My Experiences with a Nigerian Scammer (Part 1)

I do photography. But I'm getting into astrophotography as well. So in order to fund a telescope, I put a Nikon 300mm f/4 afs up for sale on craigslist today. I don't really like it, I'm spoiled by VR and with the telecoverter it is 510mm f/6.7 which results in needing more than 1/500th of a second. So I posted it up for sale.

I got about 5 responses in the first hour or so and I wrote back to every one -- from hushmail.com because it was kinda of suspicious.

So here's the first email and my reply. Eveything in italics in from the person I thought was a scammer.

To: dencher13@aol.com
Date: Sun, 09 Aug 2009 11:06:36 -0500
This message is not encrypted, and is not digitally signed by .
Yes. I have an offer of 1100 right now on the table

>>Hi,i saw your item on craigslist,is it still available for sale?

So were are on. The item is still for sale. I'm pretty nice right now because you never know -- it might be a real person.

Next reponse from dencher13
Hi Seller,

Thanks for the response, I'm about to send u a mail on how we are going to meet up later today so i can pay u in cash but I'm sorry, i wouldn't be able to make it for the pickup as i have already had in mind due to the urgent call i just received from my boss that i have to represent the company which will take me away for about three weeks.And I'm sincerely sorry for any inconvenience this might have caused but i will appreciate it if u could still sell this item to me all the same and to show my readiness to have the item and not to loose it to another buyer, i want to make an offer of additional payment of $125 which will cover the shipping of the item via USPS/EMS Global Express Mail International to my son whom i intend to buy it for as a gift and for also for the stress involved. And to make this transaction safe,secure and non risky, i will like to pay u via my paypal account. So i will appreciate it if u could send me your paypal email or a payment request via paypal so i can proceed with the payment later today. Thanks for your cooperation and your response will be highly appreciated.

Oh dear. Here's the tip off -- unwilling to meet in person, "out of town", wants to send it to his son. Plus the son is international.

Well, now you know it is a scam. Each and every one of these people has some kind of son studying overseas. It is very common in these kinds of scam.

My response? "No problem -- I can get it to you."

So a few hours later, I get the next message:

Hi There,

Can i know the total payment i will be sending to your paypal account including the shipping $125 that would be added to the payment.

At this point, I wondering how far I can take it, so I respond with an outrageous "1800$"

Now, I think he's getting a little confused and has forgot what he is buying:

"$1800,how and may i know the actual price of the item and what are u selling?"

I respond with "1800-125 is $1675. It is a 300mm f/4 afs lens in very good condition. Please make the paypal payment -- you said this is for your son and I can get it out to you"

The last I've hear from him is this:

Hi Seller,

I am sorry i wouldn't be able to make the payment today due to the fact that the post is not working today and most especially because of my past experience with some dubious sellers,so i promise to send u the payment first thing tomorrow morning and i am sorry for any inconvenience this might cause....I will appreciate it if u could send me a mail that i could still go on with the payment tomorrow.Hope to read from u soon.

So he can't send my the money via paypal because the post is closed. Not sure what is going on here. You do not need the post for paypal transactions. I'm hoping to get a real address out of him soon. Stay tuned for tomorrow's episode with many sordid details and the FBI gets involved!

(also, note that I get this message from hushmail attached to every one of his emails " Warning: This message may be forged. The return path (mid=nexoapps1-1249856653-1@nexogroups.com) does not match the from address." Hushmail is very good about telling you when something is not right with an email.)