new to scambaiting -- got this email soliciting my services

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Hello I'm New here! Joined: 03 Jun 2009 Posts: 3

I am new to 419eater, but I have lurked it for over a year, and I enjoy every minute of it. I think it is a great site, and I want to get in on the fun myself!

I rarely receive 419 letters since getting a gmail account, since for some reason, gmail seems to filter out that kind of stuff better than most other free email providers. The more typical 419 letters I am more inclined to just delete and ignore, since they are better known to being a scam, but this one I got today (and I received another one a few months ago from somone else that I at first believed, since it was not THAT unreasonable -- I initially believed it until I deduced that it had something fishy about it -- namely the grammar of the person sending the letter, claiming to be a British attorney, was so awful, that there was no way that it could be for real).

By profession I am a musician (violinist, hence my username). One of my income-generating acitivites is teaching lessons, so it is not unusual (and actually is expected) for me to get legitimate inquiries about my violin studio.

I receive this email today (I won't include the email address unless requested):

My name is silver tores,i need a private teacher for my daughter grace. an hour in a day, and thrice in a week for 2month. please get back to me with your full detail and the total price for two months.........
i am going to make the payment by us certified cashier check.i can be reach at this number
+44 70359 06698

Now I am familiar with scams and I know the check will probably be bad, and I'll be fucked over and owe my bank the amount of the check (fyi, 3 hours of lessons a week for 8 weeks comes out to being about $1440).

I am assuming this scammer got my email from my studio website, and/or Craigslist advertisements. I want to do something to these scammers that send these kinds of emails because I have alot of musician friends that are not so savvy about this kind of scam, and depend on teaching income to make ends meet. If I was not a regular reader of 419eater, I would probably be gulled into this, since it is not that unusual ridiculous for some rich person to pay for music lessons for their kids. Think about it -- if I suspected every prospective student of being a scammer, wouldn't they be offended and call another teacher instead?

please advise, sorry for this long message, thank you!

let's bring this lad down!

worldssmallestviolin

Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2009 4:36 pm

Does he have your real details from website?

If so drop him. Better safe than sorry.. Cool

.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 03 Jun 2009 Posts: 3

I was thinking of telling him that I apologize that I will be moving out of town, but that I would like his daughter to work with my colleague, with a new email address and identity. and bait him from that angle.

Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2009 4:45 pm

Maybe ask him where he got your email addy?

If it was Craigslist then go with your moving/colleague ploy..
.
.

Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2009 4:50 pm

^^^
That would work fine.

Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2009 5:13 pm

Welcome to Eater. As you say, it's a scam and almost certainly prompted by your Craiglist advert.
Pointers to it being a scam are
Poor English
Unlikely name (silver tores)
The generic reply. It refers only to a private teacher so he doesn't need to customise it for different adverts.
+44 70359 06698 is a UK redirect number, so whoever answers could be anywhere in the world.
The check will be bogus and for more than your charge. You'll be asked to send the excess on by Western Union.
EDIT Lads don't keep track of their initial email. A reply from a baiting address telling him you'd be delighted to teach his daughter to play the Peruvian Nose Flute should work.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 03 Jun 2009 Posts: 3

so that allows for some amusing responses! I will make a new address and come up with some outlandish requisites for him and his daughter to perform before I accept her into my studio! I like the idea of Peruvian noseflute!

Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2009 8:52 pm

You could also do a ASEM from a different account as well...just send something generic like:

"I recieved your check, where did you want me to send the excess $2000 again?"

Or something like that.

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