AutoTrader scammer - [email protected]

Thanks for this. Like the last poster I also had a return email from "MR Richard Cole" - [email protected] - this time trying a Paypal scam and purporting to be "a Royal Navy". Googling the email brought me here.

This is the text of the email:

Thanks for your response,i am okay with the price
and condition
of the car,I want to buy it for someone special to
me, i am
currently at sea at
the moment as a
United kingdom Royal navy and due to the nature of my
work, phone
calls making and visiting of website are restricted but i
squeezed out
time to check this advert and send you an email
regarding it.
As for the payment..i can only pay via the fastest and
secure way to
pay online(PayPal) payment
I have a private courier agent that will come for the pick
up after
the payment have been made .. and with the issue of my
details,
transferring the name of ownership and signing of all
paperwork will
be done by the courier services company agent so you
don't have to
worry about that.
You can now send me your PayPal email so i can pay in
right away and
also include your address in your reply. If you don't have
a PayPal
account, you can easily set up one...log on to
http://www.paypal.com and sign
up its very easy... .await your reply

I have not replied to this. Has anybody?

Another thing - has anybody come across Mary Larah ([email protected])...?

I get suspicious when somebody signs their name "Mrs Larah", particularly when they write "I am buying this car for someone very special" or somesuch, as this person also did.

Dead link removed. (BW)

I have not replied to this. Has anybody?

There is no need to reply. It is a scam the scammer wants to steal your money. If you did reply you will get their next pre-written script. You will continue to get scripts until you either stop writing the scammer.

If the buyer wants you to pay a third person/mover/shipper it is a scam. Please post an email from [email protected] .

The scammer's been replying to ads since at least May of this year using the addie [email protected] and here's an example posted here at SW in August 2013

http://www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=69091&p=164811

Undoubtedly he uses other e-mail addies as well.

We always ask people to post up details of addies scammers are using, as a Google search is the simplest way to check up if your buyer has been reported for scamming. It's not foolproof, but it's quick and simple. Though it's easy enough for scammers to set up new mail boxes they are lazy and slack by nature.

Thanks, both. I had no intention of replying again, given that it was transparently an egregious scam. And to be super safe I changed my Paypal email.

Here are the emails received from [email protected]

1.

is this auto still available for sale?

2.

Thanks for your time, please i would like to know more about this Car
before i proceed on doing anything,When last was it serviced,how long
have you owned it,and hope it's still in great Condition? I'm so sorry
for been too inquisitive,its because am getting it for someone so
special to my life.

Greetings
Mrs.Larah

Not as obvious (thus far!) but there will be no further correspondence given what I saw elsewhere.

It is obvious to me that it is a scam attempt. The writer has W. African style of writing skills.

Hi,
I put my car onto AutoTrader last night, without any photos and had an email from [email protected] asking if it was still for sale and then

"Thanks for your time, please i would like to know more about this Car
before i proceed on doing anything,When last was it serviced,how long
have you owned it,and hope it's still in great Condition? I'm so sorry
for been too inquisitive,its because am getting it for someone so
special to my life"

I then replied to this and received this email:

Hello,
Thanks for your reply i would have appreciate coming to check it up
but at the moment i don't have the time and space because i am out of
the UK for work in a military camp here in Yemen , phone calls and
internet surfing is restricted, nevertheless i am ok with the
condition of the car . I just want to have this car for my father cos
right now hes not feeling too great health wise and i am not there to
move him to the hospital for check ups like i have always done. I am
OK with the condition of the car as posted. I will be making payment
as fast as you want but i will prefare to make payment via Paypal cos
its the fastest and secured means of payment as i can not access my
account at the moment cos i don't have access to my account online but
i have a Paypal account attached to it which makes it easy . You don't
need to boarder about the pick up of the car i will arrange for that .
If you are OK with the means of payment you can kindly drop me your
Paypal account details or if you don't have one you can easily set up
on via www.paypal.co.uk its easy and reliable to set up . Thanks
again ..

I have now stopped replying after being very suspicious and googled the email address and came up with this forum. I have reported the email address to AutoTrader, so hopefully they will be able to stop them emailing other people.

[quote="bananafish"]Another thing - has anybody come across Mary Larah ([email protected])...?

[email protected] just texted me abt a kijiji ad from #7036725297

hi I had a kajiji reply from ([email protected])

I don`t know for sure if it is a scam but my gut feeling was suspicion. so I googled the email and came to this site. here is the emails I got from ([email protected]). her fist correspondence was a txt msg from a phone number with a northern virginia area code "703"

"Thanks for your response, I am really interested in the immediate purchase, what's your best price you want for it and how neat is the body condition of it?

Cheers
Mrs.Lara"

"Thank you for getting back to me. I really am ready to purchase your AD.I am willing to pay your asking price ,100 including PayPal transfer pay satisfied, how I wish I could come to inspect this product, but currently I'm working away from the land ... But the problem is, I'm an oceanographer and I have a contract now so am currently on sea.The contract is strictly no call due to the lack of reception on the sea area. But I can always access e-mails because we make use of laptop so my only quickest payment option is PayPal, as I request money through PayPal I anytime.Since this transaction will may
send to me done via PayPal, I will responsibility for all paypal fees in this transaction, and if you do not have an account with PayPal, it's pretty easy, safe and secured to open one. Just sign up to http://www.paypal.com. I hope we can make the purchase as soon as possible? I have a mover that will come for it once payment clears and they will take care of very necessary paper for me to take. I need your full name and PayPal email address so I can send the money now,
please note am using this means so we can both be secured under PayPal
insurance"

"Am ok with the price and pick up agent will come for the pick up as soon as possible, i will want you to get the ready for pick up and i will also need you to send me your full home address or where ever you will like the Fish tank to be pick up so i can forward it to the shipping company to figure it out on Map .I will proceed with the payment as soon as I can, kindly delete the advert on the website and email me with link so I can double check and confirm. I will email you as soon as am done with the payment. looking forward for your urgent
responds now
..

Cheers"

"Thanks so much for getting back to me, i have just contact the shipping agent and they told me that they will not come for the pick up of the Dress unless i pay them the shipping fee,i am going to transfer the money into your account right now but before i do that,i will like to add the sum of 100 to the amount we agreed on and i will like to know if you would help me to transfer it to my shipping agent
via Money Gram Money transfer,I would have love to do this myself but currently i am very busy on sea and there is no where on the sea i could send the money Via Money Gram transfer and the only payment method the shipping agent accepted is Money Gram transfer and i have
no credit card here with me.I would be very happy if you would help me and i want you to get back to me with your reply so i can transfer everything together and get back to you as soon as possible.



Best Regards.
Mrs.Larah"