Scammer steals the identity of radio ham VE3XAX.

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Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2013 9:08 pm

This is a summary of my first ever scam bait I did a couple of years ago. The bait was targeted at someone who tried to rip me off. I suspect it cost him $100’s of Dollars in phone/FAX calls, as he made nearly 100 telephone calls, as well as several FAXs.

I’ve used colours extensively to make this easier to read.
• Comments from me, which are not part of any emails, are in black
• Emails from the dangerous scammer are in red
• Emails from the main character Nick Leeson are in Green.
• An automated email from a spoof web site set up to frustrate scammers to get Western Union MTCN numbers, are in blue
• An email from Detective Sergeant Jim Bergerac, the club’s security consultant, are in bold orange - I seem to have run out of colours which are easy to see.
• Dolly Parton the Asset Manager, never actually sends any emails.

If you don’t know who <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Leeson">Nick Leeson</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bergerac_%28TV_series%29">Jim Bergerac</a> or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolly_Parton">Dolly Parton</a> are, I suggest you Google them. Likewise, if you don't know what <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_Royals">Jersey Royals</a> are.

Background.
I placed “wanted ads” on places like http://www.qrz.com/ and http://www.eham.net/ for a Kenwood AT-230 antenna tuning unit. Someone emailed me, claiming to be Alexandre Barski ([email protected]), a Canadian radio ham with the callsign VE3XAX. This was the email that started the whole thing off.

Date: Tue, 14 Jun 2011 13:10:43 +0100
Subject: Kenwood AT-230 external ATU
From: Alex Barski <[email protected]>
To:XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hello,

I have a like new Kenwood AT-230 Auto Antenna Tuner in near mint
condition for sale, comes with original manuals, box. The antenna
tuner covers the 9 amateur bands from 1.8 to 30 MHz. Through power is
200 watts maximum. It has power scales for 20 and 200 watts as well as
SWR. It tunes SWR by adjusting the resistance and reactance components
of the antenna. Input is SO-239 [UHF]. Antenna Output 1 is SO-239
[UHF], Antenna Output 2 is SO-239 [UHF], Antenna Output 3 is wire
connection and ground. The AT-230 is compatible with the TS-520S,
530S, 820S and 830S series of radios, but can be used with any radio.
This unit is fully functional and no ding, dent or scratch ( rating at
9.8 out of 10 ) from a non smoking home and in excellent operational
and cosmetic condition ( 100% ) asking $220 shipped to your doorstep.

Regards
VE3XAX
Alexandre Barski
2415 JANE ST. APT. 2103
TORONTO, ON M3M 1A9
Canada.

He wanted a phone number to contact me on. I gave him my normal mobile number, as I had no reason to suspect there was anything suspicious – that was until he said he wanted payment via Western Union. An email received from the real email address of VE3XAX confirmed this was a scam

So this scammer, who I later discovered from his phone number is in Nigeria, was trying to rip me off for $220!

The decided to waste his money
I decided to get even and waste some of his time and money. I strongly suspect I wasted more than $220 of his over the course of several months, as he made numerous phone and FAX calls to a UK 070 “personal” number from Flextel http://www.flextel.com/. Personal 070 numbers are very expensive to phone, but have a lot of flexibility as I can redirect them to my UK mobile at no cost to me. Flextel also offer the facility to accept FAXs which get emailed to me, with again no cost to me. They can also be redirected to any number in the world, but doing so would cost me money.
The scammer continues for several months, wasting more and more of his money, as he thinks he is going to get his hands on $24558. The scammer states at one point that sending a FAX cost him about $50, but despite my efforts to find out the true cost to him for this scam bait, I will never know.

The scam bait starts.
With my spoof email accounts, expensive phone and fax numbers in place, Carmen Mudwisp (an anagram of “windup scammer”) contacts the scammer, posing as a member of the non-existent Jersey Amateur Radio Club (JARC), saying we wish to purchase a linear amplifier which is a common piece of amateur radio equipment. I can’t find the original email I sent to the scammer, but here is his reply.

Date: Thu, 30 Jun 2011 09:45:08 +0100
Subject: Re: Linear amp wanted
From: Alex Barski <[email protected]>
To: Carmen Mudwisp <[email protected]>

I have an Acom 1000 HF Amplifier for sale in very good condition, good
for 1000 watts on 160-6m. Amp is in excellent operational and cosmetic
condition,sales include the original box, manual and 240 VAC plug.

Price: $2650 shipped.
Please email me your shipping details and a contact number if interested.

