Email Scam.. Best Response?

[Chung Tran]

so I got an email from a long-time family friend yesterday.. had not heard from him in 7 years, probably, he is now 82 years old (can't confirm he is still alive).. the email was odd.. it asked for a "quick favor".. I messaged back with a couple of family details over the past 7 years, and said I might could help.

response back showed it is a clear fraud.. I noticed his last name had an extra "R", otherwise the email address was accurate.. he did not reference anything I had written, and said he was "stuck in the Philippines" and needed $2,000, would pay me back, of course.

I had this happen a few years ago, local friend was "stuck in London", needed cash.. I called her up, several others had got the same email, her account had been hacked.

I am going to play along, pretend I don't know it's a scam, and get the address to send money to.. is there a way to report the fraud so it gets investigated, and the Perp can be caught? anyone else play along with a fake email like this? what was the outcome?

[Chung Tran]

I just sent a reply.. I asked for the address and details, and said I want to send money.. I said "I always wanted to fuck (wife's name), we did engage in oral sex once, but I think she told you about that", LOL.. I said I owe you, so please send the details of where to send the cash.

I'll post any response I get.. I bet I get a copy-paste email with an address, and no response to anything else

[Chung Tran]

must be a low-level operation.. the Scammer just sent name and location, Manila, Philippines.. but the name is my friend's name, so he must have some kind of ID to pick up the money.. he wanted it Western Union, I replied that I sent $2,000, and gave a fake MTCN (identifier).

waiting on the next email where he bitches me out for giving a wrong number, LOL.. BTW, I never gave my name in any exchange, and the emails to me never addressed me by name.. you are supposed to give Western Union the name of the sender when you pick up cash, but I know not every location strictly enforces that.. Manila may not give a shit.

[bigwill832]

You have to post some screen shots of him going off, if he replies again.

[instfixer]

The way to do it is to send $10 to a known friend via Western Union
Now to the scammer you use that MTCN number.
Just by typing in that number Western Union will verify that number has real money behind it. BUT WU will not verify the amount nor who the money is sent to..

Scammer will salavate when he discovers it is a 'valid' number except the WU office won't give him money. Then the scammer will make contact again OH you spelled the name wrong!, OH you sent the money to the wrong city etc etc see how many times you can get this sucker to go to the WU office

[Clark W. Griswold]

I was going to suggest you mention a made up person that neither you of know. Sort of like "Hey, how's Maurice doing? I haven't talked to that guy in years!" and then if he responds as if Maurice is a real person then you know something's up. Sort of like that one scene in Terminator 2 LOL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7uN4UlVq-k

[Chung Tran]

Originally Posted by Clark W. Griswold

I was going to suggest you mention a made up person that neither you of know. Sort of like "Hey, how's Maurice doing? I haven't talked to that guy in years!" and then if he responds as if Maurice is a real person then you know something's up.

I had done something similar (see below where I referenced in my original post).. I mentioned family of mine he knew, and his response back did not reference that, only the part where I might help.

Originally Posted by Chung Tran

I messaged back with a couple of family details over the past 7 years, and said I might could help.

he did not reference anything I had written

I have not heard more, since I emailed the fake MTCN digits.

[Inversion]

Originally Posted by Chung Tran

so I got an email from a long-time family friend yesterday.. had not heard from him in 7 years, probably, he is now 82 years old (can't confirm he is still alive).. the email was odd.. it asked for a "quick favor".. I messaged back with a couple of family details over the past 7 years, and said I might could help.

response back showed it is a clear fraud.. I noticed his last name had an extra "R", otherwise the email address was accurate.. he did not reference anything I had written, and said he was "stuck in the Philippines" and needed $2,000, would pay me back, of course.

I had this happen a few years ago, local friend was "stuck in London", needed cash.. I called her up, several others had got the same email, her account had been hacked.

I am going to play along, pretend I don't know it's a scam, and get the address to send money to.. is there a way to report the fraud so it gets investigated, and the Perp can be caught? anyone else play along with a fake email like this? what was the outcome?

Its ALWAYS Phillipines in these scams nowadays! Guess the Nigerian base get too Rich and too tired. Now they're all relaxing in Jamaica, with 5,000$ suits.

[normalguy21]

Originally Posted by Chung Tran

so I got an email from a long-time family friend yesterday.. had not heard from him in 7 years, probably, he is now 82 years old (can't confirm he is still alive).. the email was odd.. it asked for a "quick favor".. I messaged back with a couple of family details over the past 7 years, and said I might could help.

response back showed it is a clear fraud.. I noticed his last name had an extra "R", otherwise the email address was accurate.. he did not reference anything I had written, and said he was "stuck in the Philippines" and needed $2,000, would pay me back, of course.

I had this happen a few years ago, local friend was "stuck in London", needed cash.. I called her up, several others had got the same email, her account had been hacked.

I am going to play along, pretend I don't know it's a scam, and get the address to send money to.. is there a way to report the fraud so it gets investigated, and the Perp can be caught? anyone else play along with a fake email like this? what was the outcome?

I always just tell them the 100% truth and add some pictures and let them know since the war i dont really give a shit and at a moments notice i will devote everday of my life 24/7/365 to finding them and making a example out of them .

And i add some other threating shit and some real paper work and then i dare them to fuck with me .
I have to this day only have one stand there ground and he was from new jersey so i sent him a current sat photo of his car in the parking lot at his work and the bush i would wait by for him after work .

He called said sorry and he would call the police on me .

go figure .......

[ck1942]

imo ...

1) highlight the sender's name in your browser window so you will definitely know if it is a fake account or if the sender's account may have been hacked.

2) if you know it is a scam, mark and report it as spam to your email provider so you won't get further scam mails and so the scammer data will be shared among multiple email clients and thus hit other peeps spam folders.

3) responding usually marks you as a "mark" and you will just get more spam.

You can always google the addressee and see if others have reported anything.

ijs