What happens if you reply to emails like this (fake lottery win)?

shida

Daisey-Duke wrote: »

Had this one today !!! :eek:

Reply-to:[EMAIL="littmannstethoscopescompany@emailaccount.com"]littmannstethoscopescompany@emailaccount.com[/EMAIL]

Dear Sir/Ma,
Please can I have your attention for a moment? Would you like to work online from home temporarily and get paid weekly? Our Company Littmann Stethoscopes Co., Ltd. is a company based in New Zealand and we are into Manufacturer and supply medical and nursing supplies and specialize, dual-colors injection molding machines and accessories supplied worldwide since 1975 with numerous customers home and abroad. Littmann Stethoscopes to health care professionals worldwide equipments supply ( supplies) you will be glad with our products. We need representatives in the States/UK who will be in charge of all our payments from the United States and United Kingdom clients/customers. Most of our customers from United States and United Kingdom pay through their ,UK Bank wire transfer, Certified cheques, Cashier cheques and money order which are not negotiable here in Taiwan. This brings our quest to employ a credible and trustworthy fellow as our representative to handle our payments. This would not affect your present job but serve as another stream of income to your good self. Being our representative and assisting us in processing the payments from our clients shall earn you a weekly salary and commission of about 10% of every payment you assist us with. Due to the fact that we can not process the US/Canadian Credit cards here in the Taiwan, we have lost in the past about $85,000 of net income each month because of money transfer delays. Most of our clients/customers who purchase our products need to pay large amount of money through their Bank wire transfer account and this is the reason we also need a representative who has eligible account to receive money for our company. Your task is to coordinate payments from customers and help us with the payment process. You are not involved in any sales. If you are interested, email us back for more information. Mr. David Smith Recruitment Manager http://www.medisave.co.nz

To those of you hearing about Littmann Stethoscopes Co Ltd unfortunately as indicated here it is a Money Mule scam. I have not heard about this till now. Basically I replied to an ad on Gumtree for a payment officers role working for a Medical Supplies company on New Zealand. First thing I did was check out the website, make sure that the people I was dealing with were not from a dodgy African country (where so many scams seem to be coming from - no I am not a racist).

So I replied and was requested to provide a reference and a form of ID. I have some doubts however thought to be open-minded at that stage I thought it was a genuine job. Why would I think that? Well I applied to a job, there was no indication as to how much you would earn, I am desparate for a 2nd income as things are very tight with the crunch. So they seem to target people in such a position.

The first email I received in reply to the ad was from HARRY OWEN, RECRUITMENT MANAGER. He stated that they send the medical products to customers and the payment is made to you (me) of which I deduct 10% as 'my commission' and forward the balance to them in New Zealand via Western Union. I can't keep track of all the scams out there! I was a little concerned but intrigued so I sent a reply with numerous questions.

I then received a reply from someone else also with an western name, SARAH JOHNSON, RECRUITMENT COORDINATOR. She stated this in the start of her email:
Thank you for your email and greetings from the board of Directors of Littmann Stethoscopes Co.,Ltd wishes to congratulate you for your nomination as our representative in the UK.

There were concerns over spelling mistakes especially for people in Finance or Recruitment. I followed up with more questions.

Finally about 10 days later I got an email from PAUL SMITH, HEAD OF FINANCE. I suppose they were trying to convince me that by using these names their company must be legit. He stated that I was to receive a payment of nearly £5,000 of which I take 10%. I received the cheque and through stupidty and desperation thought it was a very good opportunity and entered it into my account. I never passed my bank details to them.

The day after entering the money I had a bad feeling and thought there is a risk that this is a scam. They work on the basis that their name is similar to a genuine company and seemed to have replicated an authentic website. But or entering a cheque and forwarding on the balance I was to receive £500! It seemed to easy. I did not want to believe it was a scam and I am a highly sceptical person however I thought I should look for a job opportunity.

I received a further email from PAUL SMITH stating that I should not delay forwarding payment to them as they had another waiting for me. The funny thing is that the HEAD OF FINANCE wanted me to send him payment and he was based at Canary Wharf Tower! So why do they need me!!!!

I then contacted my bank to inform them that I entered the payment. I would have been out of pocket as even though I think the cheque has cleared after 3 days it actually can take 10 days before I find out the truth. So I would have sent £4500 of my own money to these scam artists.

It seems that most work from home, on-line jobs, anything to deal with overseas dealings are all scams!

rosysparkle

jinny103 wrote: »

Has anyone received an email stating hey have won the yahoo! prize drawer? Obviously a scam.

Is that where you keep your socks?

Shida, please tell me you didn't send the money on. This type of scam is really well known and I'm sorry you got caught out, but did you never think it was too good to be true in this day of worldwide electronic banking? Did it not occur to you that if there was real money, you were taking part in money laundering?

alanrp123

If I get the postal versions of these scams, I return them, no stamp, asking for a cheque less fees.
Needless to say, I have never received a cheque back!!.:rolleyes:

Freddie_Snowbits

Look I bait them. Lisa wants my signature now, shes got my phone number and bank details.

And she has still not got my name.

See my thread.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=15825597#post15825597

shida

No I did not send the money on. To be honest I was a bit foolish but at least I did not lose any money. I guess that anything too good is a scam. I am so sceptical now that I think that some jobs are scams. I was fooled by the fact that the company seemed reputable. I suppose this is how people are sucked in at least we have this forum to help.

rosysparkle wrote: »

Is that where you keep your socks?

Shida, please tell me you didn't send the money on. This type of scam is really well known and I'm sorry you got caught out, but did you never think it was too good to be true in this day of worldwide electronic banking? Did it not occur to you that if there was real money, you were taking part in money laundering?

Brooker_Dave

morganb wrote: »

I've started to receive spam emails like the one below.

What actually happens to your details if you reply as the request?

They steal your soul.

superscaper

shida wrote: »

I am so sceptical now that I think that some jobs are scams.

I think you mean cynical. Scepticism is a good thing as it merely means you use critical thinking and assess the info given to get at the truth as to whether it's genuine or not without assumption. Cynicism means you assume the worst.

marleyboy

I get so many of these, it baffles me that some people do fall for them, wouldnt it be great if we found a loophole in the law, so we could literally claim the "winnings" from the scammers

Amanda

what really amazes me is how any sane person would actually believe that they have won something for which they have never entered, and reply to an email which is so obviously fraudulent.

Just imagine a lottery where they give 4 million pounds to somebody, anybody with an email address. Where is the money supposed to have come from then? Did you buy a ticket? No! Have they received payments to amass a large fund? No! Have you ever heard of them? No!

There is no such thing as a free lunch.

Of course it is a scam!

marleyboy

Usually when you sign a guestbook, you don't put your address down or personal details other than your signature.