Regards
Alexandre

That’s ridiculously cheap for what is a very expensive item, but I don’t let this stop me getting a cheaper price. I say our club intends donating this to a Mexican amateur radio club, which was devastated by a Hurricane Alex. I tell him some really stupid story about the club loosing almost everything. Even their coaxial cable got corroded and turned to copper oxide. But I made up a stupid story that by use of an oxidising agent, they managed to convert the copper oxide back to copper! Anyway the scammer responds.

Date: Thu, 30 Jun 2011 12:17:36 +0100
Subject: Re: Linear amp wanted
From: Alex Barski <[email protected]>
To: Carmen Mudwisp <[email protected]>

Okay Carmen,

If your club is willing to offer $2,200 for the unit and if it will be
donated to the South Coahuila Amateur Radio Club in Mexico, i will be
willing to accept your offer as a contribution and would also check to
see if i have any ham gear that is laying around to send them. Let me
know how you are willing to transfer the money and where do you want
the Amp shipped? please provide a shipping address and contact number
for communication.

Regards
Alexandre

The main character, Nick Leeson is now introduced to the plot, and contacts the scammer. The call sign mentioned here, GJ23SSA is fictitious, although amateurs on Jersey do have "GJ" as the prefix on their call signs.

From: Nicholas Leeson <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Subject: Sale of Acom 1000 linear amplifier to the Jersey Amateur Radio Club
Date: Sat, 2 Jul 2011 04:57:00 -0400

Hi,
I understand you have been in contact with GJ23SSA about the sale of a Acom 1000 linear amplifier to the Jersey Amateur Radio Club. I understand you have agreed to sell this for $2200 including shipping. The members of the club voted on the matter last night and it was agreed we would purchase this.

Can you please fill in the attached form. Once completed FAX this back to us and we will arrange this payment. (The FAX number is on the form)
We would really like to get this settled by the middle of next week at the
latest as our secretary Vicky will be away for 3 weeks. So if you can do this by Thursday at the latest she will have time to make payment before she goes on her holiday.

Nicholas

Now the scammer asks what the amateur radio call sign of Carmen is. I wonder why he wants to know that – perhaps to check Carmen is a genuine radio ham? For obvious security reasons, no genuine call signs or addresses are given out.

Date: Sun, 3 Jul 2011 08:56:01 +0100
Subject: Re: Linear amp
From: Alex Barski <[email protected]>
To: Carmen Mudwisp <[email protected]>
Hello Carmen,

What is your call sign?

A reply to Nick seems to suggest the scammer has been checking to see if we are genuine radio amateurs. So on the 4th July he is a bit suspicious, yet as we will see, 3 months later he is still hooked.

The scammer is also keen to speak to Vicky, the lady who will make the payment, but can't get through on the phone to her.

Date: Mon 4 Jul 2011 13:26:36 +0100
Subject: Re: Sale of Acom 1000 linear amplifier to the Jersey Amateur Radio Club
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]

yes i tried calling Vicky but there was no response. I just looked up for your details on QRZ but found nothing that is not an existing call sign.

Nick Leeson reassures him the call sign is not fake, despite the fact it is fake. Nick also has a reason Alex can't speak to Vicky, but the real reason is that Vicky is female, and I had no female voice.

From: Nicholas Leeson <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Subject: RE: Sale of Acom 1000 linear amplifier to the Jersey Amateur Radio
Club
Date: Mon, 4 Jul 2011 10:13:46 -0400

Alex

Did you withhold your number? If so that's why it was not answered - I block calls where the number is withheld. Otherwise I get too many nuisance calls.

I'm not sure if you are insinuating I'm not licensed but if so you are very mistaken.

Call signs from the whole of the UK and Jersey are not entered into the database for qrz.com unless a ham selects to have them entered. If you do a bit of Googling you will soon find that the body that issues licenses in the UK & Jersey is Ofcom.

I suggest you look at Ofcom's web site.

http://licensing.ofcom.org.uk/radiocommunication-licences/amateur-radio/faq=/759467

and either apply for a license online or download the application form to apply for an amateur license by post.

http://licensing.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/spectrum/amateur-radio/apply-for-a-licence/of346.pdf

where you will see on page 2:

Data Protection Act:
The information you provide in this form and any information submitted will be used by Ofcom for the purpose of issuing amending validating and/or surrendering an Amateur Radio licence. See Ofcom’s website for our data protection statement
(www.ofcom.org.uk). We will keep your information confidential and will not disclose it to third parties except where we are required to do so by law or where we have obtained your consent in advance.

