Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I had this email from a prospective buyer of some animals I have. I found this email strange that he and his shipper agreed for the shipper to meet at my place without asking me. I thing this is fishy, and wanted to know if anyone has ever dealt with this person. He almost sounds like he doesn't have a clue what
he is talking about.

Hello,
I appreciate your mail,.I am interested in the dalls cowboys victory so i need the final price . Also i will take care of the shipping,Which i don't want you to bother yourself about. I spoke on phone with the shipping agent and we agreed that he'll be coming to your location for the Pick up.also make an arrangement with an insurance company and prepare some documents for the item.
Let me know if there are any papers that back up this item so my shipper will take care of everything okay? and also i want you to e-mail me recent pictures if available. Get back to me so that we continue this transaction.....Payment will be made in Cashiers check/ money orders.

Greetings.
Wayne
Washington Tacoma
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Happy Herping,
Jody Barnes
Royal Kreationz

1.0 albino
1.2 het albino
1.0 het caramel
1.0 het pied
0.1 poss het. pied
0.4 normals (beautiful pastel sibs)

This looks like some emails i receive when i post different items on craigslist. They never verify the item you have for sell but offer to pay for shipping and everything. Scam for sure.

Ryan

Do they send counterfeit checks or money orders or what? What do I look for? How do you usually handle this type of scam?
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Happy Herping,
Jody Barnes
Royal Kreationz

1.0 albino
1.2 het albino
1.0 het caramel
1.0 het pied
0.1 poss het. pied
0.4 normals (beautiful pastel sibs)

yeawh I would only take cash or paypal....they do have counterfit M/Os and give you bad cashiers checks, I've had several people want to buy overseas and do the same thing....its a scam. tell him you will only accept cash or paypal if your setup for it....he'll try to make excuses and then you'll know for sure.

They send counterfeit money orders. There's really nothing you can do as far as helping to get them caught. Some people like to play along with the scammers to waste their time.

Tim

Yeah, Wayne responded to some of my ads and his emails were all over the place as well (minus the Dallas Cowboy comment?). Whenever a potential buyer insists on using "Their own shipper" I kindly pass on the sale. That's always a red flag to me.

Take care,
Tom

Do yo think they are trying to get personal information to set up burglaries of animals? What is the deal with the "personal shipper?"
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Happy Herping,
Jody Barnes
Royal Kreationz

1.0 albino
1.2 het albino
1.0 het caramel
1.0 het pied
0.1 poss het. pied
0.4 normals (beautiful pastel sibs)

i just did that in a nice way. I hope they do not try to get my personal information by searching for my name and phone number some how and come steal my animals or something. I hate people like this, and they are a waste of valuable oxygen, and for his sake, I hope he doesn't decide to show up here.
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Happy Herping,
Jody Barnes
Royal Kreationz

1.0 albino
1.2 het albino
1.0 het caramel
1.0 het pied
0.1 poss het. pied
0.4 normals (beautiful pastel sibs)

I doubt its anything on that level...I bet if you asked him where he was he would be on a completely different continent, and most people aren't setup to ship overseas so thats why he has his own shipper, I'd go for it if his shipper could bring cash, I've had people go as far as saying they are buying for resale and they are going to have their buyer send me a cashiers check or M/O and they want me to cash it, take my cut and send the rest to them, which would have to be out of my bank account so they were not only trying to steal my snakes but also my money...haha I usually tell them to get it setteled with their customer and send me paypal or have their shipper bring cash. I dont get many responses to that lol.

This is a pretty old scam. They will send you a MO worth several thousands over your asking price. Then, they want you to cash it immediately and return the balance to them... only the MO is no good, and you find out about it several days after they have your money.

send him my way
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Happy Herping,
Jody Barnes
Royal Kreationz

1.0 albino
1.2 het albino
1.0 het caramel
1.0 het pied
0.1 poss het. pied
0.4 normals (beautiful pastel sibs)

Nothing is going to happen! They are just playing a game trying to get cash out of you. These people couldnt give a crap about snakes! Screw with them a little its fun. You can get them to send you pics holding funny signs, with their pants down its great!
I told them I was only going to ship if I could use lyka-mabals on animals couriers and he said that could be arranged.
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Greg Power
B.O.A. Inc
boainc@gmail.com

Kingsnake is looking into it. He is a scammer who gang emailed tons of ks sellers trying to pull the old fake cashiers check deal. I got identical emails from whoever sent them on 4 different ads of mine.

i believe this is called the nigeria 419 scam or something similair to that

With how many scams that have happened in the past couple years, I still can't believe people have to ASK if something is a scam -- isn't it completely obvious???

Signs of a scammer:

-- Very poor English/grammar
-- Calling an e-mail "letter", "message", or "mail"
-- Not identifying the actual animal and just calling it a generic word like "pet", "item", etc.
-- Mentioning the "final asking price"
-- Mentioning a "shipping agent" or their own shipping company coming to "pick up" the "item"
-- Mentioning using a cashier's check or money order to pay (99% of us in this hobby always use USPS money orders and will say so)
-- Signing with something like "Regards", "Greetings", "Well Wishes", etc.

