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.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just received this pitch today. I had an art gallery until 2006, but for archival reasons the website is still up. The grammar seems almost intentionally bad. Since there was no mention of money upfront from my end, I gave it the benefit of a doubt and Googled her/it/them on a different computer. That led to your posting and a handful of others. Just as I thought, since there was no mention of specific artists or works. Off to delete.

Kent, Milwaukee

Anonymous said...

This is being tried here in the uk. Same wording exactly. So glad I googled and found your site. Although, it has to be said, the whole thing sounded too good to be true!

Anonymous said...

Yep, I've got one from our Les too. Internet search leads here - thanks!