My Canadian friend was almost scammed. Baitable?

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Hello I'm New here! Joined: 27 Nov 2006 Posts: 15

Forgive my undiminished newbishness...

I saw this message today from someone I know. Kim's an online friend of mine, and I was horrified to find out someone would be doing this to such a sweet person.

Are you in the habit of baiting/otherwise seeking revenge on these kind of scammers? If so, I could try and get their email...

Kim wrote:

So I've been looking for a new roomate since my last one moved out at the end of December. Anyways, my mom recieved an email query about the condo. It seemed normal at first, but when they said: "My daughter is going to ____" We responded with, "Sorry, it actually isn't near ____ but #####. Perhaps you would be more interested in checking something closer." They quickly replied saying they had made a mistake and were actually going to school at ####.

Then my mom, as she always does, asked for the dad to tell her
about his daughter. (ie. what program, age, etc..) They said they were from Ireland and something about a business thing that starts in February...Now I don't know about any other schools, but ##### does not start in February, for any program (including independant studies).

So we thought this was quite strange so I mentioned it to my friends. One told me that there is a scam where people will send more money then expected so then we would send them the right amount of change back, only to find out that their money order was bad. Also, the bank can charge you for putting in a bad money order. So she suggested just to be careful.

And sure enough:

"I was intouch with the accounatnt to ask about kate travell fare,because i was going to get it today before leaving for Belgium on friday on official assignment,but unfortuntely,there was confusion.
He made me undersatnd that he has sent the whole payment which includes her ticket fee and the reantal deposit in us funds to the information i gave to him(your details),instead of the rental deposit for 2 months+ deposit .
He has requested me to tell you that on delivery of the money
to you , you will need to send back the diffrence which was supposedly meant for kate travell expenses.
I hereby hope i can trust you on returning the diffrence of the money which is meant for her travell expenes. I would have adviced you send the money orders back,but it has been made out in your nameand there is no time, here because she will be resuming next week,so you probably will have to take it to the bank asap to deposit it in your account and get the money out the next day,or you cash it instantly.
I hope it is well understood.I also need to let you know that i will be travelling to Belgium Friday,and i will like to sort this out before i
leave.
I would want kate to leave for canada by Monaday.
The lease could commence on arrival.
I will e mail to you her travell details,time of landing,airline,and airport,as soon as her tickets are bought,ad i also need you do this asap,so that before friday,we would be able to get hr tickets.
I will email you the infomations through which the money would be returned.
I hope to hear from you soonest on this important issue."

Ack, these people make me want to scream... So is there anything you can do to these guys if I get the relevant details?

---

Edited after I'd cooled off a bit. Nothing could be further from my intentions than to sound racist.

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

Hi.
Let's start all over, ok?

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