what is going on here?

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Not quite a Newb Joined: 29 Nov 2005 Posts: 30

So, perhaps someone here has more experience and can tell me what is going on here and sorry if this is a little long:

I work at an internet company and often receive the mass sent email "i would like to make a purchase in your store, do you ship to Australia/Germany/Etc..." despite the fact that we don't have a store. A week ago I replied to one of these messages from a bait account (I know they have no idea who they send these messages to) and acted as if I was going to go through with a sale. after a little back and forth he explained to me that he had to pay too much on his credit card and needed me to Western Union him the extra he pays for the "shipper fees." well from my time as a scambaiter, this sounded all too familiar to me. so i told him sure that sounds good, give me the credit card number.

after receiving a credit card number (obviously stolen and since reported) i told him i was ready to send him his order and his western union payment. after a little more back and forth i got him to send me the id of his shipper. now, here's where i can't follow what exactly is going on and thought someone could help. he asked me to send the payment to an address in oklahoma. he also provided the id of a man at that address. i looked up the name of the man online and guess what? he's a 2nd degree sex offender in oklahoma. however, the picture he provided on the id was definitely not the same as the photo of the sex offender i found online.

what is going on here? is there someone in Oklahoma i can have reported? is the 2nd degree sex offender just some name they found on the internet? i am not that familiar with western union so could i put an Oklahoma address and they could still get it from anywhere in the country?

the person i have been communicating with is almost certainly not from this country and unfortunately he uses a gmail account so i cannot trace his ip.

any help on this? i'm continuing to bait him and am "sending him his western union payment" tomorrow.

thanks!

Not quite a Newb Joined: 14 Jul 2005 Posts: 41

Quote:

is the 2nd degree sex offender just some name they found on the internet? i am not that familiar with western union so could i put an Oklahoma address and they could still get it from anywhere in the country?

It's just someone pulled from the internet - the wire transfer can be picked up anywhere, not just the US.

Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2009 5:41 am

And I have a Gmail account, you MIGHT be able to get his IP Address if you click on "show original". Someone was telling me if they sent the email from their outlook/outlook express acoount, them their Ip is sent. If it's sent via the web account (logging into gmail from their computer and not outlook) then Gmail maks the IP.

Can't hurt to try. I have an idea I'm gonna test out now

Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2009 5:47 am

And they're correct.

I'm in a public library here in Melbourne as I type. I sent my ditzy housewife character an email from herself (which is a yahoo account) and got headers pointing to Telstra in Canberra.

Then I used my psychotic niece character's gmail account (from the same computer and therefore the same IP Address) and just got Sunnyvale California.

When frannypoo was trying to scam me he was using yahoo and I was able to follow him around Gambia.

Myth confirmed Crying or Very sad

Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2009 6:24 am

I believe there's some sort of email homing device floating around here somewhere...
Perhaps www.bigstring.com is what I was thinking of...

Also, if you can get them to use M7CN secure or possibly another torture device of its like, I seem to remember IP's being recorded there.

Not quite a Newb Joined: 29 Nov 2005 Posts: 30

i've been trying to get him to have his "shipping agent" contact me from another email address hoping for a yahoo account or something, but to no avail. oh well, i guess i'll just keep baiting him. by the way, SUPER easy to get this type of scammer off script.

Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2009 5:42 am

I had a gmailing lad who was so sophisticated that I just had to know which underfunded school system produced such a. creative mind.
I believe secure . ptv was where he finally slipped up and I found out he was a crafty little Malaysian.
Give one of the MT CN manglers a try; now you've got me wondering.

Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2009 5:46 am

I'd send the information to a mod. They're super smart and have ways of sorting these sort of matters out.