A scam from Maria Ellis - [email protected]

[boonchusiwa]

i got e-mail from this person claimed to be Maria Ellis and she was wanted to rent my room and she did said that she tranfered the rent to me $3,000 Aud but i have to help her to pay for her remover cost all of her stuffs from USA but i am so lucky that i did not believe that and i founded this web site to warn me so i did not lose my money to help her as she did wanted this is her e-mail that she did wrote to me

Hey Xxxxxxxx,
Thanks for responding so quickly. My name is Maria. I am 27 year old non smoker lady coming to Australia. I work as chef on cruise ship at the moment and i have limited time to surf the internet and also phone calls is also strictly limited due to nature of my work. I will like you to make the arrangement for the total cost covering my first three months rent together with bond. I will also like you to get back to me with the Rent Starting Date and your home address for me to forward it to my mover to calculate the total cost of moving my little stuffs from USA to Australia. I will be waiting to read back from you. Cheers.

On Sat, May 9, 2015 at 5:09 PM, Maria Ellis < [email protected] > wrote:
Hello Xxxxxx,
Thank you so much for your kindness. Honestly you have safe a soul today and i pray that may the almighty God reward you in a great way. I would like to inform you that i have completed the payment for the rent and the funds has been deducted from my account, kindly check your email address Inbox or Spam folder for the payment notification receipt from PayPal. I will like you to kindly transfer the shipping agent fee today or first thing on Monday because payment must be confirmed before the agent will pick up and deliver my luggage and i do not want to reschedule the date to avoid being charged more. Below is the details of my shipping agent where the sum of $950.00 AUD is to be sent to because you only need the name and address for western union money transfer. I added extra $100 to cover western union charges making $3,150.00 AUD in total. All you need to do is to go to the western union outlet with the cash at any post office near you, ask for money transfer form and then fill the form accordingly. Mover Agent Info
Name : Yang Yang
Address : 79 jian guo road,
Chaoyang District Beijing.
Zip Code: 100025.
Country: China.
Just in case the agent at the western union outlet ask if you know the person you are sending the funds to, Just make it known to him/her that the funds is meant for a friend or family. For a cheap and low transfer charges.

please donot believe this person and stay away from her or him that made this e-mail up to you and for every one who is reading this forum
Thank you

[vonpaso xlura]

Thanks for posting! The writer is West African, the PayPal message is fake, and no one except scammers sends money for an apartment and expects you to pay for the move.

[ting985]

thanks, i recently just received his/her email, which is exactly the same as you posted.

[Bryon Williams]

What was the email address used? Was it the same?

[Deej]

I just fell for this exact scam. She used the email [email protected] and used different shipping details.

Name: Rui Jin
Address: No.1 Zhongguancun Str
City: Haidian District
State: Beijing
Zip Code: 100090
Country: China.

Unfortunately in my naivety/stupidity I made the first payment for her, then she asked me to do it again to pay 'insurances' of $1450. That's when I finally triggered, called Western Union to file a fraud claim and they said I was the second person to file fraud with this address.

[NedsDaughter]

Wow. This lady (or whoever) has been really busy!!
And just how much money are they making!!!
Got the exact same email as below!!!! Exact wording even.
So glad I did a quick search on the name and that your site came up.
Thank you so so much to those who got scammed but set out to warn others.
I am so grateful.

[Tim Atem]

Thank you for posting! I'm glad you found us before sending any money. Is she still using the same email address?

[NedsDaughter]

This email.
[email protected]
She/it/whoever also sent me copy of a US passport and two photos.
Not sure if they can be "attached" here?
Who knows who they would belong too!

[Deej]

When I re-posted my gumtree ad I got another reply from her with the same email address NedsDaughter received.

It was about the same amount of time between me posting my ad and receiving the text with her email too. She must have a program checking for new housemate ads and automatically replying!

[Snookies]

Received exact same email today. Joined up just to add this. It's lucky that people take time to warn others about these things but seriously, no one in their right mind would pay rent months in advance sight unseen.

[brockels]

I got the same message today in response to a flatmate ad I posted on Gumtree. Obviously English is not her first language.. was suspicious especially when the photos were sent without me asking for them.[selfies]<removed link> MW The scammer stole another victims images.
warning flags went up. The photos made it certain. That person speaks english, the one writing to me doesnt.

Many thanks for getting back to me again. I am very social person that respect humanity and this make it so easy for me to get along with whoever that comes my way in life. I am arriving on 9th May from United State and stay more than a year in Australia working and i can start payment any time you want. I will be transferring the rent to you through PayPal and if you do not have one, kindly set up an account with them in less than 5 minutes on http://www.paypal.com.au... I will be so happy to secure the room as soon as you get back to me with the PayPal money request.

Alternatively, i can as well transfer funds from my PayPal account to your online bank account, Do get back to me with your name on the account, bsb and your account number. I had attached pics of myself for you to know me. I will like to pay in advance through PayPal or Online banking and my reason is that, i will be presenting the proof of my rent payment to my employer and also to the immigration at the port of entry to Australia.

Thanks

[perihelion]

And she's back. 3 years on, 3 years older, same modus operandi.

My name is Vanessa. I am 30 year old non smoker lady coming to Australia. I
work as chef on cruise ship at the moment and i have limited time to surf
the internet and also phone calls is also strictly limited due to nature of
my work. I will like you to make the arrangement for the total cost
covering my first three months rent together with bond. I will also like
you to get back to me with the Rent Starting Date and your home address for
me to forward it to my mover to calculate the total cost of moving my
little stuff from USA to Aussie.

Shall await to read back from you...

Cheers

Before I even found this site, I had simply insisted that, for her own protection, she pay the deposit into escrow with the government bond-holding service, and that she send me a photo of her passport so that she will be able to get a refund eventually. My real reason for asking for a passport was to find out her nationality, as her fractured English isn't consistent with a native speaker.

I wasn't particularly suspicious, but now of course I'm not holding my breath for either of those things. Shame, I could really do with a happy flatmate.

[Bryon Williams]

Welcome to Scamwarners,

A passport photo is not reliable.

It is best to meet in person.