I have been looking for a roommate recently so I posted a listing online. Shortly afterwards, I received this email (I edited it for your viewing pleasure):
Now it just so happens that as an educated netizen, I am familiar with this scam. The guy sends a fake money order and stresses that it is imperative that I send the difference immediately. Of course, after I send him my hard earned money, I find out that I hold nothing but a useless piece of paper. Sorrow ensues.
So, any ideas as to what I should do? Simply ignoring the guy is not a very fun possibility plus I’d like to make the guy spend as much money as possible.
PS: I’m not sure if this belongs in GQ. If it doesn’t, please move it/ delete it as appropriate.
Before I was an “Aware Netizen,” I went forward with telling the person on the other end to go ahead and send the cashiers check, and it arrived through some rather pricy next-day air-mail. Then I checked the routing numbers, which of course didn’t work out, and I figure I cost the spammer some $15-20.
It doesn’t belong in GQ, and I’m sure a moderator will move it, but in the meantime:
You won’t be able to scam the guy any more than he’ll scam you (since you’re wise). You could turn it over to the state Attorney General’s office but since it’s out of country they’ll probably do very little about it, as they lack jurisdiction. You could yank his chain a bit more, but frankly, he’s just trolling for someone less aware than you to bite.
I’ve cranked grifters along a couple of times, in revenge for having fallen prey to a scam in my more naive days, but it really is of limited entertainment and vengence value. Maybe check out one of George Heyduke’s books (Get Even,Get Even II) will give you some ideas, but IMHO, you’re better just to move on.
Well I notice that they say they are in Nigeria. This country is known to be the largest mail/email scammer in the world. They are actually quite sophisticated in their scams and the FBI/INTERPOL have claimed that up to possibly 30% of income in the country is generated from mail scams. It is a major industry.
Bottom line, there is not much you can do and they are experts at this game, so aren’t likely to fall for any “tricks” that you come up with.
If you’re set up for printing you can kick these things out for pennies. Read Catch Me If You Can (don’t watch the excreable film) for a precis on how this was done in pre-laser printer days, and imagine how much easier and cheaper it is to do now.
I’ve seen some recent counterfit bills (and was almost passed one, incidentally, at a bar while breaking a $100.) These things look good, and if it weren’t for the recent anti-counterfitting measures would be virtually indistinguishable by eyeball inspection. Back when I was working service industry, you could tell funny money by feel and the crappy printing alone. And it’s probably a lot cheaper to do these days.
You could always just get him to send you the MO, then say it never turned up but that you’re happy to wait for another one. Then do it again, and then again, and just see how long you can keep stringing him.
Oh no, I was just talking about the shipping costs. It came in some sort of British version of Fed-Ex. Come on, that has to be woth at least $5, right? And what about compensation for their time?
Basically, you can toy with them or you can ignore them. I don’t know that anyone in this country or abroad is too interested in pursuing them.
Toying with them can be fun, and you can justify it on the grounds of wasting their time (and possibly their money, depending on what you can convince them to do) and the fact that it’s fun to fuck with those losers. Simply ignoring them is probably the most common response by far.
Don’t get too many ideas that you’re having a huge affect on them. They’re obviously pretty much immune from prosecution and making enough money to justify their email campaigns, or at least they think they’re going to cover their own costs. Scamming the scammers is a hobby, nothing more.
Indeed. I gave the guy a bogus address and a bogus name. they’re close enough to my real address and name for a fedex guy to leave it at the rental office and for me to claim the letter if he sends it. Just a cautionary measure in the extremely unlikely case that the scammer attempts to locate me.
I would much rather turn it in as evidence to the authorities but i know it’s pretty much certain they won’t do anything about it.
On a slightly unrelated note, my guest account expires tomorrow so there won’t be any further updates past that date.
Not that it would do anything, but you could send him has ‘balance’ on a fake money order. Or maybe it would do something, if his Nigerian bank thinks he is trying to scam them when he tries to cash it.
Since you already knew this was a scam it should have been deep sixed, placed in the round file, or sent to cyberspace via the delete message button immediately.
OTOH follow the instructions, send the cash and you will have a nice post for the pit.
