"Being difficult" - My first scambait

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Hello I'm New here! Joined: 20 Jun 2019 Posts: 3

Hello, this is my first time scambaiting. I always use to avoid them but after reading through a lot of threads here, I decided this could be fun.
This started when I applied for a babysitting position and they said they were interested and asked for my personal information. I did not realize it was a scam at the time, so some replies are genuine. It will be quite obvious when I found out and switched gears.

Scammer will be in red
I will be in blue and substitute my real name with the alias "Samantha"

The texts at first were long and fairly professional. Telling me about their kids, etc etc. I will just skip to the part where the scam started to show...

June 14th, 3:51 AM

Samantha, how are you doing today? Hope you are doing great? I'm sorry for the late response as I just received a call from my company stating that they have asked FedEx to stop the package until next week Monday/Tuesday. The reason stated was because they have postponed our arrival till the following weekend, the 23rd June. I want you to understand this situation as I still need your services and I hope you'll be available by then?

Thank you.

Postponing is never a good sign!
I just told them that was fine, and then...

June 18th, 5:24 AM

Hello Samantha,

How are you doing today? I am glad to inform you that the payment has been mailed out and delivered to you yesterday. It was mailed via US Postal Service and here's the tracking number: [generic number]. You can have it tracked via [generic postal agency] to know the status of the delivery. As soon as you receive the payment go ahead and have it deposited in your bank it will be clear within 24hrs-48hrs at my end here regardless of the number of days stated by your bank. Please follow the instruction accordingly. I like to also let you know that the check sent includes your first week payment plus groceries and other things needed in my apartment. I will get in touch with the rest of the shopping list and materials needed for my kids.

I do appreciate and hope for a memorable event with my kids they can't wait to have you around them. I'll await to read from you as soon as you have the check deposited today.

Note:
Easy deposits from anywhere you are, can be done on your mobile phone or via the drive-through ATM at your bank like I do with all my personal and checks from companies.

All you need to do is:

1. Download your bank application.
2. Register for mobile banking.
3. Follow instructions and you are good to go.

Have a wonderful day.

Thank you.

At this point I was starting to become skeptical, because the check I received in the mail was over $1900 and my starting pay was suppose to be $350 a week. We started texting:

June 18th, 6:28 AM
Lad: Samantha, how are you today? I am glad to inform you that the payment has been mailed & delivered to you yesterday via USPS. Please check your mailbox to confirm delivery and get to me asap. Thank you! Mr & Mrs Lads

8:33 AM
Hello, sorry for my late reply. I did get the email and check. It will be deposited soon. I would have to wait for it to clear on my end before any purchases. Is that alright?

9:45 AM
Okay, sounds good. However the keys will be mailed to you by our realtor as soon as she is through with the rest renovation. I will give you a comprehensive list of what next to do as soon as my wife is done with it tomorrow morning. Please let me contact my realtor to send the keys and full description of the apartment to you as soon as the renovation work is completed so that when the groceries are been purchased you will be able to drop the items in there. Have a great day.

Who tf sends a key to an apartment? And at this point I was assuming it was a scam.

9:58 AM
Do you have the address of the apartment? And to prevent scams I do ask for an in person interview or possible video call before further action is taken, including before any check is deposited.

10:05 AM
What?? I really hate when it sounds like 'from a scam' this is just to much from you

10:08 AM
I hope you would understand that I do this for my own security. Most computers come with Skype, or there are also video conferences that can be held on Facebook. Just a little more information would be appreciative.

I know I seem gullible, I was just trying to give the benefit of the doubt. That comes to an abrupt halt when...

10:09 AM
There will be no interview until our arrival day as well as any video calls. If you don't feel comfortable, you can shred the check. After all I went through before having them mail you the check and this is what we get from you? That's totally not pleasant enough from you, I must say.

10:12 AM
I was under the impression that we would be meeting upon your arrival but no further action would be required until then. If you prefer we can hold off on the check until the meeting. If you don't mind me asking, what is the problem with a video conference? I just hope you forgive me for my bluntness and understand my need of security such as your children would need.

At this point, I wanted to reel them back in to start baiting. They sent me two "photos" of them, but the family in one was more Asian-looking than the other.

11:38 AM
We really don't have much time for all these, could you just please go ahead and do as instructed and stop being difficult on us?

11:48 AM
Ooh great parenting skills. I will deposit it later today.

Then they emailed me on June 19th, 12:52 PM

Samantha,

Below is the list of groceries, actually it ought to be more than that, but I just got some information from my Realtor explaining that he needed some materials to complete the renovation of the apartment. You also need the keys and description of the apartment so that when you purchase the groceries you can keep them there. I want to do the following below asap.

Information needed:

1. Deduct your fee of $350 as your upfront payment.
2. I want you to go to any grocery store near you, get ONLY canned items shown below for now. Take a photo and email me
3. Get Steam Wallet gift cards of about $1,200..($200 (x6) in this order) at any Best Buy store near you using your debit card. Take photos of each card, peel the silver scratch off from the back, then attach the photos and send along with the receipts.
4. Get back to me when done.

Along with this, they sent an impressively sized grocery list that must have taken a fair amount of time to put together.

