Anatomy of a Scam

[codemonk]

Hello All,

I decided to document - for educational purposes - a scam attempt that occurred last month involving a Leica Camera.


1 - The for sale listing that is to good to be true: The scammer published a for sale ad on the Toronto section of Craigslist. Note the date of the ad : May 4 2011

2 - The Story: Seller/Scammer gladly provides more information and pictures but unfortunately he has to stay in Italy for a job that takes about 1-2 month so face to face deal is not possible.

3 - Trying closing the deal: Seller/Scammer offers escrow service using sadietransport.com. The catch is that the website is a copy of the sadietrasport website hosted on t35.com. The email address is faked too. Seller asks for payment via Western Union to a third party in Italy.

4 - Search for the Leica serial number reveals that this camera was sold on Ebay on May 4th 2011, the very same day when the ad was published on Craigslist.

5 - Seller is busted.

G.

 

[rsosa]

haha I just came to the offtopic section to publish a scam attempt directly on my email inbox.

1- I receive this email from nowhere with the following:

Good day how are you doing still interested,I have it and still in good working condition and in perfect order. Good price is accepted,if you are interested in buying from me. Let me know i will email you some pics and details thanks

Best regard
jose

C/ Camilo Castilla nº5 -1º izq. C.P. 31591
Corella ( Navarra ) Spain,
Spain

Contact me Via email on josexx37@xxail.com


Thanks

2- I thought, well, its not a perfect english and he is from Spain, I will answer in Spanish so we can keep the conversation in our mother tongue

My answer:

Hola Jose,

Cuanto pides por el summicron?que montura tiene?

gracias

Rodrigo

3- I get this.... funny english again?

Thanks for your Email and i have attached a pics of my Leica Summicron
50mm for you to see and still in good Condition and perfectly OK,there
is no rust or scratch and everything working well,,Manuals and ,and i
will be asking 400euro and i will need to know your complete home
address and phone Number to calculate the shipping cost to your
doorstep,thanks and hope to hear from you soon

in the attachment were 3 pictures of a nice black tabbed 50 cron s/n 3471740

4- I respond

Do you have any references?
Enviado desde mi BlackBerry.

I used english? what was I thinking??

5- I get this

Thanks for your Email and this is not my first time of selling items
online and it delivery well with Good shipping Company here is my
Pics of me and family thanks and let me know your interest

attached 2 supposed family pictures taken with the lens, totally digital in looks but... wait a minute... the exif tells nothing

6- I respond with

hola jose es que no entiendo porque respondes en ingles si eres de españa!!!

translation: I dont understand why you keep answering in english if you are from Spain...

7- Scammer answers...

¿Está usted de España? por favor, si usted no está interesado por
favor hágamelo saber y dejar de engañar a mí gracias Aceptar


WTF???!!!! his spanish is worse than his funny english... SOOO copy/paste from a translator...

It was funny though...
marked as spam and that was it