Oh, I love to play with these scammers . . .

Cougar Community Classic Cougar Community Discussion
1

A few days ago I got an e-mail from a gentleman who call himself Evans Jefferson in England. He told me he had seen my ad on this forum and that he still have lots of parts for sale for my car. The e-mail looked legit and had this signature:

Evans Jefferson
15 Ullswater Rd Blackpool, Lancashire FY4 2BZ, United Kingdom.
+447024067342

Because I am bit cautious I made a google search for the phone number and the result indicated that the same number had been used in a number of fraud attempts on other forums.

Usually I never respond to e-mails like this but then I decided to pretend that I was interested and sent him a follow up mail and asked for a door panel. :shifty:

That is when the fun began and here is Mr "Evans Jefferson’s answer:

Hello Gry

Thanks for writing. Yes I still have an original '69 Eliminator blue passenger side door panel in excellent shape and condition. I’m asking 100GBP and I will be shipping via UPS on a 3 working days delivery and will accept payment via Western Union as my paypal is currently dormant. What’s your complete shipping address?

Many thanks again and regards,

Evans

Wow, this guy shows all the signs of a scammer. A non traceable e-mail address evans.jefferson@gmail.com and a suspended Paypal account so he want money by Western Union :naughty: It was pretty obvious already that I had to do with one of these scammers using forums like CCC to find their victims. Normally I would have stopped communication at this stage, but I really wanted to give him back with his own way so I decided to play a little with this guy and sent him another e-mail:

Before I decide on the door panel please take a good picture and send
it to me asap. I am very picky on the condition because shipping will
be very expensive and I hate to waste money.-

I would also like to know the VIN number on the car the panel came from.
Thank you.


I figured this would be interesting as I already knew he would not have a picture of the perfect door panel and it could be funny to read his excuses for not providing the pictures I asked for. His answer came back with the speed of light:

Hello, I have tried to send pictures in my previous e-mail but my server seems to be very poor to allow me do that though I have the Vin # to the car it was removed from, Vin # : 9F91S567724 Let me know where to ship and I will e-mail details for payment via Western Union.

Now this is interesting information. His server is (g-mail) is very poor but at least he gave me a VIN number that looked legit. A google search on the Vin showed me that this was for this car:

Of course I could not let him get away with no pictures that easy and sent him this answer:

Hello Evans

Thank you for the fast answer. I really feel a little uncomfortable about buying a door panel unseen. I see that you are using G-mail for e-mails and I have also a G-mail account and must say I never had problems with sending attachment with it. I would very much encourage you to try again.
Also I would like you to check how much shipping will be on the panel to my friends address in Sweden (I prefer to have it shipped there as it is inside of EU and there will be no duties)

My friends address is:
Ollemann Svensson
Svindlervägen 12
411 66 Lureri

Thanks
Gry

I did not have to wait long for his answer:

Thanks for writing again. That is very correct ! I have never ad problems sending pictures in the past but wonder why it’s giving me a tough time right now. However, the door panel is near brand new so no worries, slightly used but it’s in excellent shape and condition. No wears or tear on it. I’ll take 120GBP including shipping and handling.
Your friend’s complete shipping address has been noted down to enable me effect and finish shipping. Kindly proceed with payment via Western Union with the below information -

Full Names: Evans Jefferson
Address: 15 Ullswater Rd Blackpool, Lancashire FY4 2BZ, United Kingdom.
Amount to send: 120GBP

E-mail to me the below information from your Western Union payment receipt for confirmation -

Sender’s Name:
Address:
MTCN # :
Amount sent:

I will e-mail to you a tracking number and other shipping information once payment is confirmed and received.

Many thanks again and regards,

Evans


Oh well, I was ready for my next move and sent him another e-mail:

Hi Evans

I know how it is with computers, sometimes they just give us a hard time and it is no way to get around it. I just wanted to make sure that the part is as described, but have decided to trust you. I just checked the neighborhood where you are living on Google Earth and it is a nice place :slight_smile: As you probably knows, we all need to be a little careful these days as there are people just waiting to scam you all over the world.