The bottom line is if an e-mail even remotely sounds abnormal when you read it, it's a scam. Delete it.
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~* Jen *~

Pink Lady Constrictors

For someone like me who is a buyer 90% of the time, I haven't seen this yet. I have never received one of those scam emails from Nigeria before. I keep my email as private as possible and don't get alot of junk. I was simply asking for help, and didn't need to be chastized. This forum is for help and not chastizing when asking for help. Am I right, or did I miss something?
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Happy Herping,
Jody Barnes
Royal Kreationz

1.0 albino
1.2 het albino
1.0 het caramel
1.0 het pied
0.1 poss het. pied
0.4 normals (beautiful pastel sibs)

Not saying anything, and not chastising. Just shocked.
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~* Jen *~

Pink Lady Constrictors

A friend of mine is selling a hot tub on craigs list and got the same kind of email. I get them daily. I send back very nasty comments, but I still get them.

come on Melinda, you don't have a nasty bone in your body,(lol)but I hear what your saying. I also get those e-mails from a guy named Eron Yeppet from Africa, just beware of them.

Steve

LOL when it comes to those emails I do.lol I got one about two weeks ago from a guy in Africa saying he needed a wife . lol I laughed so hard. He was going to pay me to boot.

That is too funny. I'm sure you declined.....right?

Nah your allowed to have two husbands right? J?K

DON'T REPLY!! You are confirming to them that it is a valid email address and then they sell it to the next guy. Never respond to spam.

Ginger
Nigerian Scam

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Ginger Sanders
Staff Director
Email PHGinger
[

Never wrong to ask and you are not the first person who received a scam email they wanted clarification on as being a scam. I think some people just get tired of seeing 'is this a scam?' posts.

However, just because its been asked often, doesn't mean it isn't a valid question. Not everybody has 10 years dealing with the internet on a daily basis and knows how to recognize scams and other negative aspects of the web.

These scam emails and snail mails have been around a long time, just slightly modified to fit different situations. Some are very well done or just have the common spelling errors and grammar mistakes seen in most people who's primary language is not English.

Personally I rather be asked a million times if a scam letter is in fact a scam, then to hear of somebody shipping off a valuable pet only to find out it was a scam and loosing out on the money and the pet (which may end up being killed or otherwise abused).

Key things to remember is if you suspect an email is a scam, don't be afraid to ask questions. Even if you don't want to post a question, ask questions of the person sending the scam email to you. 'where are you located' I need to know due to local laws on selling reptiles (whether true or not), You can ask for cash or certified check for the exact amount, not more than needed. You won't send the balance of the money till the bank clears the check etc. Get details about their shipping company, so you can look into them about their policies on shipping live reptiles etc.
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PHLdyPayne

hi,
i aggree that the email mentioned above is a scammer, BUT
we have the same adds in europe where you should transfer money via western union bank......

i am also from oversees and my language skills are very poor and i finish my mails with "best regards.."
nevertheless i think not every person from behind the large pond is a bad scammer!!
purchasing animals is all about trust, so if i trust someone enough to let him ship snakes for me oversee i also trust him to pay in advance.
i can understand that it is difficult for you to trust a person thousand miles away, but is there any difference for you selling offspring to european guys when they pay in advance? it is more work because of cites... but no risk if you already have the money!
on a side note, most of the ball and boa morphs from the USA are more expensive then in europe, but i could also sell you a small selectuin of specific morphs MUCH under the market value you have in the USA, but knowone would trust me if i offer them in the classifieds

so please do not treat all like criminals just because of one idiot,
kind regards
Peer

i bet the guy rhat shows up to "ship" the snake is the same guy that sent the email.

ive seen others almost get scammed the same way.

i almost got fooled into adopting an "albino ball" for 300 bucks
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jake barney

my addiction:
1.1 ball pythons
0.2.1 corns
1.0 cal king
0.0.1 wc garter

They send a fake money order and ask you to wire the remainder back. The bank processes it and holds the check to clear for a few days. Notice the "Immediately" and sense of urgency. If you consider going through with this, tell them you will not send them funds or the item until the bank clears it. My friend had this problem with a car he tried to sell. Went to cash the check and luckly they knew it was fake. The biggest problem is, the bank wants the money back. So you still have your item, and the money for it, - the amount that you send back to them... but the bank wants the full amount back.
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1.0 100% het albino ball python (Junah)
0.1 normal Ball python (Alana)
01 50% het albino Retail Boa (Hitomi)

Just another version of the Nigerian scam that has been going on for several years.

Ginger
Nigerian Scam

I just saw this site advertised on the tube...
http://fakechecks.org/
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Charles Glaspie

I had someone attempt to scam me befoe, it sucks. He is not from here, look at his email. His grammer and puncuation are awful. This is not an email from a Wayne... if you get my point. Any where is the last name? Just a thought