6 Comments »

1. Hi,
   I got an email from THOGA, The House of God
   Assembly. After getting a few emails, they requested dates for almost a month long stay.
   Then another email, saying they were now unable to come, but had sent the chq. They said
   for my trouble & inconvenience I could deduct the amount of $250. from the total & they would
   give the instructions where to send the money.
   I thought better of it, & just said that it was
   cancelled. I’ve not heard a word, & on checking with another b&b they got emails as well. They were based out of the United Kingdom, London area.They also wanted to pre-pay the full stay with a chq.
   I sent the email to the fraud squad.
   Many tks
   Audrey
   Whispering-Cedars B&B

   Comment by Audrey — 2/14/2005 @ 8:13 pm

2. Check this one out:

   greetings to you siir /madam
   my namje is mrs jennifer norton and me and my husband are intrested in in
   spending our vacation in your inn and we will like to book for a
   reservation for the 1st of march till the 14th of march respectively and
   we will like to know the total cost of a decent room for two .
   please get in touch giving me full details.

   2nd reply.
   HELLO
   THANKS FOR THE MAIL PLS KINDLY GIVE ME THE TOTAL ESTIMATE FOR THE
   SPECIFIED DURATION OF OUR STAY SO THAT WE CAN MAKE PAYMENT ASAP.

   3rd reply
   hello mark
   thanks for the mail i cannot send my credit card info as we dont make use
   of it here in england but i will make out the payment in form of a usps
   money order and send it down to you asap and the money order will be in
   your name is this okay with you if yes pls let me know so i send the
   payment asap.

   thanks again

   4th reply
   heelo mark

   should i make out the money order payable to you?pls let me know so that i
   do this in time .
   thank you

   5th reply
   hello sir
   i have just been informed that a usps money order cannot be payable to a
   company but can be payable to an individual so please i will appreciate it
   if you can kindly give me your full name so that i can make the money order
   payable in your name .or do you have a probvlem with me paying in your
   favour?

   6th reply
   hello sorry for the late reply to your mail of course i am still interested
   i just mailed out the payment to you today .
   i am very much intereseted.

   After 6 tries, I am still waiting for the check to arrive. Will it come, I doubt it….

   thanks

   Comment by Mark Herrington — 2/24/2005 @ 12:35 pm

3. I hope the following exchange is an entertaining and informative addition to your scam alerts. It is the second suspicious reservation request I have received in the past week. Thanks to AnyWho International Directory Assistance I was able to verify the misgivings I had from the very first email:

   donald wilfred wrote:
   Calvary greetings you,
   My client is sending his just wedded pastor and wife with 2 kids on a honey moon trip to u.s starting from the 25th of this month to 8th of may,and asked me to check the availability of your 2 rooms or family suits as an agent.Do get back to me with total amount with discount if will be available for this period.Looking for a favourably response.

   Evangelist D.P.WILFRED
   —
   donald wilfred wrote:
   Dear Heidi,
   Thanks for the response.As you know the date is fast approaching so i will love tou to send to me your name in full,contact address and phone number in other for me to instruct my client the sponsor to prepare your payment immediately.Hoping to hear from you soonest.

   Evangelist D.P WILFRED.
   —
   Hello Mr. Wilfred,

   Good to hear from you. My address, telephone, and payment designation is shown in my original email to you. I would appreciate knowing the names of your pastor and his wife, as well as the names and ages of the children accompanying them. The total amount due will depend on the rooms selected as specified in my original email.

   I believe that 2 top floor rooms would offer more comfort for this unusually long extended stay…

   Looking forward to hearing from you.
   All the best,
   Heidi
   —
   donald wilfred wrote:
   Dear Heidi,
   Thanks for the response i shall instruct my client the sponsor to prepare your payment immediately meanwhile do be informed that my own charges and some money which are meant for a speculative puposes is coming along with your payment. Do not forget to inform me immediately you receive the payment.

   Evangelist D.P.WILFRED
   —
   Hello Mr. Wilfred,

   I’m not sure what you mean by speculative purposes and I mistrust any indications that you will send more than the agreed upon amount.

   Since you have not answered my other questions regarding your pastor and congregation I must withdraw my offer of lodging as it is not available under these very suspicious circumstances.

   Do not send any payments to me. I no longer have rooms available for your dates.

   Sincerely,
   Heidi Kieffer
   Carruth House
   —
   donald wilfred wrote:
   I AM SORRY FOR NOT ANSWERING YOUR LAST QUESTIONS IT ALL ESCAPED MY MIND.THEIR FAMILY’S NAME IS RODRIGUEZ AND THEY RESIDE IN 3.HERNERDEZ MURCIA SPAIN 32000.I HAVE ALREADY
   INSTRUCTED HIM TO PREPARE YOUR PAYMENT.
   EVANGELIST DON P WILFRED
   —
   Hello,
   There is no such listing for Rodriguez and no local code as 32000 in Murcia. You have not fully answered my questions. I do not have rooms available at this time.

   Sincerely,
   Heidi

   Comment by Heidi — 4/10/2005 @ 5:04 pm

4. We recently had a close call with a scam reservation. Via email we received an inquiry on a 2 wk stay from a chap using a UK yahoo address but said he was from West Africa coming on holidays. After a few exchanges about rooms/rates, he reserved our smallest room for 2 weeks and said his “associate” in the USA would be contacting us with a check. After inquiring about the “associate” and the required deposits ( 50%) our potential guest indicated that we would be send a cashiers check for nearly double the requrired amount. We were instructed to cash it and pay the full amount whilst sending the balance by check back to his associate for the guests spending money.
   Fortunatly, that next day, before any transacted, we received a copy of B&B Journal by Arrington’s which had an article on B&B scams..this one was the first scam described.

   We emailed this guy back and said his reservation sounded very familiar to an industry scam alert we had just received and that we would not be processing his reservation and all correspondence would be sent to US authorities. We did not get a reply, nor have we heard from him again. Thank goodness for the timely article in B&B Journal.

   Comment by Jeffry Burr & Neil Blair — 5/7/2005 @ 3:58 pm

5. Hi,

   I hope you don’t all think that these scams originate in the UK! We get these scam emails on a daily basis now and they come up with all sorts of stories and supposedly from different countries. The first time we came across this was about 2 years ago when we got a group booking and even received a cheque for £5,000 (pounds sterling), but drawn on the Bank of Ireland. We paid the cheque into our bank and then received emails that the guests were stuck in Canada where their money had been stolen and could we send them £2,500 by Western Union. We of course smelt a fish and checked with our bank about the status of the cheque. Eventually the cheque bounced and we realised that this was all a scam.

   Anyway good ways to spot these scams before you spend any time replying to them:
   1. check the “To:” address - often it is a mass mailing or to “undisclosed receipients”
   2. Anything that looks out of the ordinary i.e. wanting to pay in advance
   3. Use of unusual language

   Hope this helps. I have also noticed several of these scam emails now promise to pay by credit card (stolen no doubt).

   Anyway keep safe….

   Bobby
   Barry House B&B
   London, England

   Comment by Bobby Bhasin — 8/22/2006 @ 9:35 am

6. I got some scam emails. I have posted all of them here: https://travelscam.wordpress.com
   The most of them are from “Prof.” or “Dr.”

   Comment by Milan — 11/1/2006 @ 6:16 pm

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