Just one more question before I send the money. What happened to the car these parts came from? Do you have other parts for sale? You mentioned that you have more parts so I thought it would be nice if you could help me out on other parts as well so I can save on shipping. I don’t need any big parts, just small things that would easily go in the same box. I could need the transmission shifter relay :wink: , a vacuum backfire valve for the headlight lids :laughing: and finally the wirings that goes from the control unit under the dash to the cruise control. :wtf: It would of course be nice if you could send me a list of all the parts you have as well as good parts are getting hard to find these days.

Thanks

This time it took him a little while to get back to me. I guess he was busy searching through his pile of imaginary parts to find the exact parts I was looking for, which all of you already knows does not exist on a 69 Eliminator :smiling_imp: I guess he now started to smell all the money he was going to get, and then I got his answer:

Gry, Thanks for getting back on time. Yes ! The '69 Eliminator was dismantled some months ago and I still have few parts left which I’m trying to clear out. The available parts are outrageous right now so I can’t get a decent list though I still have the transmission shifter relay, vacuum backfire valve for the headlight lids and wirings from the control unit under the dash to the cruise control, as well as the passenger door panel. I’ll take 200GBP for the listed parts so far including shipping and handling to your stated address in Sweden. If this is okay, kindly proceed with payment via Western Union with the information I e-mailed to you in my previous e-mail. E-mail the relevant information from your Western Union payment receipt for confirmation and I will effect shipping at once and let you know the tracking number and other information.

Many thanks again and regards,

Evans

This is really good and I really like his friendly tone in his e-mail. How can someone resist buying parts form such a nice guy? Well, I wanted to see how far I could take this and told him I had sent the money, but to make him a bit frustrated I also “forgot” to include the information he needed to get the money at his local Wester Union office.

Evans

You really made my day :slight_smile: I am really happy to find all those parts for my car.

I have just sent they payment by Western Union and you should be able to collect the funds shortly. Please let me know when you have received the payment.

Thank you.


I sure have him on the hook now or what? Can I read a little frustration between the lines in his next answer?

Hello Gry

Thanks for writing again. Okay ! I’ll need the below information from your Western Union payment receipt for confirmation -

Sender’s Name:
Address:
MTCN # :
Amount sent:

I will e-mail updates on shipping immediately as payment is confirmed and once I hear from you again with the above information.

Many thanks again and regards,

Evans

I was not quite ready to let this sucker off the hook, and my plan now was to at least make him visit the Western Union office to try and collect the money before he discovered that he had been fooled. So to make the transfer information as credible as possible I made a google search again to find what numbers they use. To my surprise I found something even better. Someone has made a website where you can generate false Western Union receipts that has an incredible authentic look. You can also make certain defects on these receipts making them useless. How fun is that? So I decided to use it, but since this would take some extra time I sent Mr Jefferson another e-mail:

Sorry about that, I had to let my friend take care of the payment as I am at home, but he will be back here later today with the receipt and the information you are asking for. I will scan it and send it to you as soon as possible.

Thanks

His answer came back to me immediately:

Alright, I’ll be looking forward to read from you later today.

I still have lots of bits/parts for sale and complete unit as well.
Let me know if you are still interested. What’s your phone number?

So in my next e-mail I sent him a copy of the receipt I had made. Unfortunately the Paid stamp on the receipt is right above the numbers he needs to cash the money :imp: s:

806×999 118 KB

He replied to me with this kind of optimistic e-mail:

Yes Gry, I got the e-mail now. I’ll confirm payment first thing tomorrow morning and will effect shipping at once and let you know shipping tracking number and other details.

A little later I got another e-mail where I think I can reed his frustration:

Hello Gry, I just downloaded the receipt but I can’t see the MTCN # ( Money Transfer Control Number) I’ll need you to re-send me an e-mail with the MTCN # for proper confirmation.

