Tuesday, May 20, 2014

BYE BYE LESLEY

I certainly didn't expect a response from my last appeal, but it arrived this morning and it looks like the Nigerian con artists are dropping their use of cheques and switching to credit cards. That doesn't give me a trophy, and leaves too many chances for them to succeed, so I'm giving up trying to con the con artists who con the artists.

Here is the response I got to that last e-mail I sent:

Hello Jim,
    emailing you my credit card details is my best option as i have explain. My bank advise me not to use Pay Pal for now due to my changing of address/location i did, they told me it need to be re-activate before i can set up a PayPal account.
    So they said i should inform you that the card need to be run through manual terminal charging machine and it will be go through and you will be able to get the payment from there. So i want you to still try and look for any of your colleague or store that will assist on this.Explain to them that i will be willing to pay any extra charge it will cost for the transaction...If not please kindly go ahead and cancel the order.
Thanks,
Lesley.

...and following that, my bye-bye to Lesley:

There doesn't seem to be a way I can arrange that Lesley, so I guess our business is cancelled.
It's been a slice.
Thanks,
Jim

A very sad moment. But maybe I've kept them distracted with my "con" so they were not conning another artist (I doubt that, but it helps). 

Monday, May 19, 2014

ONE LAST ATTEMPT

I decided to see if this con of Ms. Norway's could be resurrected. I've heard nothing from "her" since sending that last e-mail, rejecting payment by credit card.

Dear Lesley Donna From Norway,
There has been an inquiry regarding one of the items you requested. I promised you I would hold it until you let me know if you could arrange payment. I will hold it for one more week and if I don't hear from you I will consider our business terminated.
Please let me know if this is agreeable with you.
Sincerely,
Jim

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

WILL THIS END IT?

My response yesterday to Lesley Donna From Norway may be the one that brings this con to an end:

Dear Lesley,
I have tried today to arrange for some kind of credit card service but I have been unable to do that.  
I will be very happy to hold the two items you are interested in, until you are able to arrange your PayPal account, or you could very easily send me a cheque for the amount of the two items.
I have tried many different places and it seems that the credit card service is not available for me.
Sincerely,
Jim

I expect they will give up and stop sending e-mails. If this Nigerian con operation had been functioning as the previous ones, I'm sure the phoney cheque would have been in the mail by now. But since they've switched to using a credit card as their means of conducting the fraud, I would not have a "trophy" at the end. And if I can't have a "trophy" to wave in their face, I don't want to play any more. We'll just have to wait and see.

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

DID THE RAT GIVE UP?

The exchange of e-mails I was having with sweet Leslie was going hot and heavy there for a few days, so, since the last time I'd heard back from "her" was last Friday, I assumed "she" had given up because I had refused to accept a credit card for payment. I was set to post a new entry announcing that another one had slipped through my fingers, when this arrived:

Good Day Jim
      I got your response and I just contact my bank on this and they advise me not to use Pay Pal for now due to my changing of address/location i did, they told me it need to be re-activate before i can set up a PayPal account.
    So they said i should inform you that the card need to be run through manual terminal charging machine and it will be go through and go will be able to get the payment from there. So i want you to still try and look for any of your colleague or store that will assist on this.Explain to them that i will be willing to pay any extra charge it will cost for the transaction... 
Regards,
Lesley.

So, what do I do? Tell "her" that my bank has advised me not to accept "her" "Master card Detail"? 
Tell "her" that the police have already described the procedures of this Nigerian con to me years ago? 
Not if I want "her" phoney cheque on my wall. 
Somehow I'll need to talk "her" into switching from "Master card Detail" to a huge Lesley Donna From Norway overpayment cheque.

I'll stop engraving the current block for a bit and give it some thought.

Saturday, May 10, 2014

NEW RAT'S ADDRESS

A few days ago I was curious about the address of Ms. Norway's "shop" in Oslo. She included it in "her" first e-mail. I used Google Maps and found myself on a quaint street in Oslo, facing a brick wall filled with colourful graffiti.

NEW RAT UPDATE

There have been a number of e-mails, going back and forth, between Ms. Norway and myself since this started, in late April. "She" started the process by saying:
I got your response and i want you to kindly get back to me with some of the available pieces you have right now for sell and their prices so as to list out the ones needed.

I answered the request for prices with a list of 21 drawings and prints (mostly drawings) and their prices. I purposely left out the media and only listed the titles. It still seemed to me that "she" has not seen the work on the website and didn't know what the "items" were.

Ms. Norway responded with a request for Moonrise to Port and Tornado Pilot, and the total price. I answered to let "her" know the total would be $3700.00 and that would translate to 20,055.22 in Norwegian Krone.

