Blunder Down Under

As I mentioned off and on in the earlier part of the blog, the Australian ads are just crawling with scammers. In fact, at one point, it was safe to estimate that over 95% of the ads being posted in Craiglist listings there were bogus. It may well be time for me to sit down and have a serious going over of that part of the world again.Anyway, thanks to a new Faker Street Irregular, we have a

A Rozario is a Rozario is a Rozario.... Unless it's not.

(Profound apologies to the shade of Gertrude Stein!)I thought the case of the mysterious Rozario Lorenzo had been laid to rest with my previous encounters but, lo and behold, a few days later I received another missive ~March 29, 2010Dear Quirked Eyebrow,I'm very glad I found your blog. The only record online that the person I'm dealing with is a scam is the email address s/he used that is listed

This which we call a Rozario, by any other name would smell as stinky

(With profound apologies to the shade of William Shakespeare...)So….A few weeks ago, I got an email from K saying that she had dealings with Rozario Lorenzo ~ rozario.lorenzo@yahoo.com aka rozario_lorenzo@yahoo.com ~ and felt that it was all too dodgy especially when Rozy was extremely insistent on using on Western Union, fading rapidly in the woodwork when K said she wanted to have a friend

They're pushing it to the max...

Thanks to Avanti for sending this yesterday."Another one to add to your list:Samantha Marshsamymarsh@gmail.comShe has posts for 2/2 condos all over Craigslist, including Seattle, Miami, Virginia, etc."My name is Samantha, I'm 52 years old, I'm a retired teacher and I'm the owner of this condo . I lived in this beautiful condo for over 5 years and loved every day of it. The condo is fully

I vish they would go away...

Most people at some time are going to get phone calls from strange phone numbers that, when answered, have nobody there. Or, if you're like me, you don't answer calls you don't recognize.I got a call like that at 6:13 this morning and, unless it's a dire emergency associated with someone I know and hold dear, it's not likely I'll answer. When I did get up, I took the number (1-800-931-1026) to

At least one perspective....

While googling a scam phone number, I ran across this blog entry (http://maria-perspective.blogspot.com/2009/07/if-it-seems-too-good-to-be-true.html) from a writer who was living in Benin at the time, another West African country linked to the internet scam industry. Tuesday, July 14, 2009 If it seems too good to be true... The internet has been down at work over the last few weeks, so

Further adventures of Sheer-Luck Homes and Dr. What's Up...

There I was, muddling about, when I ran across these ads today in London's Craiglist (since I started writing this, they've popped up at http://property.vivastreet.co.uk/holiday+london-sw1e/two-bedroom-suite-apartment-for-stay-in-london/21437645 as well):£550 / 3br - three bedroom suite apartment in london (Kensington Square Kensington, London)Date: 2010-01-17, 7:01PM GMT Reply to: mailto:

Scammails A - E 2010

075010marquis@gmail.com (Marquis Granny)




A
a3a1273lam@yahoo.com
aaaarron009@ymail.com
aaaayyy97@yahoo.com
aadbiel@gmail.com (Adrina)  
aakellyswuw@rocketmail.com (Aaron Lam; ph: +447045730253,+447011173785)
aanunimofe@gmail.com
aanuowotopo@yahoo.com
aanuirede@yahoo.com
aanuireoluwa@yahoo.com
aanunimofeoluwa@yahoo.com
aanuoluwamaaabo@yahoo.com
aanuoluwanimofe@yahoo.com
aanutotayo@

Welcome to 2010...

Hi all ~ welcome to a brand new year and the end of the first decade of the 21st century. Some kinda ride, eh?This January is also the start of the third year of this blog. Who knew that chemotherapy induced insomnia would have turned out to be so useful? (I'm much better now, thanks.) Sometimes friends ask me why I still do it and, I suppose, it's because I can. It may sometimes be a bit

If you see something like this...

