What a Scam Looks Like

Unfortunately the Internet is full of scammers. These are not so un-common that I need to show what they look like, but this one got me to nibble so I thought I would post what it looks like. The text of the scammer is in red mono space, my responses are in blue mono space, comments are in black variable width font.

The Beginning

From:    don fentie <donofen@yahoo.com>
To:      mpeters@mac.com
Subject: order request
Date:    Thu, 23 Aug 2007 15:58:31 -0700 (PDT)

att:Michael Peters
i am interested in purchasing some of your californa kingsnakes
how many do you have available?
i will be shipping to canada, bc.
and i shall pay via cheque.
kindly copy me with copies of the health papers if available.
your quick respond is very important.
regrads
don fentie

My response

From:    Michael A Peters <mpeters@mac.com>
To:      don fentie <donofen@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: order request
Date:    Thu, 23 Aug 2007 16:34:16 -0700

The clutch is viewable here:

http://www.temptingevereptiles.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=71

11 total in clutch, 3 are not available - so 8 are available. The ones
labeled "Not Yet Available" are listed as such only because they are not
consistently feeding on frozen pinks yet, but they are feeding. They
will be feeding on f/t soon, however.

I do not have any health papers for them. I will ask my vet how much an
exam and health certificate would cost. I think the certificate is $10
per animal plus examination fee, they could probably be examined
together for reduced exam fee.

I have not shipped to Canada before, I need to look into what is
required for me to do it.

Take care,

Michael Peters

He had gotten a nibble. I already felt that I needed to be careful because it did not make sense to me for a Canadian to want to import normal banded Cal Kings. I could not imagine them being that rare in the pet trade up there.

I thought perhaps that he was looking for fresh genetics to freshen up some existing amel lines, as these snakes were het amel and had a WC father, they would be very good for that.

Sending Me For A Ride

Here is his next e-mail to me:

From:    don fentie <donofen@yahoo.com>
To:      Michael A Peters <mpeters@mac.com>
Subject: Re: order request
Date:    Thu, 23 Aug 2007 21:52:05 -0700 (PDT)

att:petter
how are you doing today thank you so much
for your quick respond.
what is the total cost of the 8 that are available
do not bother about shipment i have a shipping angent that
will do that for me.
pls check te cost for the health papers and the examination 
for the available 8 so i can start making arrangment for
the payment your quick respond is very important.
regards
don fenties

Second message, second time he made it clear that quick response was very important. I agree that quick responses to business inquiries are important, but emphasizing it twice like that in two messages sends off flags in my head. Scammers do not want their prey to have time to think about things.

The shipping agent bit also seemed a bit odd. It meant that I would not have to worry about filing paperwork with U.S. Fish and Wildlife, but I still would have to ship the animals to his exporter, wouldn't I?

I responded with two messages.

From:    Michael A Peters <mpeters@mac.com>
To:      don fentie <donofen@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: order request
Date:    Thu, 23 Aug 2007 23:39:57 -0700

The cost of the 8 snakes would be $150 ($20 each - less $10 for big
order) plus whatever the vet wanted for health certificates. I will find
that out in the morning and let you know as soon as I find out.

Will I need to ship them to your shipping agent? If so I'll need to know
his zip code so I find out how much that costs.

Thanks,

Michael

My asking price for snakes in that clutch were $25 each, 3 or more, $20 each. 8 snakes would come to $160 but I decided to be nice to this Canadian. I asked for clarification on the agent. Before he responded, I sent another message:

From:    Michael A Peters <mpeters@mac.com>
To:      don fentie <donofen@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: order request
Date:    Fri, 24 Aug 2007 12:38:20 -0700

Hi Don -

The vet exam (for all 8 snakes) will cost $40 and the certificates are
$10 per snake, so the total for vet exam is $40 + 8*$10 = $120
The cost for the 8 snakes is $150

The total cost will be $270 plus whatever shipping is necessary to get
them to your agent.

