Dear Colleagues
In the last month I have been approached by 2 'parents' from Spain and France respectively wanting piano lessons over the summer for their teenage daughters - both complete beginners.
What a chance to earn some extra money!
After initial seemingly friendly exchanges, it has transpired that both parties want me to receive a large sum, greatly in excess of my tuition fees, to be passed on to a 'caretaker'. My reluctance to take part in what could be construed as money laundering has led them to take a hectoring, bullying tone. I have decided to tear up the cheque
Any similar experiences?

Yes I get these sorts of emails quite a lot, either through the website, or maybe they get my details from other music teaching sites.

The intros are usually someone who is planning to come to "your country" yet make no mention of where they will be staying or ask where you live! They also usually ask for things like lessons for two hours a day etc... then ask you to send them details of how much it will all cost so they can pay you in advance...

Another way to spot them is that they often won't even use your name at the beginning of the email.

I just delete them. I hope you haven't given out too many details about yourself, and the best way to proceed now would be to block them from communicating with you any more.

I receive several of these a week Yes, they are a scam. They send you a fee in excess of your fee, then ask you to pay the difference. The cheque they sent isn't valid but they make money out of people who refund the difference before they find out if the cheque has cleared. Under no circumstances give them your bank details or any other personal information!

Tell them you only take new students after a personal interview in your studio and that you only accept cash at the end of each lesson. End of emails.

One of the emails I got even informed me they would staying at my house for two weeks...

Yes - from time to time one is posted on the teachers' forum as an example for new(er) teachers to look out for - the more people are aware the better. I heard of one teacher who was harassed as the scammer got hold of her telephone number.

Best not to reply - although if all they have is your email address the worst they can do is pester.

What possible reason could there be for someone wanting to send you a cheque for a sum vastly in excess of your fees apart from it being a scam?!

oh ! I haven't had one of those.

* feels deprived*

Or you could say that you insist on paying new students who are so gracious as to want to study with you.
Ask them for their full name, address, bank details, passport picture so that you can send them a check with payment over the amount. Oh, and if they could also send you an envelope with cash of the difference back by mail which you will return to them after their first lesson....

I received this scam a few minutes ago. A business magnet? Attracting trouble no doubt!

Dearest One,

I am so sorry if I may interrupt or violate your policy in any way,I have a proposal for you-this however is not mandatory nor will I in any manner compel you to honour against your will. I am Joy Willams 23years old and the only daughter of my late parents Mr.and Mrs.Robert Willams. My father was a highly reputable business magnet-(a cocoa merchant) who operated in the capital of Ivory coast during his days My mother died when I was just 4 years old,and since then my father took me so special.

It is sad to say that he passed away mysteriously in France during one of his business trips abroad year 28th.November.2004,Though his sudden death was linked or rather suspected to have been masterminded by an uncle of his who travelled with him at that time.But God knows the truth! My late father deposted the sum of the Eight million,Three hundred thousand United State Dollars.(USD$8.300,000) deposited in a suspence account with one of the local banks here in Abidjan,Ivory Coast in favour of me and I will like you to help me transfer this fund to your account.

I am just 23 years old and really don't know what to do.Now I want an account overseas where I can transfer this funds. This is because I have suffered a lot of set backs as a result of incessant political crisis here in Ivory coast.The death of my father actually has brought sorrow to my life.

I am in a sincere desire of your humble assistance in this regards.Your suggestions and ideas will be highly regarded.

Now permit me to ask these few questions:-
1. Can you honestly help ?

2. Can I completely trust you?

3. What percentage of the total amount in question
will be good for you after the money is in your
account?

Please,Consider this and get back to me as soon as possible
Thank you so much.
My sincere regards,


Joy Willams.


3. What percentage of the total amount in question
will be good for you after the money is in your
account?

All of it????? If I were stupid enough to let it into my account in the first place, I'd keep it there!

Dearest noodle one, it has taken this person almost 4 years to find you -- the only person in the world who can help-- since the suspicious Agatha Christie style death of their father in the city of lights -- won't you step up?

They likely have a six pence account rather than a suspence account....

The amazing thing about these scams is that people must fall for them!

It's a bit like the letters you read on the financial pages of quality broadsheets. There are always stories of someone who was convinced to invest thousands of pounds worthless shares on the basis of an unsolicited 'phone call from someone they'd never met. I just cannot believe that anyone would be so stupid!

As they say - if it sounds to good to be true, then it probably is to good to be true!

I imagine that the "piano lessons booked in advance" would turn out to be an atempt to get you to pass on your bank details so that they can transfer money "into" your account.

There was a thing in the guardian a couple of weeks ago about a guy wjo had handed over thousands trying to get access to a suposed fortune parked in a bank account in Amsterdam. Nothing would convince him it was a scam.

These scams basically appeal to a person's greed, but wrap it up in such a way that the person being scammed can convince themselves that they are actually being generous by helping the widow of a heroic africal philanthropist!