Back to text at 1:36 PM

I got the email.

2:16PM
However, I only want for you to get the Steam gift cards of about $1,200... ($500, $500 and $200 in that order) at any Best Buy store near you using your debit card. Once purchased, peel the silver scratch off from the back, then take photos of each and attach here one after the other and send along with the receipts so that I can have them forwarded to the realtor to enable them kick start with the apartment renovation in order to ascertain our arrival at the started date.

2:20 PM
Okay.It would be best to do that when the renovations are done since I dont have a full size fridge and we cant have them spoil before you show up! (I really want to get the key as a trinket from the baiting).

2:30 PM
Okay, do keep me posted as soon as the check clears at your end.

Will do.

June 20th, 11:03 AM

Samantha, how are you today? I need to hear from you with things, could you please go ahead and check your account status online to confirm the funds available at the moment?

*fake checks*
11:08 AM
It is in the current but not available

PLEASE NOTE: I did NOT deposit the check. I informed the bank they were using of the scam so they can notify the owner of the stolen credit card.

11:09 AM
Oh it is in but not available for us at the moment?

As in it hasn't been completely processed. They probably need to verify it.

11:25 AM
[color=red]Could you call your bank to release some funds today as it has cleared fully at my end according to my bank?

11:30 AM
I'll call. And will the key be here by the 23rd?

12:57 PM
Please text once you've any info shortly. Also, the keys will be here before the 23rd as soon as everything goes accordning to plan.

1:01 PM
Okay. From where I am from, Thursdays are seen as a special day for our religion, so I will call tomorrow.

I was thinking of making the "religion" something about worshiping pine trees. I also am trying to see if they will push the date back. I have a few used Steam gift cards that I can send pictures of as an "attempt" to do what they ask. Not sure where else to go but hopefully this wasn't too long or boring!

Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2019 8:54 pm

Anarchy wrote:

This started when I applied for a babysitting position and they said they were interested and asked for my personal information. I did not realize it was a scam at the time, so some replies are genuine. It will be quite obvious when I found out and switched gears.

Hi, and welcome to Eater. Nice of you to join the fun.

If I understand correctly, you are engaging with the scammer with your ' real' email address? That is highly unsafe, and you should stop contact immediately!

If the scammers knows who you are, he can find you on (for example) social media , and not only harrass you but also you friends and family. Even though it is likely that the scammer is not geographically close, they might have associates that are.

Again, please stop all contact immediately. If you want to join our hobby, get a ' baiting' emailaddress and a ' catcher' emailaddress to gather spam messages. Alternatively , you can source your spam mail from the Surplus forum or our sistersite Scamwarners.com

Also, I would HIGHLY recommend that you sign up for a mentor (see my signature). They can help you get started, give you tips, and help you to bait safely.

Please be safe!

Baiting Guru Joined: 07 Jul 2006 Posts: 5727

What Bert said. Always remember that these are criminals you are dealing with who would slit your throat without giving it a second thought. "But Jayhawk", you are no doubt saying "These people are located in <insert country here> and I am in <insert country here>. What could they possibly do to me?"? Probably nothing, but is it worth it to find out? Baiting safely is rule #1, 2, 3 and 5 around here. Rule #4 is don't piss off a mod. Welcome to Eater! I would take some time to read Eater University and sign up for a mentor as Bert suggested. Also, feel free to ask the board for help. We're actually pretty nice people, as long as you aren't a 419 scammer and you play by the rules.

If you do want to keep going with this lad you should drop him from your real life account, open up a new email account under a phony name, and give him a run from that.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 20 Jun 2019 Posts: 3

You guys are definitely right. Thankfully my address is a non-permanent one and I will be moving in a month so that shouldn't be a further issue. I will create a new email for future baits and block communication with them on my old one.

Posted: Fri Jun 21, 2019 1:04 pm

That sounds like a plan. Although it still might be safer to just drop them all together and get yourself a brand-new lad Very Happy

Posted: Fri Jun 21, 2019 1:52 pm

^^^I would second this. It's amazing the footprint we leave across the internet and when dealing with criminals, why put yourself or your family in any kind of jeopardy?

You could post his original ad at our sister site: www.scamwarners.com.

While you're there, pick out another employment lad to use with that brand new email address that has no connection to your real life.

Or, you can join in this mass bait, too: https://forum.419eater.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=301558

Welcome to Eater.

Side note for Jayhawk: Rule 4 is my favorite.

Posted: Sat Jun 22, 2019 4:54 am

Welcome to Eater!

When you create your baiting character, besides using an email address that is never used for anything baiting-related, you should also create a postal address (where the lad would send the check) that does not exist. I think it should not be near your current address or your next one. (How a nonexistent address is near an existent one is left as an exercise for the reader.)

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 20 Jun 2019 Posts: 3

The new email has been created! Very Happy

and contact has since been ceased (they were not happy. After being blocked on my personal account and phone, they contacted me again on the carrier site where I blocked them there after reporting them to the admins)

Posted: Tue Jun 25, 2019 4:31 pm

Now the fun really can start

Posted: Thu Jun 27, 2019 3:56 am

Welcome Dutch! I guess you still have a plan? Twisted Evil

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