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Stacey



Joined: 18 Jul 2005
Posts: 8380
Location: Kernow
PostPosted: Sat Apr 14, 07 9:03 am    Post subject: Weird feedback message Reply with quote
    

This came from the feedback form on my site:
Quote:

===========================================
== New entry
===========================================


-------------------------------------------
-- Form: 'Feedback'
-------------------------------------------

1. Name:
**** *****
2. E-Mail:
************@yahoo.com'
3. Message:
'I have interest in purchasing some of yarns and other accessories from your store

hence i will like

to know if you sell internationally (Ireland) and also if you accept (Visa Traveller

Cheque) as

a method of payment,if you do i want you to get back to me with your webpage, so that

i can choose the desired things to purchase from your store.
Your urgent response is needed so that we can proceed.
I await your urgent response.
Thanks



For a start he must have been on my site to send the message so why does he need me to send me the webpage - for another everything on my site is available via paypal so why would he need to pay in travellers cheques - for another who couild need wool quite so urgently - and for another it just doesn't sound right In my paranoid, middle aged housewife mind it's a scam and if I reply he'll get my bank details from the message and be able to steal my identity and move into my house and sleep with my husband....*slaps self round face*

What to do?

jema
Downsizer Moderator


Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28098
Location: escaped from Swindon
PostPosted: Sat Apr 14, 07 9:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Not familiar with whether this is a scam or not, but you are right to be wary and ask here.

Blue Sky



Joined: 30 Jan 2005
Posts: 7658
Location: France
PostPosted: Sat Apr 14, 07 9:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Reads very similar to the 419 scams to me. I would steer well clear. As you have said they already have your website link.

sally_in_wales
Downsizer Moderator


Joined: 06 Mar 2005
Posts: 20809
Location: sunny wales
PostPosted: Sat Apr 14, 07 9:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I've had a number of these, usually they say they want to place a large order by Credit Card and will I send my website address. Like you, they technically come from my site already and if they were real they would have seen that they can already place an order by card. I am certain they are spam. The one or twe that I wasnt sure about, I just replied and said, please order from the same page as you sent this enquiry and we will dispatch as soon as your payment clears , and of course never heard anything further.

Stacey



Joined: 18 Jul 2005
Posts: 8380
Location: Kernow
PostPosted: Sat Apr 14, 07 9:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Thanks My politeness module is always tickiling away and my urge was to respond saying please order from the site but now I've thought about it I'm not going to reply. If it's that 'urgent' they'll get back to me

chez



Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35934
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset
PostPosted: Sat Apr 14, 07 9:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

It sounds a bit like the 'I am currently living in *insert some obscure country with odd banking laws here* and would like to rent your room unseen' emails that we got a lot of when we were taking in lodgers. Apparently if you go along with it they make a massive overpayment or try to get you to cash a huge check, then ask for a refund; and you have basically laundered their money for them.

VERY bad grammer, too .

sally_in_wales
Downsizer Moderator


Joined: 06 Mar 2005
Posts: 20809
Location: sunny wales
PostPosted: Sat Apr 14, 07 10:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Stacey wrote:
Thanks My politeness module is always tickiling away and my urge was to respond saying please order from the site but now I've thought about it I'm not going to reply. If it's that 'urgent' they'll get back to me


exactly. The two I responded to weren't quite worded like yours and really could have been from confused customers, but in this case I can't imagine its legit

Barefoot Andrew
Downsizer Moderator


Joined: 21 Mar 2007
Posts: 22780
Location: In the 17th century
PostPosted: Sat Apr 14, 07 10:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I've had a couple of suspicious responses via my site's 'buy online' page - it is amazing how quickly the dodgy latch on (it hasn't been live very long).

I deleted without a second thought - if you've not done so already so similarly. If there is no contact telephone number, I'm suspicious from the outset...

A.

toggle



Joined: 30 Dec 2006
Posts: 11622
Location: truro
PostPosted: Sat Apr 14, 07 10:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

the writing is usually deliberately bad, to make you think that the person you are talking to is a bit thick and couldn't be smart enough to scam you.

I suspect that this is being done with a bot programme, you need to stick in your web address when you reply, because no person has seen the site. it's an automated troll for response, you don't deal with a person unless they find they have a live one.

2steps



Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Posts: 5349
Location: Surrey
PostPosted: Sat Apr 14, 07 10:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I've had a few of these too. I normally reply with something like sally said and never hear anymore. One I did actually recieve a cheque for payment but the fact that it was for far much more than the order value made me even more suspicious. Surprise, surprise it never cleared

Nick



Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 34535
Location: Hereford
PostPosted: Sat Apr 14, 07 11:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

That's not bad grammar. That's someone who doesn't speak English. And in Ireland? Doesn't sound likely.

Scamtastic.

Jb



Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 7761
Location: 91� N
PostPosted: Sat Apr 14, 07 12:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

It sounds to me more like a laundering scam.

Someone is using an intermediary, presumably in ireland, to receive goods bought with illegal proceeds. I suspect its just random that they hit your web site as they would normally go for low volume high value goods like electronics rather than wool. It would account for why they need to know your web site address they may have had a robot sending this email to any shop web site they can find, if you reply to this then they wouldn't know which web site was responding.

Jonnyboy



Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 23956
Location: under some rain.
PostPosted: Sat Apr 14, 07 12:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

They want to place a large order, but don't actually know what they want? scam.

mind you, if it is what's to stop you taking the payment and not giving a refund.

tigger



Joined: 13 Nov 2005
Posts: 725
Location: Bologna (Italy)
PostPosted: Sat Apr 14, 07 12:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

the wording and grammar mistakes immediately made me think of an asian (Chinese?) person's English.
I agree with NickHowe, this is a foreign writer, not English or Irish.
I've come across similar things from chinese "Buyers" with a front in Sweden.

Mr O



Joined: 13 Feb 2005
Posts: 5512
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
PostPosted: Sat Apr 14, 07 5:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Yep Stacey it looks defo scam speak to me, just ignore it, as hard as it is to do! I would be dubious of anyone who uses the word " Urgently" for no other reason! Good to ask on here though.

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