Then if you look at section 11 of the application form you will see the question:

"Do you consent to your name and mailing address being published in a call sign book?"

I do hope this does not change your decision to sell the amplifier since you are very mistaken if you believe all valid call signs exist on qrz.com. That may be true for US and Canadian calls (I don't know) but it is certainly not true for all call signs.

Nick

I had previously introduced Vicky the secretary, but had no real way to get her a female voice, so I thought of an excuse why she never replied to his phone calls.

From: Nicholas Leeson <[email protected]>
To: Alex <[email protected]>
Subject: Vicky is ill - that's the reason she is hard to contact
Date: Mon, 8 Aug 2011 19:56:01 -0400

I just found today that Vicky is ill in hospital which is perhaps why you have had trouble contacting her. The other reason is that she might block your calls since you withhold your number.

I can arrange for someone else to make the payment in the event you ever manage to send us the form which has pages on it where you must list who needs paying.

Nick

I decided to try to put on a female voice and answer as Vicky when the phone rang. The caller display would show the name Vicky if the scammer rang her.

I was out shopping one day and the phone rang for Vicky. I answered, intending to put on a female voice, but I was rather taken back that it was a well spoken English person phoning, and asking a really stupid question. I can’t think what it but nothing about the radio. I’d been tricked, so decided I needed an excuse for why Vicky did not answer the phone, but a male did. The answer was obvious.

From: Nicholas Leeson <[email protected]>
To: Alex <[email protected]>
Subject: Vicky had died - please don't ring her.
Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2011 09:59:28 -0400

I heard earlier today that Vicky died in the early hours of today. Under the circumstances I'd ask you not to ring her. The last thing her family need is to be answering her phone about things related to the club.

Nick

The scammer replies. I’m sure he don’t care for that lady at all, but rather she had the means to pay him.

Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2011 11:31:03 -0700
Subject: Re: Vicky had died - please don't ring her.
From: Alex Barski <[email protected]>
To: Nicholas Leeson <[email protected]>

OMG! So what's gonna happen Nick? I was about sending the form and i
got this shocking news. This is really sad, i am speechless

From: Nicholas Leeson <[email protected]>
To: Alex <[email protected]>
Subject: RE: SCANNED FORM
Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2011 17:18:50 -0400
Importance: Normal

Yes Very sad about Vicky. She was only 34. It is a real shame as her daughter is pregnant so she was looking forward becoming a grandmother. But the little boy or girl will grow up never knowing his or her nanny.

There is a problem with the scans you sent me. They are incomplete. Looking at one page I see these sections are incomplete

3.4 3.7 3.8 3.15 and 3.16.

Other pages are incomplete too.

Payment should be made soon after the completed forms are sent. It may be possible to do it the same day the forms are sent if they are sent early in the day but it might take a day or two longer. I don't know much about Western Union myself but I know Vicky had used it several times. so it would have been quicker had she done it. Had you sent the forms a couple of weeks ago you would have been paid by now.

Would you please send all the pages related to one item in one pdf file. So instead of sending the 11 pages separately you put all 11 scans in one file.

The 11 pages related to the Acom amplifier in one PDF file. The 11 pages related to the Yaesu transceiver in one PDF file The 11 pages related to the BC108s and Eimac 4CX10000D in one PDF file.

I know some pages are the same in each document but it would be neater if you can send it like that. Just 3 complete files.

Nick

Next I run into a problem. Messages to [email protected] where bouncing, with a message the account did not exist. It became clear that blumail.org has realized his account was being used for scamming and shut it down. I waited for him to contact me from another account, but he failed to do so. I suspected he had no idea of the email address of who he was trying to scam. I decided to email ve3xax at various free mail providers (Yahoo, gmail, Hotmail etc) on the off chance he had set up an account with one of those. Sure enough he did, and had set up the account [email protected], so at least I had a way of getting in touch with him.

I decided to wind him up a bit, telling him I’d sent a small amount of cash in the post.

From: Nicholas Leeson <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Subject: Just sent you some money.
Date: Sat, 24 Sep 2011 05:55:22 -0400

I visited Vancouver a few years ago and still a few notes & coins left over. The coins are worth next to nothing but there is $45 in notes. I'm unlikely to visit Canada any time soon and the amount is too little to make it worth my while changing in the bank.

I've sent the notes in a birthday card so if you get a birthday card from Nick with $45 in it you know where it came from.

Let me know when you get them.