Once someone shows interest then I imagine the scammers are very skilled at stringing people along, and once someone has actualy handed over some money to pay for something, then it becomes hard for that person to say "that was a stupid thing to do" and so they convince thenmselves that it's genuine which makes it easier to get them to hand over yet more money, which makes them even more reluctant to admit that they've been scammed and so on!

Scams of the type reproduced here have been around for years, so I'm sure everyone must have had them. They are advance fee scams, and used to be called after a section of the Nigerian penal code (411 scams? can't remember). There used to be a website - The Lads from Lagos - detailing the often hilarious dialogues between scammer and wily scammer-baiter. It now seems to be at www.scamorama.com/

As far as the rest of us are concerned: delete and forget ...

nick

I've had that one, noodle - word for word, exactly the same! If one person in,say, 100, replies, they've still done well , which is why these scams keep on going.

Some of the reports are very funny - the Redbreast ? something or other - went on for ages with the scammer going along with the most outlandish requests.

(ed Nick - I think it was 419 - here is a link to one http://www.419eater.com/html/joe_eboh.htm - scroll down to see what hoops the scammer ended up jumping through ...

and DON'T try this at home ! )

Here's another one of those silly emails! I receive several a week!

Hello,
My name is Mr Dustin....I am 35years of age I based in United State.i
will like you to know that i got your e-mail from the website that you
are a tutor. Then i will like you to know that my daughter is coming
over to UK for long vacation,and also for a case study pertaining to her
school,she is 14 years old.So i'll really appreciate it if you could
be a part time teacher...You will be teaching her for 2hours per day
which will be for just 4weeks & so do let me know the total cost you
charge for teaching her for the 4weeks and pls what date you will be
available to teach her.
I hope to read from you soon.
Thanks.
Mr Dustin..

The email address of the sender was dustin.pratt22@..... Pratt indeed!

I have just changed my security software from Norton to Steganos and all sorts of spam like this and phishing emails seem to have stopped. I do wonder if some software is better at blocking these scams than others?

Like it

Here is my latest one - received this morning.

I'm Sand Janet from France during my search for a Flute lesson teacher that would always take my Daugther (Gloria) and I found your advert..Your advert looks great and it is very okay to me since you specialize in the area i'm seeking for her.

My Daugther would be coming to Uk this month for a period of time and with her friend for 4 Months.She is just 16yr Old and also a beginner, i want you to help me teach lesson during her stay.

So, kindly let me know your charges,in order for me to arrange for her lessons fee before she travels down to your side.

I would also like to know if their is any Text Book you will recommend for her as a beginner so that she will be reading privately at home after the lesson during her stay.

I will be looking forward to read from you soonest.
Best Regards,
Mrs.Sand Janet,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

(oh, yes, I specialise in flute - I don't think).

You just need a well developed b**sh*t detector, and a sure aim on the junk-mail or delete buttons with your mouse.

It is tempting to fire a few thousand fake replies at the return address, but I manage to refrain from that for a few reasons:

- It is quite hard to distinguish the spammer's own address from that of some poor user that has has their machine or eMail account hijacked

- It is just more junk clogging up the Internet

But if the spammer is idiot enough to post a fake web site that fishes for banking details I quite enjoy knocking up and running a little Perl program that will clog up their database with a few million junk entries.

<-- No piano today

Here's my latest one ...

Hello Teacher,
how are you doing today ,I surf through your description and I am very impress and interested in your lesson ,I will like my child to be helped and become somebody like you in future,she is 14years old,she knows a little/nothing about this lesson, so I don't want him to be less busy in the time of the day , so I have decided to let her attend your lesson , so I will like you to take her for 2 hours A DAY or at your convenient hour ,please where are you located and what will be your requirement days for him to be good? Kindly get back to me with your requirement cost for two weeks . I wait to read from you soon as possible.

I don't think so !

What is really annoying about these emails is the implicit assumption that you are completely stupid! They are amusing for a while, but I have been using the internet since long before the days of Universal email and the World Wide Web, and in that time the junk mail I have received has gone form none at all, to a slight trickle to todays ratio of about 20 junk items for every genuine eMail. It is beyond a joke.

Some day, one of these spammers will annoy the wrong person, at the wrong time. They will track down their physical location and pay them a visit with an AK47. That is if it hasn't happened already.

Go on Maggie give her a Flute lesson

We've had the Nigerian scam ones at work, they have even been hand delivered. I'm just glad the wife of the Boss is no longer office based as she'd be the one to reply looking for a quick buck,

I can see why you call yourself Mad Tom!







You need help

This has just reminded me a couple of weeks ago we had about 200 emails, to the work account, from some company or other. They claimed it was a glitch in the system. They were really silly and put their phone number on the spam Needless to say I think their switchboard got swamped with people ringing up to complain. They blamed their ISP provider but I didn't buy that and I doubt anyone else would either.

Mad Tom could have had some fun with them.

Indeed - I have to resist replying along similar lines!


Go on Maggie give her a Flute lesson

should I give it a go do you reckon ??

Joking aside, I am probably one of the sanest people you will ever meet (or should that read "ever not meet")

OK. You do the tracking down. We'll find someone else to carry the gun.

Ah....that's a beauty...