CC Lad who can not be baited safely

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Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2017 6:16 am

I have been reluctant to post about this as the whole thing seems strange. But I finally decided to do so as today I actually had this confirmed by my own business banking that this is a CC Lad. Plus he is a bit particular about who he responds to I have never seen a CC lad like this before. I am aware others may have.

A disclaimer before any one goes and tells me off for not baiting safely. Yes I know I am not baiting safely but I also needed to work out if this is a real client or not even though it did seem a little off. Plus this will be the second time I have baited him now normally when I finish with him he runs away tail between his legs never to be heard of for another 3 months. Which as of today has happened yet again and is the first ever time I have managed to get a credit card out of him.

Some background on this. This particular lad seems to only respond to email addresses he sends to if he ever did respond to a baiting email I would have posted details here already and said have at him. It seems to be Australian Computer Businesses he targets when emailing as I am not the only one who gets this email I know of at least one other business and he has slipped once in the past and not BCC’d every one but CC’d I had at least then 10 or so computer businesses email addresses. This has been ongoing through 3 different names the lad has used all look like being obtained from identity theft and has been emailing the email address of my RL Business which is listed on the website and will only respond to that address as I have tried to bait him separately and safely in the past.

It actually starts very innocently and actually looks like a real new client, looking for help

The very first email I had back in September last year also in November and December which I just ignored. I had it again in Feb/March and responded to it but it lasted all of 5 days as I was suspicious and asked for ID.

Quote:

Hello,

I want to you to repair my two computers and i will like to have another new computer and do you install printers .Reply me if you are Reliable and Capable,and kindly provide a quote for the job also i like to know if you accept credit card as method of payment and you company address.

Regards,

The Second a month ago but did not respond to a baiting character. But he also may have noticed how stupid he was as there were 2 different names in the email which was a little strange for this lad.

Quote:

Am <Lad Name> and i will appreciate a quick response to my inquiry below :
1. Availability of Fire wall

2. Models and Types that you do have in stock.
3. Do you accept Credit Card as Payments.
I will appreciate a response from you at the earliest
possible times. Thanks

This last time which was 3 weeks ago I did respond to it, but after getting suspicious this time handed him over to a character I had partly setup for CC lads and proceeded to get him all confused as to which business he was dealing with, this did not take long.

This is the opener to it

Quote:

Hello,

I will like to know if you're available to format and re-install my 3 laptops...kindly get back to me if you're available to the job and also do let me know if you accept credit card as a mode of payment.

waiting to read from you soon

Regards

Now it already looks a little off but I reply anyway as I have had some real clients that will come via this method but only about 5% now so it is rare I receive emails like this. I ask for more details Name as it was not stated in the email, physical address and phone number, most new clients are willing to give this information when prompted for it.

This particular person/lad replies. The bolded line is the same the last time back in Feb/March that I had a small exchange with him trying to avoid a phone call.

Quote:

Thanks for your reply,

I am hearing impaired and I am at the hospital right now will undergo a surgery so this is the best way to communicate.

I just relocated nearby and I am getting my belongings moved from my old apartment to my new home soon and have make adequate arrangement with the removalist time they will be delivering my belongings alongside with the laptops for the repairs. below is the job details:

Dell Laptop(window 7 professional,64-bit, 500 GB HDD, 4 GB RAM) [HDD Replacement]
Hp laptop (window 8, 750 GB HDD, 4 GB RAM,Intel® Core™ i3 processor ) [Format and install,backup required]
Lenovo laptop(window 8,64-bit,500GB HDD, 4GB RAM,Intel® Core™ i3 processor). [Format and install,backup required]
and they all have 2 super speed 3.0 ports.

Let me know if you can handle this order, I have made adequate arrangement with the removalist that will be transporting my belongings plus the laptops from my old apartment to your work place for the repairs. I will be paying with my credit card, so what type of credit card do you accept for payment? So I would like you get back to me with the total cost estimate (quote) for the job so we can proceed.. The laptops will be moved to your work place on Aug 26th, how about that?

I await your urgent response.

Thank You

Now I really am thinking this is a CC Lad or something similar so I give him a 3 times the cost quote on it all. And remind him that he has not answered my questions yet. He gets back to me with a name that he has never used or is searchable on Google and agrees to the quote. He also pushes for the 26th Aug again. Now in real life I am not going to be available so again I try and hand him off to a character of mine which for starters does not work and lad seems to go away for 48 hours and not respond so on Friday I sent out that I have had enough of him and are too busy to deal with him due to his delays in replying he can now deal with the character I tried to get him to at first. So I emailed him from that character about an hour later and he responded Monday morning with details for the removalist that if you were alert enough and know the Australian phone number system you would realise this was not real anymore as he gave a South East Victoria number for a New South Wales address and in the same email did not want me to call the Removalist but email him instead. He also wanted me to charge his CC for my fee and the fee of the removalist then pay the removalist for him.