This has nothing to do with the club so will not affect the amount you get paid for the items.

Nick

I know scam baiters are supposed to delay scammers to irritate them, but the speed of this scammer in sending the FAXs was getting a bit tedious. I suspect he could not afford the cost of actually FAXing the necessary forms, which was why he was delaying, even though the FAX would be needed to release the money. In this message, please note that “dihydro monoxide” is H2O – i.e water! Also note that Jersey Royals are a variety of potato.

From: Nicholas Leeson <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Subject: Massive disaster at the club - it might affect order.
Date: Fri, 30 Sep 2011 16:27:13 -0400

Alex we have had a major catastrophe at the club. A company near the club had a pipe leak which resulted in the escape of a large quantity of dihydro monoxide. The liquid has done a massive amount of damage to our club.

Much of the radio equipment is ruined. This might have some bearing on what we purchase from you. An emergency extraordinary annual general meeting (EEAGM) will be held on Thursday to discuss the matter. I would expect at least 75% of the club's 314 members to attend the EEAGM.

1) At the EEAGM there's a real possibility that someone will propose we cancel this order. The delays have already caused a lot of irritance to some so you are not our high on our list of friends.

2) There's a possibility we might use our reserves of around 2000000 Jersey Royals to replace the damaged equipment but this would be different equipment than what we have asked you to quote for. If you wanted to quote for more things in the future you might be considered though I think you may have burnt your bridges.

We have just found out that our insurance has run out. Vicky was supposed to be paying it but died and nobody noticed it had not been paid. But ultimately we expect to recover the losses from the company that leaked the chemical but that might take a long time.

I suggest you ensure the forms are returned fully by Sunday or early Monday so the order can get processed before Thursday. It would be advisable to get them here as early as possible so any problems can be resolved. Otherwise there is the very real possibility this order will be cancelled or at least postponed for a few months.

I know I've asked you before to get a move on and you have not been very quick. But I am being serious when I say this order might be totally cancelled unless the first payment is made before the EEAGM.

Once the first stage payment is made which I think needs to be for $2500 or $5000 then I don't see it being a problem. Nobody in their right mind will suggest we cancel an order when we have already paid part of the money

Nick

The scammer is getting frustrated

Date: Sat, 1 Oct 2011 10:25:59 +0200
Subject: Re: Massive disaster at the club - it might affect order.
From: Alexandre Barski <[email protected]>
To: Nicholas Leeson <[email protected]>

Sorry about the disaster Nick, how did this all happen? it seem when
we are at the edge of concluding this deal something seem to come up
to delay it. The first was Vicky and now this, it is kinda strange but
i hope we are able to get things started on Monday or Tuesday but
isn't it possible to transfer money for the Acom first? at least i
have concluded everything about that and that can?

The scammer gets told he was sent some money via Western Union. In order to release the money he needs the MTCN, but he has to jump through hoops to get that, as I sent him to a web site run set up by a member of the scam baiting community at http://www.419eater.com/

From: [email protected]
Date: Tue, 4 Oct 2011 03:36:08 -0700
Subject: Do not reply - Jersey Amateur Radio Club has initiated a
transfer of funds to you!
To: [email protected]

This is an automatically generated email. Please do not reply as this
address is not monitored and your reply will be discarded.

Dear Alex Donald,

Jersey Amateur Radio Club has initiated a secure Western Union
transfer of $2500 through MTCN Vault system. You should receive all
other details of the transfer from Jersey Amateur Radio Club through
traditional means i.e by email or by phone.

To obtain the MTCN number in order to pick the transfer up at your
most convenient Western Union outlet, you need to log in to our secure
site at http://www.mtcnvault.com and complete a simple process.

The necessary documents containing all information that you need to
complete the process are attached in this mail as images for your
convenience. Please print the documents and have them ready at the
time you choose to complete the process. Please note that you may have
to enable your email application to display images that are included
in this message to see the full contents of this email.

Finally, we would like to ask you to kindly participate in our
customer satisfaction survey after you have completed the process and
retrieved your MTCN number. Your input and opinions would be highly
appreciated in the constant process of improving our service and
customer experience. Our website will offer the option to take the
survey as soon as you have retrieved your data.

Please note: Your transfer is currently on hold. The sender has
initiated this transfer as payment for goods or services and the
transfer can be released to you only after sender has confirmed that
he/she has received the goods or services in question. As soon as the
sender has confirmed release of this transfer, you will receive
another email from MTCN Vault.