....be prepared to keep looking.Like a previous post on 'lists', certain phrases or ads are liberally scattered about by our happy scamophiles and it seems inevitable that I'll run into them. So, when they really start to stick out, I'll print examples of them here.Mind you, I've noticed lately that once I bitch about something they're doing to make their ads stick out like sore thumbs, they

Charmed I'm sure....

Once they get a word they like, they just don't let go ~ guess which one is showing up everywhere....EUR550 / 1br - Charming clean come with fully furnished in the very tasteful (Vienna, Ferchergasse) - 2009-12-03EUR450 / 1br - CHARMING one(1) bedroom fully furnished apartment (Brussel) - 2009-12-01EUR400 / 2br - TWO CHARMING BEDOOM APARTMENT (Brussels) - 2009-11-30EUR350 / 2br - Well Charming

You're trying to tell me something, aren't you?

EUR530 / 1br - EXTREAMLY BEDROOM APARTMENT FOR RENT IN GREECE (Greece City) - 2009-11-30EUR1120 / 1br - EXRTREAMLY FURNISHED BIG BEDROOM APARTMENT FOR RENT (Paris) 2009-12-10EUR550 / 1br - Charming clean come with fully furnished in the very tasteful (Vienna, Ferchergasse) - 2009-12-03EUR500 / 1br - Set in the boost of the city with fully furnished (Berlin, Martin Luther Strasse) - 2009-12-

He's making a list and checking it twice...

I suppose if you're writing the same scamvert over and over again, creativity takes a bit of a beating so I'm chucking in examples of ads/lists that are repeated ad nauseum. If you see any of 'em in the ad you're considering, keep looking....This is also to remind you to be a little picky about doing your homework while home hunting ~ if I can find scamverts like these without even really trying,

I've gone blank! Just fill me in....

Intrepid Renter has run amok again (which seems to be his favourite exercise at times *g*) and the following is one of the examples he has sent in. I suppose the scammer's coach kinda forgot to mention to tidy up the blanks he was filling in ~ or do they really think no one is going to notice?From: breden steme Date: Mon, Sep 14, 2009 at 4:52 PMSubject: Re: apartment

Words for the new world...

I was noodling through rent ads on a rainy Sunday and decided to think of a word to describe scam ads. I've googled it and see where it has only been used twice (as far as I can tell) so I have decided to lay claim to it ~ or at least try to make it popular.So, for those of you seeking accomodations, pets, electronics or whatever on the internet (where scammers can be found in ever increasing

Moving on up....

There you are ~ poised and packed for your next move on up to someplace a bit nicer and, hopefully, affordable.Well, you won't if you fall for the 'send the money to a third party until you're satisfied' ploy. Anyone reading through my posts has seen the one about Paypal being proposed as the holder of the funds and what a scam that is. I've seen rent.com, gumtree.com and findaproperty.com used

And you don't even have to send cash!

I found this in my mail this morning and just thought yah... yah... yah...

Being that this spam mail will reach out to however many gadzillions and may find it's way to some people who have been harmed through a scamming, I can see where those people might still be innocent enough to believe that this email may have some validity. In that way lies madness, folks ~ don't even go there.

And

Things you can do to help...

This came in my mail today and I thought I would post it cuz it's a pretty basic question:How could I contribute to the e-mail list of "nefarious characters"? Because I am looking for a flat in Geneva I have found some.I tried sending this response but it came back as undeliverable so here it is:Post them in the comments section as the information shows up in search engines. And, sooner or later

Let me hold that for you ~ Part Two

Once again Intrepid Renter has flushed out something interesting enough to post here.I think we've already established in our prior post that PayPal, Gumtree and Findaproperty.com aren't going to be the kinda resources to hold your money while you wait for an opportunity to inspect the apartments expecting to receive the keys from an absentee scamlord. Nor is it wise to think that wiring funds

Picture this...

There are some photos used by scammers I see over and over and over again which I'm just kinda sick of seeing at all. I thought I would post a few of 'em just for the heck of it.I'm also throwing in the odd one from current scam ads before I get tired of seeing them too. :)If you find yourself looking for an apartment and see these photos, flag the ad for deletion and keep looking. I don't