The removalist was all full of excuses as well and got his "his" and "her" confused and had to send me the email again corrected with all “her" replaced with “his” I almost died laughing.

After some prompting lad gives up a Credit Card that uses the same name as he is using so a simple call to my business bank's merchant fraud department to report it, I know I could have reported it here as well but I was still even a bit confused as I was not expecting a card in the name the lad was using. As of now it has ended due to me pushing for ID from him. I may still hear from the removalist again but I doubt it.

I expect to hear from this lad again in 3 to 6 months as it seems to be normal for him to try again. Even when he should now know it will not work with me.

I can post the full bait if there is anyone that would like to read it but it is fairly straight forward and is more me trying to work out what is going on.

Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2017 11:05 am

Have you posted his email, with email address and phone number, at Scamwarners?

Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2017 11:27 am

^^Not yet but will do so in the next 24 hours. His first email that I had back in September had already been posted I think as when searching recently I stumbled across the email and name he was using at the time on Scamwarners but I don't think it was the exact script he was using with me.

Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2017 11:41 am

DropBear419 wrote:

A disclaimer before any one goes and tells me off for not baiting safely. Yes I know I am not baiting safely but I also needed to work out if this is a real client or not even though it did seem a little off.

I understand that initially you responded as you wanted to know for sure if it was a client and not turn away potential business, but you know that now. I don't see any upside, but plenty of downside, in continuing to engage him.

To me he sounds like a typical, albeit very careful, credit card lad. He has probably obtained details for the credit cards he's using via identity theft, so maybe he would even be able to supply an ID. He's cautious, perhaps because he's been baited or run into law enforcement or other thieves in the past, so he's only going to correspond with the emails he targets.

You already know that this isn't baiting safely, so I'll say this more to the other members who may happen along this bait -- don't bait lads from your work emails and/or using your real life information. If you are in a situation (potential client offering payment, searching for something on craigslist, etc.) where you are corresponding with someone and realize they're a scammer, stop the contact.

You won't love it if this lad gets frustrated with you one day and decides to do something like post nasty reviews about your business on review sites, call in false reports to the police about criminal activity at your location, or spoof your email to send scams or nasty content to people making it appear you sent it, etc.

Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2017 11:51 am

I would suggest posting his "new format" in the same thread. Someone from SW may advise otherwise, (listen to them, in that case).

I'm not going to beat you up over the safety issue. It appears you see where you went wrong, but perhaps a suggestion or more (plus a few signs it's a scam):

Quote:

I want to you to repair my two computers and i will like to have another new computer and do you install printers .Reply me if you are Reliable and Capable,and kindly provide a quote for the job also i like to know if you accept credit card as method of payment and you company address.

Regards,

Often, you will see punctuation, phrasing, and run on sentences like this coming from West Africans. Now, not all West Africans are lads, but did they present they were Australian?

Something else that jumps out is the repetitive asking of credit card acceptance. I'm not certain how it is in Australia, but in the US, most (not all, but when dealing with pricey electronics, it's almost required) retailers accept credit cards. It's unusual to ask an online retailer if they do.

Quote:

I am hearing impaired and I am at the hospital right now will undergo a surgery so this is the best way to communicate.

If it sounds like a baiter excuse, it's probably a lad excuse, too. How many people, about to "undergo a surgery" are concerned with moving homes and updating computers at the same time?

Once the removalist is involved and an advance fee paid to them is requested, this should be a sure sign it is fake.

In the future, if you have questions about whether it is real or not, if it were me, I would simply reply with this: "Please bring the items into our place of business so we may give you an accurate estimate."

Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2017 4:51 pm

@DropBear419 If he is still using the same email address then post the new email format in the same thread on SW. Your post may save another victim some time and money.

Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2017 9:42 pm

@Padme - Thank you the first name and email he ever used with me I do know was identity theft. The actual worst I have had from this lad was a bunch of what looked like mule recruitment emails when I dropped him the first time. As I am a Google for Business user most of those were caught by Google's spam filters. But yes there is the possibility of the bad review happening and I am acutely aware of this.

@Bware - I don’t overly advertise the acceptance of credit cards so almost every new client asks at one stage or the other. Not all small time computer repairers will do credit card payments due to fees associated with merchant accounts here in AU so it was not surprising for the question to be asked up front.

@woody999 - Ok I think I may have gotten confused with another Scamwarner like site as I can not find the thread on SW that I thought I had seen before. But later today after I have finished running around I will post this current name email and format to SW.

Thank you all for the advice. The type of scams we deal with here on Eater I am still a little green on realising they are a scam at times. I was originally going to post this to HH&T asking for more help until the credit card was offered and my own business banking fraud department answered most of the questions I had.

Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2017 10:33 pm

^^ Start a new thread in the Email Scams Targeting Businesses section so we can see how many view we get on your lad.

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