Best Regards,
MTCN Vault transaction administration team

Another character, Dolly Parton our Asset Manager, was introduced into the story. I don’t think there were any email exchanges between the scammer and the Asset Manager.

From: Nicholas Leeson <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Subject: How to retrieve payment
Date: Tue, 4 Oct 2011 07:44:21 -0400

Hi
I spoke to Dolly Parton our Asset Manager. She said you need to contact Jim Bergerac at [email protected] who will tell you what you the process to get the transaction changed from on hold.

She has spoken to Jim and he should be emailing you but it wont hurt to remind him.

Nick

The scammer wasted no time in trying to contact Jim Bergerac, the fictitious character from the TV series set on Jersey.

Jim replies to Alex.

From: Jim Bergerac <[email protected]>
Date: Tue, 4 Oct 2011 13:25:59 +0100
Subject: Re: How to retrieve payment
To: Alexandre Barski <[email protected]>

Good morning to you Alex

Thank you kindly for your email.

I understand the Jersey Amateur Radio Club is going to buy some equipment
from you. I also understand you are going to be selling some items at a
reduced price in order to help the Mexican ham radio club that was
devastated by Hurricane Alex. That's most kind of you. I do like to hear of
such generosity. It was such an awful tragedy what happened in that
hurricane - lots of people lost their lives.

I don't know if you are aware, but the club has sent you $2500, but it is
currently "on hold".

Since this is a large amount of money, the club insists that an independent
security expert checks on the details, to detect fraud. I work for the
States of Jersey Police, but also work as a consultant for mainly large
companies like banks, but also to small clubs like the Jersey Amateur Radio
Club.

Please do not be offended by this - the intention is just to weed out
scammers, who often come from Africa.

I need to check you are indeed a radio amateur. I have checked that your
name and address agree with your callsign, but I note from your web page you are an Advanced Category amateur.

Can you please:

1) Select the "Extra" class of exam at http://www.eham.net/exams/
2) Do the exam - it should take you no more than 5-10 minutes.
3) Print out the results of your score on a color printer. There should be
about 12 pages. It is important the printer is color.
4) Sign each page with a *blue* pen, or any color which is not black, green
or red.
5) Scan each page with a *color* scanner
6) Send the 12 or so pages to me via *email*.

If you have passed the exam, I will be totally satisfied you are a radio
amateur. If not, I will have to make further investigations. I'm not a radio ham myself, but I know many who are, and say they learn things for the exam which they later forget, so I will take this into account after receiving your score.

Once I have the security check done, I will be request the club remove the
"on hold" status of the transaction.

--
Jim Bergerac
(Security consultant for the Jersey Amateur Radio Club)

#########################################################################
# Please note, the contents of this message are not necessarily those views of my
# employer, the States of Jersey Police. For official police business, please contact:
#
# Detective Sergeant Jim Bergerac,
# Le Bureau des Étrangers
# States of Jersey Police
###########################################################################

I think the combination of being asked to take an exam, plus going to the phoney site to issue a MTCN means he has almost cottoned on that this is a windup.

Date: Wed, 5 Oct 2011 22:27:48 +0100
Subject: Re: FAX SENT
From: Alexandre Barski <[email protected]>
To: Nicholas Leeson <[email protected]>

Is this a joke or what? There is no such thing like MCTN vault,
western union doesn't recognise that and there is no transfer for the
code. I knew this is all a scam and who ever you are has been playing
me around.

Another email also suggests he has finally sussed.

Date: Thu, 6 Oct 2011 09:53:33 +0100
Subject: Re: FAX SENT
From: Alexandre Barski <[email protected]>
To: Nicholas Leeson <[email protected]>

Well i don't believe any shit you tell me because western union has
already told me the truth and that is what i believe.

And in another email

Date: Thu, 6 Oct 2011 12:07:08 +0100
Subject: Re: Payment method
From: Alexandre Barski <[email protected]>
To: Nicholas Leeson <[email protected]>

I will continue if only you send money through the normal procees with
WU and i am not writting any fucking exam for some stupid deal

But Nick tries again, with a hope of resurrecting this scam bait.

From: Nicholas Leeson <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Subject: RE: Payment method
Date: Fri, 7 Oct 2011 03:42:53 -0400

The "exam" does not need to be written. It is a simple multiple-choice. There's a collection of a couple of hundred questions. You are sent 50 from that lot and you tick one of 4 answers (what we call "multiple choice"). If you get a question wrong it tells you the correct answer.

