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No this was not a scam. This was an alert that someone had tried to buy some tickets online using my credit card. Tickets that went for $1100.00 plus. And in all places, CVILLE, where ever the heck that is. Well, since this card is only used for internet purchases, i have a low limit on it. If i intend to buy something expensive, i call the card company and get a one time limit raise. They like when you do that.
ANYHOW, without coffee i went to the phone and called the number for the fraud department. While i was waiting on the phone, i went on line to the credit card site and pulled up the recent activity. There i found that just before the attempted ticket purchase someone in a Marriott Courtyard had charged $8.25 to my account, and then credited it back to my account.
After clearing up the bogus ticket purchase with the fraud person i mentioned the other charge. AH HA!!!! we both agreed that all the charges came from the same Marriott. They probably had tried out random numbers until they found one that worked, then went for the big one. Knowing the location and time seemed to make her happy. I think i made her day. I hope i've ruined theirs. End of this story is my card was canceled and a new one was issued. Now i have to change the card number on certain accounts.
BUT WAIT FOLKS,,,,,,, THAT'S NOT ALL!!!!!!!!!!
Just before we turned out the lights Thursday we got the following email
My name is Elizabeth Henderson, i am interested on your property @oldhouses.com, if still available for sale.
Most of you know we have been trying to sell our house for a while. AND we did list it on old houses.com. Sooooooo we got a little excited. Of course excited with a healthy dose of suspicion.1)Please are you the real owner of the property?2) The sale of the property does it require i come for a viewing first before we conclude? Because i am in UK at the moment.3) Do you have the documents(Legally and up to date)?Any equity on the property? Please for a better understanding i need this answers.ThanksElizabeth
The first thing that set off red flags was the grammar. BUT she might have been using a cell phone and didn't want to waste keystrokes on commas and such. Next was the sentence structure. A little odd but she sounded like she was English and we know American is almost a foreign language over there;-]]]. Lastly, who buys a house in a foreign country sight unseen????? SOOOO we decided to answer her questions, but give only information that was on our blog site and nothing specific.
Dear Ms Henderson,
Yes, we are the real owners of this property. There are no mortgages or liens on the property. All taxes are current. There is no need for you to come to the property if you do not wish to. Our attorney can handle the paperwork for the sale via the mails.
The deed and title insurance are clear and up to date.
If you are still interested please send your full legal name, mailing address, and contact phone number so our attorney can draw up a contract of sale agreement.
Since you are out of the US, we would also consider selling most of the furnishings as a separate sale. If you are interested we will furnish you with a full list of available furnishings.
Thank you for your interest in our home.This morning we got this answer:
Thanks for your mail Patrick, Here is my contact number call me so that we can talk ok and agree on the price.
Thanks
+44-74-0531xxxx
ElizabethBy now we had some serious doubts about this and they grew during the day. By afternoon coffee we had decided ( after much scam research and attempting to trace her email address and phone, which is a mobile in the UK) that we would definitely not be calling and get a huge phone charge, and that we would not answer this email. Our friend Thomas, in Oregon, has sent us a wonderful response to this scam if she continues, and we may use it. BUT i will add that we require a 10% good faith down payment in the form of a certified bank check to continue the negotiations. I expect that to end everything. Something about scamming the scammers.
Your suggestions for responses are welcome....;-))))))
Grenville
15 comments:
Dorothy, as a former Ops Officer, I would NOT disclose any additional info regarding the house. ...JP
That was a pretty exciting day at the old homestead. Let me see. We took the kids to McDonalds and bought Danica some underwear on that very same day.
The scammers are out in full force anymore. Pretty scary.
Wow, that was an eventful day. Glad you were able to get your credit card account cleared up even though it was a hassle. Too bad the email about the house isn't real. (At least it seems suspicious at this point anyway.) I know how long you've been waiting to sell it. We are still waiting for a buyer too.
the worst thing of this whole sad story is the fact you had to call the fraud dept without coffee... YIKES. lol
we had that happen to our card and also someone wiped out our checking account dec of 2010 whichis the last time i ever wrote a check. they use the check to order checks with there name then they can write checks with their on id. they get the checks on line, the kind where your order checks and fill in the blanks. since it was not my check or signature, the two places in PA that cashed them were out of luck. scams are everywhere and this email sounds like one to me
Man you guys just cant get a break from these scamming people didn't you have a different type of scam tried on you not long ago ? We have never had anything even close to this happen to us or anyone here we know . I hope they get the hint and bug off ! Have a good weekend !
These people are so very tiresome, evil really. They make trouble for others and they roll merrily along. Hope you escaped unscathed. Best, it's a sad world out there for sure.
The email sounds profoundly suspicious. Best to leave it alone.
We have never experienced any kind of fraud, identity theft or scams!! I feel extremely fortunate for that, pretty scary for you though!!
Nasty when something like that happens with Your credit card! I only have my bank card (without and extra credit limit) and I never have any bigger ammount of money on it. I'm glad You caught it that early!
Even for a Swede that is an odd e-mail. I mean if someone wanted Your house shouldn't they at least try to check the grammar and the structur of the sentensis?
I hope You will stay scam free from now on!
Have a great day!
Christer.
I hate scams, too. How awful that it touched you if even for a brief moment. Good luck.
Well, that was quite a day! We had our credit card number stolen a couple of years ago and fortunately the credit card company was on the ball.
Do be careful about the house sale/email.
Whew, my Thursday was nothing. Well, except I did enter a new decade =)
How nice for you if that email were legit.... but, sadly,it does smell fishy.
This kind of stuff can ruin your whole day! We've had to get new credit cards a couple of different times and it's a hassle to have to deal with. You just have to be vigilant all the time. The house deal does set off the red flags too.
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