[email protected] Gabriel Rosenburm

Haha...it seemed so scammish I knew I'd find something like this online. I copied the whole text of the email and googled that. Here I am. My response was from a Gabriel Rosenburm. Sound familiar? So what would the next step have been....they would ask for my account info and SS#? Paypal login? I was already suspicious and created a fake gmail account for the initial response.

"Thanks for the prompt response i want you to know that am okay with the condition of the item and i will love to make an instant purchase. I will be mailing (overnight) a certified check from my account to cover the cost, while you hold item on my behalf, am willing to give an extra $40 for you to hold item till you receive payment. Once you have payment, I will have my handler come for pickup at your place as soon as check clears your bank. I will be needing the following information to issue out the payment .

1.Name to be on the check
2.Home Address
3.Telephone
4.Final Asking Price*


*** Please note that the payment will be mailed overnight via the courier to your address and its bound to delivered within 2 to 3 days. I have taken a closer look at the item and am very satisfied i really need this and would appreciates that you help hold this for me till the payment arrives. Furthermore do remove the posting from CRAIGSLIST as am definitely buying it from you. Hope to hear from you ASAP*


Sincerely

Mr Gabriel Rosenburm
"

Welcome to Scamwarners fronzdan,

What email address did the scammer use with you. Please post the email address. This will help others avoid his scams if they search by email address.

He used

[email protected]

Scam alert on this loser!

I told 'ol Gabe that someone offered me $1,000,000 and I took that offer instead. That guy was wiring me the money direct from his account in Nigeria, where a recently deceased diplomat had left a lot of money.

So what would the next step have been....they would ask for my account info and SS#? Paypal login?

He actually told you what he plans to do with these two statements:

I will be mailing (overnight) a certified check

I will have my handler come for pickup

His plan is to send you a certified check for well over the cost of the item. He would instruct you to cash the check and then send the "extra" money to the "handler," usually via Western Union or Moneygram.

The check will actually be fraudulent, most likely written on a phished or hacked account. If your bank does not realize that it is fake right away, by law they have to make the funds available in a certain number of days. So they will give you the cash, and you will think the check has cleared. But in reality, that is not the case. When the bank later discovers the fraud, that same law allows them to take ALL the money back from you, and charge you a variety of fees on top of that (for a fraudulent deposit, plus any overdraft fees caused by them taking the money back.) They can also call the authorities and have you arrested for check fraud.

In the meantime, if you sent the money to the "handler" (who is not really a shipper but is either an accomplice or a victim who believes he or she has a legitimate job receiving and forwarding payments) they have retrieved the money and sent it to the scammer. The scammer will be untraceable, and you will be the one on the line for the entire crime.

Of course nobody will show up for your item, because the scammer never wanted it (in fact scammers will "buy" the most unbelievable items when running this scam--I remember a case in which one scammer kept insisting his "shipper" would come "pick up" a cemetery plot!) He was just looking for a way to use you to turn bogus checks into cash.