just received this warning

Hi,

To my surprise I received one of those warning emails. I did receive an offer for a flat that looked suspicious so i decided to ignore it.
This warnings look suspicious as well ... i mean, how in the world did they get my email?

anyway, here is the warning email:

Dear Friend

Warning: You are being scammed by "Joy Greg" ( Known Internet Scammer)

For your own safety, please read all of this mail

I am part of a large group of people who try to keep internet crooks from stealing money through scam emails.

An informant has told us that a scammer is sending emails to you, and you may have given him some personal details.

This thief is trying to steal your money by Advance Fee Fraud, also known as a 419 Scam.


This person is trying to scam your money from you!!
Here is how it works:-

The thief will tell you that you can rent his accommodation only if you can prove that you have genuine interest. He will ask you send money by wire transfer (normally Western Union) to yourself or a member of the family to show that you have sufficient finances and that you are not a "time waster". He will ask you to send him the transfer details so that his (fake) lawyer can check that the details are correct.

A variation is that you will need to wire him a deposit before you actually see the property.

In any case: This is a scammer you are writing to. He does not own the accommodation. He is only after your money.

Make no mistake ! Western Union Transfers can be picked up virtually anywhere in the world and with the minimum of identification. They are almost impossible to trace once the money has been collected, You will never get to see the accommodation or your money again.
This is a common scam that has caused many people to lose their money. This crook is trying this scam on many people at the same time, and is hoping you won't know that this is a scam until he has your money.

If you are still searching for accommodation then please save this e-mail. If you receive mail from any other "Landlords" asking you to pay before viewing, then these too will be scam attempts. Please forward the suspicious mail to me and I will have them listed on the my website for others to find if they are not already there.

I ask you to do these things, you will allow me to help others:-

1. Do not send this letter to the scammers, and do not tell them that you have been warned. Our informants could be hurt if you tell the thieves that they are being watched! These people risk their safety in order to get us the information needed to keep people from being scammed.

2. Please stop mailing and talking to with these crooks now. Do not answer e-mails, and do not talk to them on the phone. Do not ask them if they are trying to steal your money. What do you think thieves will say? They will only send you more lies so you will send them your money.

3. Do not send him any money, and never go to meet them! Victims of 419 scams who travel to meet the scammers have been kidnapped, held for ransom, and sometimes killed!

4. Do not try to confront, abuse, or harass these scammers, as they may already have your name and address.

5. I would be very grateful if you could please reply and let me know that you have read and understood the contents of this email.

If you doubt the truth of this warning, please print out a copy of this email, and any emails that you have gotten from this scammer, and take them to your local police, they will tell you the truth about this scam.

The warning looks quite genuine ppippi.

From what you say, the most likely method your e-mail address was obtained was by the scammer sending out mails in bulk but not using a method that hides the other recipients. Also, once a scammer compiles lists of e-mail addies they share them and at that stage it's possible for warners to get to know who is being sent scams. Once a victim has paid it's usually too late and the money's gone for ever, so a warner will often send you a warning even if they only discover you're being targeted. That's sensible.

I infiltrate scam gangs online purely for the purpose of accumulating information and creating mayhem in their ranks. The information we get varies tremendously.

If you just mail back that you are aware of the scam the warner will be happy and not contact you again.

His one sole aim is to ensure that the scammer doesn't get your money.

Hello ppippi, and welcome to ScamWarners.

To confirm what GomerPyle said: that's a genuine warning email.

Scammers frequently send identical emails to many different people, all at the same time. They mostly use internet cafés, which are expensive, so they can send out their emails in quite a hurry - and sometimes they make mistakes, and send an email to one potential-scam-victim ... containing the name/s and address/es of another potential-scam-victim.

If the receiver of such an email realises it is a scam, they often send the other names and addresses on to us, so we can send a warning letter out to those other potential-victims. So that is what might have happened in your situation.

It seems, though, that you had already had suspicions that you'd had contact from a scammer - I'm so pleased to hear that. Please, if you receive any other suspicious emails that you would like us to investigate, do ask about them. There are a lot of scammers pretending to offer flats to rent, and we would like to help you make sure that you don't lose money to them.

A good thing to remember: never send money by Western Union or MoneyGram on the instruction of anyone you have 'met' on the internet. Don't even send it to yourself or to a friend or relative - scammers will still be able to steal that money.

Ok, thank you for your explanations

keep up the good work!

[Michelle]

Hello ppippi

That e-mail would have been signed by "Michelle" ..... that's me

Hi!

This is very curious!

I just registered to this forum to post a scam email I got today and after reading this post, I realized that I almost got scammed a few days ago by something similar!

I was looking to rent an apartment and found a really nice one. Sent an email requesting more information and it was weird because I got the reply in english (I am portuguese, the apartment is in Portugal and I`ve sent the first email also in portuguese). The supposedly owner of the house was saying she was living there but had to move back to the UK regarding a new job. Her first email was very personal and there was nothing there I could tag as any type of scam. I replied and after the second one she sayed that the best way was for a company to collect the keys from her in trade of the first rent money and the deposit and then I could see the house and give perimission for the money to be delivered to her. So far so good, because, due to the distance, it seemed to me the best way to deal with this situation. But when I started asking more questions, particularly because I wasn`t available to move "as soon as possible" as she kept on saying, she didn`t answered any of my question. Just pushing me to decide if I wanted the house or not before even see it. I had lots of questions regarding simple things and as I couldn`t get any answer I started to realize that I was probably going to be a victim of somekind of fraud. I stopped replying on the 19th of july and until this day, she never got back to me.

Reading about this kind of fraud and having gone through this situation, I just had a "click" on my mind and realized that the world is really full of criminals!

People, please! Be aware of the some details because the most innocent scheme can make you loose a lot!

Se my other post where I have my recent scam attempt!

Thanks!