Thanks,

Michael A. Peters

I suppose $33.75 per snake isn't too bad if fresh blood is really what he was after. I have no idea what the export cost would have been, though. I was suspicious as he incorrectly addressed my as petter, but heh - let it play out and see what happens. His English wasn't too good but I know many Canadians speak French natively. Many have better English skills than many Americans, but not everyone goes to the right schools, even in Canada.

Scam Confirmed

This was his next e-mail to me:

From:    don fentie <donofen@yahoo.com>
To:      Michael A Peters <mpeters@mac.com>
Subject: Re: order request
Date:    Fri, 24 Aug 2007 14:19:14 -0700 (PDT)

Thank you so much for your quick respond,
you do not need to ship to my
agent the agent will come and pick them up at your 
from you.
I shall arrange payment through my client in usa 
pls copy me with your full name and address
as you want it to appear on the cheque
the payment will include the shipment cost.
All you need do is to deduct your payment and handover
the shipping cost to the shipping agent at the time of 
pick up.
Hope to hear from you soon.
regards
don fentie

Um, no. He wants to give me a fraudulent international check and have me give his "agent" good real money.

I'm sorry, but no export "agent" is going to drive to Redding, CA to pick up 8 banded California Kingsnakes. And if he did have an "agent" he would pay the agent directly, not write a cheque to some guy he's never met before and have that some guy pay his agent.

In all reality he probably would have later contacted me saying I needed to wire the difference to his agent, completing the scam.

At this point I knew it was a scam, but I decided to play along with just one more e-mail asking for clarification.

From:    Michael A Peters <mpeters@mac.com>
To:      don fentie <donofen@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: order request
Date:    Fri, 24 Aug 2007 17:35:47 -0700

Hi Don,

I made an appointment at the vet, but I'm a little confused.
You are going to mail me the cheque, or is your agent is going to bring
it?

Is there a way I can contact your agent to arrange a date and time?

I actually had made an appointment with the vet, but not for these little guys. I need to have a fecal float performed on my female Pac Gopher since she was collected from the wild.

I then received the following response:

From: 	don fentie <donofen@yahoo.com>
To: 	Michael A Peters <mpeters@mac.com>
Subject: 	Re: order request
Date: 	Sat, 25 Aug 2007 00:45:59 -0700 (PDT)

att:micheal
what i said in my previous mail was that i am going to make my payment through
my client in usa,  he will mail out the cheque to you as soon as i have your full
name and contact address.

the cheque carries the total amount for the snakes i am buying from you and the 
shipping cost, you deduct the cost of the snakes  and hold the remaining for the shipping
agent.

you tell me when it will be ok for you for the agent to come and do the pick up..

you only pay the shipping agent when they come for the pick up unless i tell you
otherwise.
i hope you can understand me now.
i need you contact address so the payment can be  mailed out to you assp
your quick respond is important.

regards
don fentie

There you have it. He already has noted that he may want the funds transferred to his "agent" via another means - with the unless i tell you otherwise bit.

This is a form of the Nigerian bad check scam. In all likelihood, after receiving the check from this individual, he would have then contacted me letting me know I needed to wire funds to his agent and that utmost speed was urgent.

This is the first time any of the scams have gotten farther with me than me reading first e-mail. Why did I respond?

His grammar was poor in the first e-mail, which is an indication. However, there are people with bad grammar who are honest and con men with excellent grammar. I responded because he did not specify a ridiculous amount of money (what they normally do), named the product, and seemed to know enough to request the necessary health papers needed to send an animal to Canada.

There certainly was cause in the first e-mail to be suspicious, but there was also cause to think it might have a chance at being legit.

Seller beware.

Do not accept checks from anyone. Do not accept PayPal from anything except for verified PayPal address within the United States, and when paid via PayPal, do not send to any address other than the verified PayPal address. That does guarantee a scam is not involved, but it greatly reduces the odds, as the vast majority of PayPal related scams involve non verified accounts or phished verified accounts wanting you to ship elsewhere.

Do not accept money orders except for U.S. Postal money orders, which you can cash at the local U.S. Post Office.

Undoubtedly there will be more variations on this scam, and the grammar of the scammer will improve. When selling reptiles (or anything), protect yourself as a seller. Do not accept checks of any kind, or payment that seems fishy in the slightest.