Sunday, December 19, 2004
Too good to be true
A few days ago, I was trying to sell my Dell Inspiron 600m laptop through Craigslist. Now, I mostly rely on Craigslist to buy and sell things. Its works like a charm. This morning I received an email from someone called Lysander from UK. The text of the email read like this:
Hello ,
Goodday and how are you i am Lysander M. Overstreet i own a store in Manchester in The united Kingdom i am a computer operator were i work in the local coucil and i am interested in ordering for some unit of items from you to be shipped too my Daughter in Africa who is there on promotion from are place of work so i will like too order for a phone from your store to be shipped too her after receiving payment confirmation and i am interested in making the payment immediately i here from you the payment would be made via BIDPAY (western union Auction Payment).And i will like
to pay you $1300 and i will like you to ship out the good immediately you received the payment confirmation thank you and i will like too here form you soonest.Also i will like too you too ship the goods too my daughter in nigeria via USPS Global express EMS 3 to 5 days express too nigeria so i will like to know also if you can ship out the good immediately after receiving my payment confirmation from BIDPAY western union Auction Payment and alos will like to known if you can ship out the Laptop after receipt of Paymnet.Thank you and i expect to here form you your full name and address so i can go ahead and make the Payment.
Thank you and bye for Now and have a Happy Sunday .
Lysander.
Just by looking at this email, a few alarm bells went off in my head.
The sermon that I am trying to preach here is that if something seems too good to be true, then believe me, it is. Notice that Lysander didnt mention the word 'laptop' anywhere in the lengthy email. It is just called 'item'. So most likely its a mass mail. Generic enough to get through unsuspecting eyes - but not mine. If the mail is sent through a Yahoo account, then most likely you can look up the profile of the person. A quick check at http://profiles.yahoo.com/lysandermaxwell gave out the truth that this mail ID was created on Dec 15th, 2004 just for scamming purposes.
All I can say is well tried Lysander, but your dirty trick aint gonna work out here. So ladies and gentlemen, next time you receive something in your mail that seems to be tooooo darn good to be true - just hit the delete button.
Hello ,
Goodday and how are you i am Lysander M. Overstreet i own a store in Manchester in The united Kingdom i am a computer operator were i work in the local coucil and i am interested in ordering for some unit of items from you to be shipped too my Daughter in Africa who is there on promotion from are place of work so i will like too order for a phone from your store to be shipped too her after receiving payment confirmation and i am interested in making the payment immediately i here from you the payment would be made via BIDPAY (western union Auction Payment).And i will like
to pay you $1300 and i will like you to ship out the good immediately you received the payment confirmation thank you and i will like too here form you soonest.Also i will like too you too ship the goods too my daughter in nigeria via USPS Global express EMS 3 to 5 days express too nigeria so i will like to know also if you can ship out the good immediately after receiving my payment confirmation from BIDPAY western union Auction Payment and alos will like to known if you can ship out the Laptop after receipt of Paymnet.Thank you and i expect to here form you your full name and address so i can go ahead and make the Payment.
Thank you and bye for Now and have a Happy Sunday .
Lysander.
Just by looking at this email, a few alarm bells went off in my head.
- Why would a guy residing in the UK want to buy a laptop from someone in Seattle?
- My asking price $1000, he said he is going to pay $1300!! - WOW
- His english is PATHETIC. Dude, you are not in UK believe me.
- Buying a laptop from an individual without even inspecting it!!!
The sermon that I am trying to preach here is that if something seems too good to be true, then believe me, it is. Notice that Lysander didnt mention the word 'laptop' anywhere in the lengthy email. It is just called 'item'. So most likely its a mass mail. Generic enough to get through unsuspecting eyes - but not mine. If the mail is sent through a Yahoo account, then most likely you can look up the profile of the person. A quick check at http://profiles.yahoo.com/lysandermaxwell gave out the truth that this mail ID was created on Dec 15th, 2004 just for scamming purposes.
All I can say is well tried Lysander, but your dirty trick aint gonna work out here. So ladies and gentlemen, next time you receive something in your mail that seems to be tooooo darn good to be true - just hit the delete button.
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