There is no need to register and you get the result instantly. Questions you get right are marked in green those you get wrong are in red. If yo=
u get one wrong the computer tells you the correct answer.

Just try it. How long does it take to hit a mouse button 50 times? There is more than $25000 waiting for you.

Jim said to print it and sign each paper but I've told him that is unreasonable. Just save the result as a PDF and mail it to Jim. He will accept that. So it just requires 50 ticks with a mouse then press the "submit" or whatever it is button. Once you have passed just save the web page as a pdf file and mail it to Jim. If you fail just learn a bit more and you will pass.

I don't think it’s a very good test as lots of time the same questions seem to come up so if you do it more than once you will probably see the same question more than once.

This is pretty standard practice for us. It saves us from getting scammed.
We lost more than 900000 Jersey Royals once. The goods never arrived.

That's why the club wants proof the person can answer the technical questions which should not be hard for you.

If you do that Jim Bergerac will inform Dolly Parton that you have proven you are a radio ham. She will then pay you via the conventional way.

She said to stop the possibility of anyone but you getting the MTCN she
will send me 5 digits which you will get from me by phone and she will email you 5 other digits.

Anyway Alex it is up to you. I can promise you we are not trying to scam you.

BTW did you get the $45 or so I sent you in the post?

73's and good DX to you

Nick Leeson.

He does not seem too happy.

Date: Fri, 7 Oct 2011 09:04:23 +0100
Subject: Re: Payment method
From: Alexandre Barski <[email protected]>
To: Nicholas Leeson <[email protected]>

I am not ticking any shit and neither will i send anything again. I
have completed all the necessary documents for this transaction what i
expect is payment not giving me "BULLSHIT" tell Jim or whoever he is
that he is not gonna get anything from m, i don't have time for
rubbish and i never got any dime from anybody or any post. I thought
you had a meeting with the other members of your club? Why isn't the
transaction cancelled?

From: Nicholas Leeson <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Subject: RE: Payment method
Date: Fri, 7 Oct 2011 12:40:29 -0400

Alex my dear friend I hope you are keeping well.

It is for the club to decide if you have completed all necessary documentation - not you. We on the advice of Detective Sergeant Jim Bergerac who is a well known and respected citizen of this beautiful island have decided you need to provide proof you are a radio ham by showing us you can pass an exam a radio amateur should be able to pass but a scammer would not have the ability to pass.

Remember we hold the money - not you. Membership fees along with donations and bequests mean we have a capital of about 140000000000000000000000 Jersey Royals. So if you want our money you need to play by our rules.

Luckily for me I've not spent any money on phone calls. My employer Baring's Bank pays for all my phone calls. I don't know what it cost you but I suspect at least $40 - correct me if I am wrong.

Nick Leeson
Trader at Barings Bank.

Of course Barings Bank no longer exists, as Nick Leeson broke the bank! Jersey Royals are potatoes.

I think we can conclude from the last comment that the scammer is not a happy person. He has got $0, wasted a lot of time, and probably paid out several hundred dollars in phone and FAX calls.

Date: Sun, 9 Oct 2011 08:56:38 -0700
Subject: Re: Payment method
From: Alexandre Barski <[email protected]>
To: Nicholas Leeson <[email protected]>

FUCK OFF!!!!

I did try contacting him a couple of years later with a different name, to say I was a member of the club and realized Nick had messed him around and we wanted to sort it out. But perhaps he no longer monitored the account, since I never got a response.

Unfortuantly there is one element of this scam bait which was real fun, but I have lost the emails. The scammer wanted the Western Union transaction in the name of Eti Wori, or something like that. I assume either that was his real name, or he had fake documents in that name. But the club at one point made the Western Union transaction in the name of the real radio ham, who the scammer was impersonating. This really irretated him, but I have lost the emails. If I ever managet to find them, I will add this back, as I can't understand why they are lost.

So that was the result of several months of work scam baiting and my first bait.

Here is the form The scammer was sent to fill in
http://members.419eater.com/~wasname/ve3xax/jarc1223.pdf

Here are two of the FAXs he sent. There were a couple of other lame attemps of a page or two, but I am ignoring them.
http://members.419eater.com/~wasname/ve3xax/FAX-07010050419-0014164969190-1317136108.tiff
http://members.419eater.com/~wasname/ve3xax/FAX-07010050419-0014164969190-1317676844.tiff

wasname
(A radio ham from England)

PS I have another lad hooked and are doing the same - geting him to make phone and FAX calls to my fake radio club. So any tips to improve on things would be appreciated.