"Her" response to that:
      I got the total quote of the order which is ($3,700.00). The shipping company will have the order picked up from your facilities because i have made an arrangement with the shipping agent who will be coming to pickup the items right from your location so as to avoid the shipping responsibilities and difficulties that you might be experienced in shipping to Norway.The Shipping Agent have all the documents and permits required for the exportation of these order.And they will handle all the custom duties and insurance as well because all will be dully paid by me .They have got similar items shipped to me here successfully.So i have discussed with the shipping agent about the nature,quantity of these items and i was charged ($3,380) for the shipping cost,including some of my merchandise i ordered from different countries that is with them which they will be delivering tome here in Norway.I will need you to do me a favor as explained below:
     The shipping agent informed me that as for now they can only receive payment by direct Bank transfer.So i am asking for you to please help me to charge the shipping fee of the shipment which is ($3,380) on my credit card account and then transfer to the shipping agency's office via direct bank transfer and their representative will come for the pick up.I know it's not your responsibility to do this,i just want you to try and understand me and be of assist to me and my next order will be ship by you.Also, I'm compensating you with the sum of ($200) for the transfer fee and for your efforts.So the charges that will be deducted on my credit card will be:

TOTAL COST OF ITEMS BOUGHT:                    ($3,700.00)
SHIPPING FEE GRAND TOTAL  :                      ($3,380)
CREDIT CARD SURCHARGING FEE :               ($80)  (FOR THE SHIPPING FEE)
TRANSFER FEE AND YOUR COMMISSION:     ($200)
THE GRAND TOTAL COST :                             ($7,360)

       Note that my credit card will be charged for the amounts above.Please do get back to me if you are in the office right now so that i can email you my credit card details,then you can charge the full amount and transfer the shipping fee to the shipping company so as to proceed the shipment.And as soon as the shipping company received the shipping fund, they will schedule the time for the pick up and then come to your facility for the pick up.


"She" is using dollars instead of krone and there is no indication that "she" realizes I'm quoting Canadian dollars, not US (I've included my address so "she" knows I'm in Canada). I have indicated on my website that the prices listed are in Canadian dollars. Why "she" would be adding the shipping fee, a credit card surcharge fee and a transfer fee and my "commission" for juggling this extra charges into my invoice is anybody's guess! That nearly doubles my quote. Why not just order twice the number of  "items"? I'm sure I'm going to find out.

I answered that by saying, yes I was in the "office" and that I don't have an arrangement with a bank to take credit cards.

Ms. Norway's response:
   I got your response,presently my best form of payment is via credit card,that is where i put all my money for any international transaction, i suggest you look for a colleague or a store that has a Credit Card  terminal charging machine that will assist you in charge the fund and then get the payment there, i will be willing to pay the surcharge fees, which should be billed to my account, reason with me please.


I responded this morning by saying that I will look into that method, but I prefer to use PayPal and reminded "her" that "she" could use "her" credit card with PayPal and that if "she" didn't want to do that "she" could send a bank draft. I've heard nothing yet. I suppose "she" took the weekend off to celebrate Norway's Mother's Day (if Norway celebrates Mother's Day this weekend).




Thursday, May 08, 2014

MEET THE NEW RAT

My suspicion seems to have been correct. That visit to my website, from someone in Nigeria, may very well have been the origin of an e-mail I received today from…. Now, are ready for this?
Lesley Donna From Norway!
See? Same middle name (From), and the last name is a place.  Stan From California, Debbie From New York and Jon From Norway all have that same middle name.  I wonder if Lesley Donna knows Jon?

I know, I know, I probably shouldn't be posting this on the blog until the rat has the cheese, but I just couldn't resist and am excited that I might get another chance to pull this off.  But this one has a different twist. There's no mention of Lesley Donna sending a cheque this time. Instead there's a credit card mentioned. She says she will pay with her "Master card Detail".  Hmmmm? Never heard of a "Master card Detail".  There is one similarity to the others however. There will be a courier who will be picking up the purchase, so no need to send it. She doesn't say which print or drawing she wants. In fact, as you can tell from the content, she doesn't even know what I have to sell, but she likes them and finds them "creative and desirable".  Another difference this time is that her courier, Stanley Braim, is also adding information in the e-mail.  Maybe Stanley and Lesley Donna are an "item".

Here's the content of the e-mail:

Good Day,
   I am Lesley Donna from Norway, i want to inform you that your items are most creative & desirable, so much talent! I am interested in purchasing some of your artwork/items into my shop here in Norway, but before this is done, i want to inform that i will be making the payment with my Master card Detail because presently my best form of payment is via credit card.

 This is where i put all my money for any international transaction, so kindly reconfirm your website/contact details and get back to me with it so as to know if I'm right with the site.
Stanley Braim is typing...
Stanley Braim: Concerning the shipment, my shipping company will be coming to pickup the items because i already have some merchandise with them in which they will be shipping together to me here in Norway, so you don't need to be worried about the shipment nor handling fee.


Lesley-DonnaShop

My concern this time is the "Master card Detail". In the previous ones My goal was to have their cheque framed and on the wall. There will be an overpayment, for sure. That's how the scam works. Then I'll be asked to send a cheque for the overage, but maybe this time there will be a different method of sending a refund. Stay tuned.