Bullshit?

[fathom]

I just a message from someone on ebay, seems they want a middleman.

sounds like bullshit to me; wadda think?

-------

We have a job for you. We are looking for a money
exchange manager.

Our company is selling laptops from Europe and we
can't use paypal here. But some our buyers want to use
only paypal.
They will send you money through Paypal and you will
resend us our part.

We will pay you $200 for each transfer + all fees.
Do you want to work with us?

[tokenuser]

Complete BS.

I had a similar "offer" for selling jewellery.

[samureye]

So you are taking money and sending it to them? Don't see how that could be a scam...

Unless, you get the money, send what is theirs, then the laptops are never sent, and the money is sent to YOU therefore you are accountable for the laptops that never existed and when you try contacting to see what's up, you can't find them. I'm very paranoid though, don't mind me.

[deegraww]

So you are taking money and sending it to them? Don't see how that could be a scam...

Unless, you get the money, send what is theirs, then the laptops are never sent, and the money is sent to YOU therefore you are accountable for the laptops that never existed and when you try contacting to see what's up, you can't find them. I'm very paranoid though, don't mind me.

Just cause your paranoid doesn't mean someone isn't out to get you.

[ryudo]

Random people don't message random people for jobs....*sniff sniff* nigeria?

[fathom]

So you are taking money and sending it to them? Don't see how that could be a scam...

Unless, you get the money, send what is theirs, then the laptops are never sent, and the money is sent to YOU therefore you are accountable for the laptops that never existed and when you try contacting to see what's up, you can't find them. I'm very paranoid though, don't mind me.

disclaimer, I do think this is bullshit, but for the sake of arguement;

how would this plan result in them making profit?

[samureye]

You don't see it? Suppose I am asking you to do this for me. I am just home and send you this message - I then set up the fake business, tell people they are getting laptops at great deals, get a great deal of orders and wait to have all the orders process at the same time, in other words, tell all people to make payment on a specific date. Suppose that's 1000 orders of $800, that's $80, 000, you get your 200 on every transfer, but as soon as I get the money from you, I disappear, you were dealing with the money so I assume you take the fall. Make sense to you? Or is it just me? I have no idea if this could actually be done, just me thinking from what you said.

[tokenuser]

1. Scam (http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs25a-JobSeekerPriv2.htm)
2. Scam (http://www.scamwatch.gov.au/content/index.phtml/tag/TransferringMoneyForSomeoneElse)
3. Scam (http://www.snopes.com/crime/fraud/nigeria.asp)

These type of "business opportunities" are variation of the Nigerian (419) Scam.

[fathom]

You don't see it? Suppose I am asking you to do this for me. I am just home and send you this message - I then set up the fake business, tell people they are getting laptops at great deals, get a great deal of orders and wait to have all the orders process at the same time, in other words, tell all people to make payment on a specific date. Suppose that's 1000 orders of $800, that's $80, 000, you get your 200 on every transfer, but as soon as I get the money from you, I disappear, you were dealing with the money so I assume you take the fall. Make sense to you? Or is it just me? I have no idea if this could actually be done, just me thinking from what you said.

aha see, I wouldn't give him the money until I get the product

[tokenuser]

aha see, I wouldn't give him the money until I get the productUnfortunately mthat not how online retail works. Would Amazon ship you something, and then expect you to pay when it arrived? How about NewEgg? Sorry - not going to happen, which is why these scams work, someone puts the money down without knowing if they are going to get a product or not.

[samureye]

aha see, I wouldn't give him the money until I get the product
How? Can you do that with Dell? Can you do that with any online retailer? I don't think so. And if you mean as the consumer you wouldn't pay, you have no choice I think. As the "middleman" you just deal with finances, like a FEDEX driver, you don't know about the actual business. The only thing is you take the fall here I believe.

[crumbles]

Wow, the fact that this thread exists must be why they still send these out to people. They still fall for them.

[fathom]

yes but acting as a middleman is different, no?

[fathom]

Wow, the fact that this thread exists must be why they still send these out to people. They still fall for them.

and hey, I'm not / wasn't going to do it - I just wanted to talk about it, and see what's up

[ryudo]

1. Scam (http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs25a-JobSeekerPriv2.htm)
2. Scam (http://www.scamwatch.gov.au/content/index.phtml/tag/TransferringMoneyForSomeoneElse)
3. Scam (http://www.snopes.com/crime/fraud/nigeria.asp)

These type of "business opportunities" are variation of the Nigerian (419) Scam.


Today boys and girls the secret word of the day is NIGERIA! when you here the secret word scream real loud!
http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/4519/peeweejpgcommandgetprevzw9.jpg

[denmmurray]

what about the mysterious woman from thailand who inherited a million dollars and needs someone in the US to help her deposit it?

[tokenuser]

I would be really careful about accepting ANY personal deposits from a mystery Thai woman.

