now" in order to send it.  He wants me to send him my e-mail so he can give payment instructions.  He explained he did refund my payment and gave me good feedback as a gesture of good faith (I verified both)  But, ummm...I'm not leaving the protection of Paypal to wire money to some island to a seller with no feedback...

Transaction will be cancelled and he's going to get reported instead.

[ica171]

O good grief.  I was with my SIL last month when she received that text.  And was excited and convinced she won.  I warned her was probably too good to be true.  DOn't know if she listened...

Yeah, I have to imagine if I did win something they probably wouldn't notify me via text. We only have the cell phone so I try not to give the number out, but it can't always be avoided. We don't get much spam usually, but the day after I got the Target message I got a message that I'd won a $1000 Best Buy gift card. I must be super lucky!

[BabylonSister]

Here's the latest (to me):


I've put an ad on Craigslist to sell a keyboard.  Previously when I had put ads I would get the "Is it still available?" email with an email address that did not even match the mail header and was probably meant to get my email address to spam me until the end of all eternity. Lately, I've been receiving "date" emails, usually with pictures of very attractive young women, and the email says "I'm a girl and I think you're hot." Oh yeah, sure, you do. I guess selling a keyboard must put me in the male category.

[Amara]

I believe I handled this moocher very well (according to e-Hell standards).

I am known in my Freecycle group as a very generous giver, mostly of books and most of those new. (I run a literary website and am also a book design judge.) Well, yesterday I decided to go through my personal library and really clean out books that I know I won't read again or probably will never read at all. I ended up with forty of them. So I posted the list on Freecycle and also added some caveats:

I have a *lot* of books to give away in this post so I am going to ask that you read this before asking for any.

First, be absolutely committed to coming when you say you will. If you miss your appointment time I will go on to the next person on the list—and mark you as unreliable—without another thought.

Second, ask for no more than two books. I plan to spread these as far and wide as I can. What is left over, if any, will then be put into a second post a few days hence.

Third, I plan to allow sufficient time for everyone to see this post so expect a bit of a wait before you hear from me.

Fourth, because I am going to take some time in responding, I encourage you to look up the book(s) online to see if the story/subject really appeals to you. This will save everyone’s time.

Fifth, I live near the ___ and ___ intersection so plan accordingly.

And now, without further ado, here we go. There is a mix of hardcover and paperback, of fiction and nonfiction, of new and used. I will try to note them in my post. The books are listed in no particular order except for six I have reserved exclusively for public school teachers at the end. 

For some reason the post has not gone live yet but it has obviously gone out somehow (subscription?) because I got two emails. One of them is from a man, a retired lawyer and certainly better, far better situated financially than I am, who has gotten numerous books from me over the past several years. This time, he again jumped right on it:

Now:  I am interested most in the photo books,
YUBA SEASONS: IMAGES FRO THE WILD & SCENIC SOUTH YUBA RIVER
A THE LEWIS & CLARK TRAILS (AMERICAN LANDSCAPES)

I am most interested in the Lewis and Clark, as I have always been amazed and enamored by the adventure of those people.  I am reading the journals, albeit slowly and love the idea that traces of the trails still exist. 
If I were to get the YUBA book I will stare at it a while and then give it to my sister-in-law who is a very talented landscape and animal photographer.

The AKULE is pretty fascinating, too.  As is the FDR. 
Stop me, please.

So I am reading this and feeling myself growing angrier by the word. I cannot believe how selfish he is--and it seems to be getting worse. I fumed and fretted for a few hours while I ran errands, and when I came home I read it again. It still made me angry. So I debated what to do, then decided to make myself and e-Hell proud. I sent this:

I am going to be honest with you and tell you that I feel I have already given you more than I am comfortable with. Almost every time I post things you are first to contact me. This latest email is also over the top. Plus, I never see you give anything away, though I might have missed things.

I am not well financially, and I know you are. That's fine. You undoubtedly worked hard for what you have. But I would rather not give you any more things for a long time to come.

He has not yet responded and may not. I hope not actually. But even if he does I will not reply. I am (very) relieved and happy I stood up for myself in a polite yet firm way that let him know what I thought of his continued selfishness. And I feel good about it.

[Morrigan]

I believe I handled this moocher very well (according to e-Hell standards).

I am known in my Freecycle group as a very generous giver, mostly of books and most of those new. (I run a literary website and am also a book design judge.) Well, yesterday I decided to go through my personal library and really clean out books that I know I won't read again or probably will never read at all. I ended up with forty of them. So I posted the list on Freecycle and also added some caveats:

I have a *lot* of books to give away in this post so I am going to ask that you read this before asking for any.

First, be absolutely committed to coming when you say you will. If you miss your appointment time I will go on to the next person on the list—and mark you as unreliable—without another thought.

Second, ask for no more than two books. I plan to spread these as far and wide as I can. What is left over, if any, will then be put into a second post a few days hence.

Third, I plan to allow sufficient time for everyone to see this post so expect a bit of a wait before you hear from me.

Fourth, because I am going to take some time in responding, I encourage you to look up the book(s) online to see if the story/subject really appeals to you. This will save everyone’s time.

Fifth, I live near the ___ and ___ intersection so plan accordingly.

And now, without further ado, here we go. There is a mix of hardcover and paperback, of fiction and nonfiction, of new and used. I will try to note them in my post. The books are listed in no particular order except for six I have reserved exclusively for public school teachers at the end. 

For some reason the post has not gone live yet but it has obviously gone out somehow (subscription?) because I got two emails. One of them is from a man, a retired lawyer and certainly better, far better situated financially than I am, who has gotten numerous books from me over the past several years. This time, he again jumped right on it:

Now:  I am interested most in the photo books,
YUBA SEASONS: IMAGES FRO THE WILD & SCENIC SOUTH YUBA RIVER
A THE LEWIS & CLARK TRAILS (AMERICAN LANDSCAPES)

I am most interested in the Lewis and Clark, as I have always been amazed and enamored by the adventure of those people.  I am reading the journals, albeit slowly and love the idea that traces of the trails still exist. 
If I were to get the YUBA book I will stare at it a while and then give it to my sister-in-law who is a very talented landscape and animal photographer.

The AKULE is pretty fascinating, too.  As is the FDR. 
Stop me, please.

So I am reading this and feeling myself growing angrier by the word. I cannot believe how selfish he is--and it seems to be getting worse. I fumed and fretted for a few hours while I ran errands, and when I came home I read it again. It still made me angry. So I debated what to do, then decided to make myself and e-Hell proud. I sent this:

I am going to be honest with you and tell you that I feel I have already given you more than I am comfortable with. Almost every time I post things you are first to contact me. This latest email is also over the top. Plus, I never see you give anything away, though I might have missed things.

I am not well financially, and I know you are. That's fine. You undoubtedly worked hard for what you have. But I would rather not give you any more things for a long time to come.

He has not yet responded and may not. I hope not actually. But even if he does I will not reply. I am (very) relieved and happy I stood up for myself in a polite yet firm way that let him know what I thought of his continued selfishness. And I feel good about it.

Sorry, but I don't see a problem with what he sent.     If you're giving them away, posted to a list, there's nothing wrong with him asking for them according to the rules you sent - which he did.  I see nothing OTT with what he said to you.

The only problem I see is if he hasn't given away anything yet on the freecycle.  Otherwise, what's wrong with what he's doing?

I think that your message to him was rude, actually.