Latest Email Scam

[Rick L. Allen]

Received an email this week from Julie Johnson, julie_johnson6311@yahoo.com.hk that started like this;
"hello videographer
I would love you to render service for me . would you be available ?
Julie"

After my reply, this answer;
"Hello
I am sorry for the response delay to your message, I am Julie Johnson from London , I am Zoologist here in Essex,London ,United Kingdom.
I am setting up a Zoological garden for the kids here in newly established place.It is also part of my service to educate the children about the existence animals in London and ones that we don't have here .
for the completion of my service in my Zoological garden, I thereby request for a service that will not take much of your time.I will like you to take your camera ad go to the nearby Zoological garden in your city and coverage the animals that is available there .
After the coverage , you will send the clip to my address here in London , let me know how much you charge for that kind of service .
Julie Johnson"

As the emails continue it becomes clear that Julie Johnson, who has a Hong Kong email address and writes English poorly (despite living in London) doesn't have a clue as to what species she would like on tape (despite being a Zoologist) or where I'm actually located. Every email only makes her scam more obvious. However, she is very clear on how she wants to work out payment.

RUN AWAY!

UPDATE:

When I told "Julie" I did not accept overseas money orders, only certified, international bank checks, her emails stopped.

[Gabe Strong]

I've got so many of these type of scam emails that I've stopped counting. The inventiveness of the 'scammers' keeps them coming up with countless new scenarios. However, one thing that DOESN'T change, is that when someone writes English poorly and does not even understand basic things about
my town (such as wanting me to shoot video of the local zoo when we don't even HAVE a local zoo)....
and does not even understand basic things about their OWN supposed job......the whole thing screams
scam. Honestly, these guys are not too hard to figure out most times.

[Rick L. Allen]

Gabe, agreed. Thought I'd run this one a bit just to see how far she would go. Got a new scam today about domain registration issues with a Chinese company. Wish someone could make an "anti-scam" filter.

[Martin Mayer]

As a UK resident: "Essex,London ,United Kingdom" immediately shouts "scam!"

Essex is a county in its own right, and NOT a part of, nor within, "London".

[Rick L. Allen]

Just received a personal email from a production company in Washington, DC that has received the same scam/solicitation. It's exactly the same language as my email in broken English with a Hong Kong email address which is vague on shoot details and information about the client but very clear on how to arrange payment.

[Chris Lognion]

OK, I thought I check this out and thought it was not a scam until I saw these posts!!!!

They just paid me via Money Order but they overpaid me and was wanting me send the overpayment to them via Western Union. It seemed pretty legit with good emails back and forth. I wonder what to do at this point.

The money order originated in NY.

[Doug Bailey]

Hi Chris,
Mail the money order back to them pronto, do not bank it. I've heard of this exact "overpayment" for many years. This is the start of them nailing your feet to the floor.
Regards,
Doug.

[Don Bloom]

Yeah this scam has been going around for a few years and every once in a while someone gets nailed. Send the money back ASAP do not put into bank, do not send them any money. I can guarantee the money order is bogus and you won't know until you send them the "overpayment" and have emptied your account. Then it's too late and there is no way to track them down.
Don't get caught short.

[Chris Lognion]

I am definitely not trying to cash the money order. I have no address to send it back to. We contacted the bank that the money order was supposedly drafted from and they are researching. I know for certain that it is bogus because of this forum. Thanks for sounding off about it. The FBI has posted other variations of the "overpayment" scam as well.

[Chris Davis]

Good thing you didn't try to cash it. A woman I know in LA was caught in the same "overpayment" scam and thought it smelled fishy, but figured if the check cleared, it would be alright. While she was at the bank, there happened to be a police officer. The teller immediately recognized the money order as fake and alerted the officer. They cuffed her and she spent the night in jail, paid $3k bail and had to go to court. She eventually had the charges dropped, but didn't get the bail money back.