I decided to hold my next e-mail back for a while… Then he started calling my home phone and my cell phone from a hidden number. Of course I did not answer any of them, but instead sent him a fake MTCN, which obviously made him happier. That was until he visited the Western Union office…

The last e-mail from him went like this:

Gry, I just returned from Western Union and I was told there was no record on the transaction which you sent. Please re-check the MTCN # from the receipt for any sort of error or possibly call on Western Union to rectify any error and let me know asap. I intend to ship the parts this morning so act fast on this and let me know.

I guess my goal is accomplished. I know I could have driven this even longer, but I don’t have time to play with him anymore. :wave:

2

I did almost the same thing a few years ago without sending the person a copy of a WU receipt. I just kept giving them the wrong MTCN number. After three trips to Western Union he/she finally got the idea I was playing with them and went away. Now if only more people would play with these people maybe they would tire of their games.

3

I hate these scammers, Good that your a smart cookie, and saw right through him. I probably would have at the end revealed that I knew what he was doing and that the people on this forum and others would also know about him as well.
You sure are gutsy though, giving your phone number. Your story made me laugh, glad we can still have fun when people are trying to steel up blind.

4

I see that my “friend” Ian went and got a name change! I too did the same tthings to this F*#kEr. I had ask for Boss parts. Firts thing I get is 2 items I have been watching in ebay. Ian was so nice to send those pics. So, I asked him for a Boss302 dist. he sent these pics
It’s clear these are 2 different dist!

So, I tell him that since his e-mail server is broken to have a friend send a pic w/ all three items on the latest London Times, and we have a deal…

It’s been weeks since I’ve heard from him.

Good job GRY!!

Wish I could figufre a way to jam them, like the old days. I’d hookup a bank of modems and set them all to auto dial at midnight nonstop!

Wish Scotland Yard would do something!

5

The sad thing is that a lot of people get screwed by these people. I personally know people who sent thousands of pounds by Western Union and never got anything back. That is also the reason why I believe it is important to write stories showing how they work. That way we can warn and protect friends and people with the same interest as us from being scammed.
It seems like the police are helpless when it comes to internet fraud. These guys might just as well be on an internet cafe in Nigeria as in London or Blackpool. I checked the address “Evans Jefferson” gave me, and the property is listed for sale at an estate sale website and most likely no one lives there right now.
There are lots of things that could have been done to make it harder for these people to get away with this kind of fraud, but it seems like the government and the police does not care.

6

Nice action Gry :slight_smile:
When he keeps asking and asking for that number, just tell him you can´t understand why he can´t get his payment, as you have never had any trouble with western union before, so it must be something wrong at their end of the system :wink:

7

Tell him your friend from Sweden just happens to be in the UK and will pay him in person. Then arrange a meeting place in some dark, deserted alley.

8

Does this seem like a scammer?

http://item.mobileweb.ebay.com/viewitem?itemId=260900315212

67 cougar with a supposed 800hp engine with 13.6:1 compression. I asked the seller what kinda gas he runs it on and he said “premium or sinoco”.

$4000 for a heavily hotrodded '67 with an 800hp 428? Seller with only one feedback?

If he’s not a scammer, why am I not buying this car?

9

Seems more optimistic (800 HP) than dishonest. I wouldn’t pay $4K for it. Maybe $2500 if the car were running.

10

Wow really? For a complete minus interior '67 with an upgraded 428? Not worth $4k? Hmm. Well if he doesn’t come across as a scammer then I super extra want it now!

11

It’s probably west coast bias, but he says the floors are rusted out so I am thinking this is a rust bomb. This is a guess, but from looking at the paint, I think this might be a bondo’ed up race car that looks okay, but underneath it is loaded with rust. So I see a rusty shell, with some nice wheels and a questionable, but possibly desirable engine. And with out getting into it, is it really a 428 or maybe a 390? Just too many mysteries for me.

12

If your really interested in the car, find out from the seller where he lives and ask if you can have someone look at it for you, if it isn’t near you. Listen to the motor and evaluate how much needs to be done. Figure out what you budget is and then at that time, figure out if it is better to get something else. You can post once you find out where the car is, both here and on mc.net to find out if anyone is in the area to look at it for you. Have them take pictures for you as well. Lay down these conditions to the seller and if he is willing to work with you, then you know it is good.