The Pammer is a Scammer But Quitty Prickly Thinks Quickly

In yesterday's LFP, I read this:

After digesting this pearl, I recalled reading about a lottery scam in Saturday's Free Press.  A man had "won" a lottery and had been asked to send cash to cover the "administrative fee" before receiving his payout.  The scams are ubiquitous.  Who hasn't received a letter from a Nigerian lawyer telling them about their 6.5 million U.S. dollar inheritance?

Are people really so stunned as to fall for such hogwash?  

It appears that they are, as the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre is rife with descriptions of popular scams, like the Puppy Scam and the Bomb Scam, both of which are completely INANE:

"This is the only way I could reach you people, no matter who you are, make sure this gets to your manager.  If not you have yourself to blame, my group was paid to plant an un-activated bomb in your building (hotel lodge) till a certain date it will be activated which is best known to our employer. I know what am about to do is a betrayal to my group, I can disconnect the bomb and take it away, but this will between us alone, I need the sum of $500,000, $250,000 will be paid to an account I will provide for you and the balance will be paid after the disconnection, if you agree with me get back to me, if no, don?t even think of contacting me. Finally do not involve the cops/police on this, because if you do, none of your apology will be accepted to me (remember, I took risk for sending you this information), if we have a deal, you know what to do."

The entirety of the previous paragraph needs a giant sic.  :-)

You will be shocked by what I am about to tell you but QP is in the thick of a Kijiji / Paypal Scam.  Let me elaborate.

I listed these two pieces of furniture on Kijiji yesterday:

It's very stylish, isn't it?  It would look magnificent in YOUR home!

Who doesn't love a leather club chair?

Email me if you're interested!  :-)

Approximately three hours after posting my ad, I received an email from pamelaandrew09@gmail.com with a one word inquiry:  

Price?

It was challenging, but I responded without being snarky (yay me! good thing she couldn't hear the dialogue in my brain:  can't you read, lady?)

Pammy came back with:

Im okay with the price and condition , is this email also your PayPal email ? Let me know asap so i can arrange the payment through PayPal. my shipper will be coming to pick it up as soon as the payment clears into your account . Reply soon

Total red flags:

- Pam wants to buy the sofa without seeing it?  

- And she wants to send payment "asap"?  

- What about the "reply soon?  That irked me.  

- And she didn't bother to sign off with her name!  I didn't even know if the person that I was corresponding with was actually "the" Pamela Andrews of the gmail account.   

My response:  

Hello Pamela.

This is not my paypal email.  I would prefer that you pay with cash as paypal takes a percentage of the payment (I recall this from my ebay days).  Would you like to come and have a look at the sofa, or buy it sight unseen?

Pam responded using a different email address (pamelaandrew11@gmail.com) - total red flag. 

PayPal is a fast and safe means of online payment  , you can get a new PayPal account at www.paypal.ca , it takes just few mins of your time . Get that done asap and get back to me with the email used so i can transfer the money asap . My shipper will be coming to pick it up as soon as the payment clears into your account.

Reply soon.

So bossy.  Everything "ASAP" and the rude "Reply soon" again.  And she's obviously copied that Paypal bit from the website, but because she is thick and grammatically challenged, she didn't bother to correct her typos.  Come ON!  What about capitals, periods and complete sentences, Pamela? 

I gave Pammy my Paypal email just to see what would happen (there is a balance of zero and the account is inactive).

Pam was quick:

I just completed the payment via PayPal, a total of $3,050 was sent,$2,200 for the merchandise and the extra $850 for the shipper's charges,which you will be sending to the address below via money gram money transfer

Name: Rosezeek Hendrix

Address:230 South LaSalle Street, Chicago,

Postal Code:60609

State: Illinois 

Country:United States

My shipper would be coming around to your area to have the merchandise picked up once you have sent the shipping charges fee to them,as i need you to let me know what time you want them to come.

I will be waiting to hear from you once the money has been sent to my shipper.You should check your PayPal email inbox or spam folder for the notification email from PayPal.

Thanks for the business 

Her "real" name is Rosezeek?  What the hell kind of name is Rosezeek?  I googled "Rosezeek" for the fun of it - first name only - and Google's first hit was the full name (Rosezeek Hendrix).  I found a picture of her on Farcebook (probably a front for internet fraud; Rosezeek clearly doesn't actually exist).  I also learned that Zeek Rewards was a gigantic Ponzi operation that went belly up in 2013.  Coincidence?  I don't think so.  These criminal "masterminds" aren't very smart.  Wannabe Keyser Sözes!).

I've already called the cops.  Because I haven't been defrauded by the brilliant Pammy / Rosezeek / Keyser, there is nothing to be done.  The police directed me to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.

So Rosezeek, or Pammy, or whomever you are, I will not be sending you $850 in shipping charges, you cretin; however, I will be sending you a link to my blog :-)


*addendum - 

Sorry, we were unable to deliver your message to the following address.

<pamelaandrews09@gmail.com>:
Remote host said:
550-5.1.1 The email account that you tried to reach does not exist. Please try
550-5.1.1 double-checking the recipient's email address for typos or
550-5.1.1 unnecessary spaces. Learn more at
550 5.1.1 http://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?answer=6596 e93si1140982qge.84 - gsmtp
[RCPT_TO]

The message did go through to pamelaandrews11@gmail.com though, which makes me happy.  I wonder if he/she has read the blog.    

And this:  I just googled Rosezeek's address and it's the Federal Reserve Building in Chicago (it's a beautiful building- I've been there).  Pam / Rosezeek is even dumber than I thought. 

Optional musical pairing:  The Lowest of the Low's Salesmen, Cheats and Liars (a GREAT SONG, btw)