[Jeremy Doyle]

I received a phony check from a scam like this once. I called the issuing bank and they wouldn't help or couldn't help me because of privacy laws. They told me the only way to find out was to deposit the check with my bank. I even had my bank call the other bank and they couldn't be told anything either citing privacy laws. Although prior to calling my bank told me they wouldn't get anything because they wouldn't give any info if they were in the same spot.

Eventually I turned over all the emails and UPS packing that the phony check was over nighted in to the police.

They asked if I lost any money or merchandise, which I hadn't, then proceeded to tell me there wasn't anything they could do about it because it was all out of state correspondence and I hadn't lost anything.

Guess there's no reason for the scammers to stop trying if there's nothing that can be done about it.

I do think it would be rather interesting and educational to make a documentary about it and even try to track down some of the scammers. I'd love to do it, unfortunately my wife thinks we would be putting ourselves in harms way if we did.

I still have copies of the checks and packing that I made before I turned it all over to the police.

[Dave Blackhurst]

The overpayment scam has many variations...

We just got one that was a "secret shopper" - Envelope arrives, looks all professional, has a big check in it drawn on a legit bank and a legit company (both checked through Google, but the company has NOTHING to do with "secret shopping") has a letter and "evaluation form" suggesting you go to a local big name store, spend some money from the big check they send you, then "evaluate" the store, then "evaluate" the services of WU (bing bing bing, we have a winner!) or another payment company (guess there's not enough scam business for WU alone) by sending back a large portion of the big check you deposited in your bank account.

Of course if you CASH that big check, it's as bouncy as a super ball, and the law enforcement people will be a knockin' and looking to arrest you for passing bad paper, and you're on the hook for that money you sent out WU... the cash is long gone, delivered by WU... and YOU look like the criminal!

I traced things back to a ring in Canada (and a few days later the same scam made the local news, same MO, same Canadian opratives). Interestingly, I found that about 18 months ago (2008 sometime) the RCMP had busted had jailed a group for this scam... my guess is the "jail term" was probably right about 18 months... and they were right back at the same scam!

In short, if you get a big check in the mail and they ask you to put it in your bank, then send CASH out via WU, NEVER EVER EVER do it... it is a SCAM!!!

I don't know exactly what function WU serves, but they sure are the biggest red flag waving in the stiff breeze when someone is trying to scam you!

[Christopher Young]

Getting similar scams down here from maxwelldavid1@me.com Another one of our 'Zoologist friends? Look familiar?

Hello,

I am David Maxwell by name from London , I am Zoologist here in Essex,London United Kingdom.

I am organizing Mini-seminar for some zoology undergraduate student here in Essex, concerning some animals that exits in different continent .This made me to deem my thinking towards some south America countries and also some part of Europe, Canada, and Australia. Here is details about the service that i want you to render for me;

Am requesting for a service that will not take much of your time.I will like you visit any zoological garden that is very close to province with your camera and cover any available animalthere,after the coverage you will need to package the recording tape and send it to me via any courier service to me here in London.

Let me know the cost concerning this little project, if you are to render the service for me.

NOTE:Below is Samples of some Animals required:

-Giant anteater - Myrmecophaga tridactyla
-Ostrich - Struthio camelus
-Ocelot - Leopardus pardalis
-Lionfish - Pterois volitans
-Lava lizard - Microlophus albemarlensis
-Loggerhead turtle - Caretta caretta
-Giant panda - Ailuropoda melanoleuca
-Galapagos land iguana - Conolophus subcristatus
-Dusky dolphin - Lagenorhynchus obscurus
-Brown bear - Ursus arctos
-Hawksbill sea turtle - Eretmochelys imbricata


-All the editing of the clips will be taking care of by me here in london.


Mr David Maxwell.

Beware, beware the Zoologist!

[Michael Kinney]

Via international money order. Fortunately, I listened to the warning bells for a change, and then my wife found this thread.
Fascinating. Even the same list of animals.