Monday, October 23, 2006

Apparently I seem like a chump

I tried to sell my extra iBook battery on Craigslist and I got a very quick response. I was happy about it, but I quickly started to suspect that I was talking to a bot. Finally he agreed to pay me $110 + $3 for shipping materials, and to send me a USPS money order along with a prepaid UPS shipping label.

Then I got this:

From: unitedstatespostal_order@post.com
To: xxxxx
Date: Wed, 18 Oct 2006 12:21:01 -0500
Subject: Order Approved











 


USPS MONEY ORDER


 APPROVED


USPS Money Order of $110.00 sent by [dirty scammer] to Richard Liang has been successflly processed and has consequently been approved. 












Postage Payment Options for Business
Send Money




Many choices for you to send money and pay bills.









 

Dear  Richard Liang,
Congratulations! The order placed by the buyer of your item: [dirty scammer] to have a United States Postal Service branded Money Order SM $110.00 (USD) sent to you as payment for the item: 12" iBook G4 Li-Ion battery . Payment has been successfully processed and has consequently been APPROVED. The financial details of the transaction are stated below:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*FINANCIAL DETAILS*
(NOTE: All amounts are in USD)
-----------------------------
Item Site         :
www.craigslist.com
Item Description : 12" iBook G4 Li-Ion battery


Total  : $110.00
-----------------------------

Address Verification

The Money OrderSM will be delivered to your contact information below, Please verify that the name and address (As entered by the buyer) are correct: 

 

 


Name             :    Richard Liang
Address         :    xxxxx
City                :    xxxxx
State              :    XX
Zipcode          :    xxxxx
Country         :    xxxxx
Email             :   
xxxxx


 




If there is an error in the name or address, Please email our representative at  unitedstatespostal_rep@consultant.com

 


The order has been APPROVED, you CAN NOW ship the merchandise to the buyer's shipping address. You are expected to make the shipment within 48 hours of recieving this Payment Confirmation Notification and get to our Costumer/Technical Dept. with the tracking number for Shipment Verification.

The Money Order SM will NOT be dispatched or get to your resident until the shipment has been verified. This measure is taken in order to protect both seller and buyer's interests and to reduce the occurrence of fraudulent activities.


Due to the fact that United States Postal Service processes thousands of orders daily, United States Postal Service RECOMMENDS contacting the Customer Support Representative that has been assigned to this particular Order directly. This ensures speedy verification of shipment as well as prompt dispatch of Money Order SM. Send shipment tracking details to : unitedstatespostal_rep@consultant.com









Money Order Security Features  








Things to check for to ensure a Money Order is authentic.
 

Postal Money Orders are safe to use because they have many security features that help distinguish between real and counterfeit notes. Just like our own U.S. currency, they are specially designed with different colored inks, watermarks, and security thread in the paper tip envelop

Hold the money order up to the light and look for the following security features:









Ben Franklin images (watermarks) repeated on the left side (top to bottom).

A dark security thread running (top to bottom) to the right of the Franklin watermark, with the tiny letters “USPS” facing backward and forward










      Also below is the sample of the money order that will be delivered to you after we have receive the shipment tracking number from you.






       If we do not hear from you as soon as expected the payment will be returned back to the buyer. We will be  awaiting  you to ship the item and mail us the shipment tracking number so that we can send out your payment.With this no buyer can stop payment with a false claim that there is no longer any transaction between the two of you after you might have shipped the items.We are your mediator,we stand between both the buyer and the seller because we have our name to protect.
    
     Thank you for using Postal Money Order Payments® ExpressPayment SM. We look forward serving your Online Money Order Payments® needs in future.

                                                                      "Domestic Money Orders"


*Purchase with cash, debit card, or traveler's check
*Valid for an unlimited period
* Can be cashed at any Post Office or can be deposited or negotiated at your financial institution
*Replace damaged, lost, or stolen money orders.
 
Thank you for using postal money order. We look forward to serving your online
 payment needs in the future.


HERE IS THE PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION WHICH YOU CAN PRINT OUT
Order Status And Informations:







































































































Order Number:
44485295697

 Payments Order Status:

AVAILABLE

Order Placed
17th Oct 2006

Order Status

Money order Available

Money Order Approved

Money Order  Confirmed
 

Billing Information:

Status:

Processed successfully

Name on Account
[dirty scammer]

Account number

*****************

Services Purchased:

USPS Money Order

Payment for Item

$110.00

 

CASH DELIVERY

Purchased Item Information:

 

Auction site


Item Description
12" iBook G4 Li-Ion battery

Number of Item

N/L

 


 

Seller Information:

 

Name
Richard Liang

Street address

xxxxx

City, State, Zip

xxxxx

Country


xxxxx

Phone Number
N/L

Email
xxxxx

 
 

We required a proper verification for shipment, before mailing the reference number slip of money order.






Priority Mail envelope


 

Thank you for using United State Postal Money Order Payments copyright®.  We look forward to serving your online auction payment needs in the future.

 


Sincerely,
United State Postal Money Order Payments copyright®













Signature Confirmation

 

USPS Homepage

 

Federal Bureau of Investigation Banner



 

--


Firstly, note that this isn't for $113, it's for $110.

Secondly, note that it requires me to ship the product within 48 hours... when I didn't even have the shipping address.

Thirdly, "United State Postal Money Order Payments copyright®". Right.

Fourthly, there's an ad at the bottom of the page.

If you wanna scam Dickolas, you're gonna have to do better than that.

4 comments:

___________ said...

My favourite part:

"The Money Order SM will NOT be dispatched or get to your resident until the shipment has been verified. This measure is taken in order to protect both seller and buyer's interests and to reduce the occurrence of fraudulent activities."

Anonymous said...

I didn't spend a lot of my time rebuilding your website to have you deface it with shitty boundary-passing images.

Dickolas Wang said...

I know it sucks, but at the same time I think it's truest to the spirit of the e-mail.

GOC said...

wow.... the bad grammar alone should be obvious enough. What do they expect to gain from this little scam?