[tokenuser]

Dear Sir/Madam
With all due respect for you,I got your email address as someone who is interested in an online business opprotunity.
Our company is actively involved in the sales of jewelry.check up our website:www.warrenjames.co.uk At the moment we are having difficulties in expanding our business, and in relation to solving our problem and creating opportunities for people, there is the need for an Executive Trustee.
The difficulties in expanding our business is due to problems faced by our clients in the United State of America to easily make payments for our goods, making it difficult to expand.
We therefore decided to create an opportunity of wealth for people in the United states to partake in an Online Business Opportunity/Job
The Job description are:
1. Receive payment from Clients
2. Cash Payments
3. Deduct 10%, which will be your percentage/pay on Payment processed.
4. Forward balance after deduction of percentage/pay to any of the offices you will be contacted to send payment to (Payment is to be forwarded by Western Union Transfer).
Note:There would be no upfront charges, and all charges for sending the payment to us would be deducted at source(explanation on this will be provided).The Payments from Client could be in Form of Money Order,cheques which are difficult to be cashed in United Kingdom and slows our cash flow.
Trust Is vey Necessary, as we intend to open doors of opportunity for trustworthy employees to manage our branches we intend to open in several states of the country.The Packages involved in the Managerial position is Mouthwatering in terms of Salary and other Benefits.This is just a test of your ability to do perform simple tasks effectively and effeciently.
The opprtunity is for you to earn extra cash to pay bills incurred on your daily basis.This Job can make you earn a minimum of 3 digits per month and takes a maximum of 1 hour of your time every day.No Job experience is required.
If interested in this opportunity please send the below details to my email for recuritment.
FULL NAME
FULL ADDRESS(Not P.O Box)
State:
Zip:
Home telephone:
Work Telephone:
Mobile Telephone:(very Necessary)
Age:
Present Occupation:
Marital Status:
Sex:
Yours Sincerely
Brian Johnson
Human Resource Manager
Warren James Jewelers
7 Mersey ways,
Stockport, Cheshire
SK1 1PN, UNITED KINGDOM
www. warrenjames.co.uk
kashette10@blida******

[masherscf]

The scam is to set-up some kind of transfer through your account. They transfer in a set amount then you cash it out and send it to a third party. The trouble is original transfer-in is from stolen account. It's just a way to launder stolen pay-pal accounts. You get left holding the bag.

You see this with check fraud as well. They send you a fraudulent check to pay for merchandise with a large amount added to "pay" a third party to pick it up. By the time the check bounces, they have your cash and your stuff.

Anytime someone wants to meet you in person using a check or Pay-pal, the red flags should go up. There's no reason to use Pay-pal if someone meets you in person. Any bank will let you draw cash off a legitimate credit card.

[ariastar]

I see this one all the time at work. It's a scam. You get left dealing with the legal shit and jail time for helping pass stolen funds to them. They fraud it, have people send it to you, then you send it to them. Since it went to you, you're on the hook. There's no reason they couldn't set up a Paypal account, even a US one, if they were legit. Report them the eBay.

[phatlip12]

This reminds me of a scam I got emailed to me a week or so ago. The scammer gave me his address and phone number. Is it possible for me to inform someone that this guy is doing a scam since I have his contact info?

Nigerian Email Scam...
Hello,

I have been contacted by a newly sworn in Minister in Nigeria to
coordinate a front that will be used for award of contracts in his
Ministry. The job will entail awarding contracts from the Ministry to
you/company (and receiving payments) but the contract proper will be
executed the Minister's private company in Nigeria and you will earn
your percentage. But if you have the capability to execute the contract,
you will be allowed to do so.

The procedure is like this, the Minister sends us information on the
projects his ministry wants to embark upon and give us detail
information that will enable us successfully apply for contract to
execute the project. You apply for the contract in your documents and
send it to me as you representative, I travel down to Nigeria to submit
this application and the Minister ensures that the job is approved. He
also takes care of whatever financial cost associated to awarding of the
contract.

Upon the award of the contract, a mobilization fee will be approved
(through the Minister), a percentage of this mobilization fee will be
deposited in a contingency account in Nigeria for the execution of the
contract while a percentage is transferred to you. When the contract is
fully executed, a percentage of the payment goes to you too.

In all this processes, I will be your representative and will be
shuttling Nigeria and reporting to you. In other words I will be under
your retainership for the period and will also earn a certain percentage
of what comes to you for bringing you in.

If you think you can do this, then I will prepare two necessary
agreements for you to sign. One is a Non Disclosure and Non
Circumvention Agreement and the other is our Working Agreement between
you and me and you and the Honourable Minister.

All correspondence regarding this must be on my private email and
telephone numbers stated below,if not,your message will not be attended
to. Please take note.

Yours truly,
A C Gordon
3 Hawthorn Mews
London NW7 1LX
Tel: +447031968369

[ariastar]

This reminds me of a scam I got emailed to me a week or so ago. The scammer gave me his address and phone number. Is it possible for me to inform someone that this guy is doing a scam since I have his contact info?

Nigerian Email Scam...

Th contact info is not likely to be real. And technically no punishable crime has occurred that you know of. Just an attempt isn't legally much.

[ariastar]

Wow, the fact that this thread exists must be why they still send these out to people. They still fall for them.

3-7% of scam messages have at least nibbles, and a good chunk of those nibbles end up with full bites.

[skyz]

I see this one all the time at work. It's a scam. You get left dealing with the legal shit and jail time for helping pass stolen funds to them. They fraud it, have people send it to you, then you send it to them. Since it went to you, you're on the hook. There's no reason they couldn't set up a Paypal account, even a US one, if they were legit. Report them the eBay.


and here

http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/cybercrime/reporting.htm

you may save people more naive than you

i'm not paranoid but i am very cautious and wary