My interaction with a Hyacinth scam artist (term used loosely)

[JJones1719]

Plax (Tony) sorry about that. That's why I said CIA is looking for a few good men and woman, wasn't sure. LOL. You're right I wouldn't be a good CIA agent.

I love that you were able to get them to admin that wrong they did was wrong. Not sure if this will open their eyes to see what they are doing is wrong and get them to stop.

Speaking from someone who had his Identity stolen, it's not fun and takes a very long time to get it off of your credit. It has taken me 11 years. And sometimes i still get calls from collectors but I refuse to pay or do anything. I ask them to take me to court and this stops their calls.

I would love to meet the person or people who did this to me.

Keep up the great work Tony
Thanks Joe

 

[WharfRat]

I thought I had posted on this thread days ago, I guess not. Yea Plax, I've been known to do the same thing to scammers, especially since I do use CL quite a bit. It's always fun to "toy" with them a little. All the ones I've messed with panicked when I called their bluff though and I never heard from them again.

Yea, sending a virus or DOS attack ain't that hard, but I haven't played with that stuff in quite a while, mainly dabbled in it for "educational" reasons long ago. But it sure was fun back in the day to boot someone that got a little too mouthy. :54:

 

[plax]

Plax (Tony) sorry about that. That's why I said CIA is looking for a few good men and woman, wasn't sure. LOL. You're right I wouldn't be a good CIA agent.

I love that you were able to get them to admin that wrong they did was wrong. Not sure if this will open their eyes to see what they are doing is wrong and get them to stop.

Speaking from someone who had his Identity stolen, it's not fun and takes a very long time to get it off of your credit. It has taken me 11 years. And sometimes i still get calls from collectors but I refuse to pay or do anything. I ask them to take me to court and this stops their calls.

I would love to meet the person or people who did this to me.

Keep up the great work Tony
Thanks Joe

No problem, Joe. It's all good . And thanks... I'm happy, too , that the person replied and at least admitted guilt.

 

[plax]

I thought I had posted on this thread days ago, I guess not. Yea Plax, I've been known to do the same thing to scammers, especially since I do use CL quite a bit. It's always fun to "toy" with them a little. All the ones I've messed with panicked when I called their bluff though and I never heard from them again.

Yea, sending a virus or DOS attack ain't that hard, but I haven't played with that stuff in quite a while, mainly dabbled in it for "educational" reasons long ago. But it sure was fun back in the day to boot someone that got a little too mouthy. :54:

Yeah, I'm not the type to use malicious tools to punish others, even in cases where someone clearly deserves punishment. Ironically, though, I know how to use many malicious tools, since I've experimented with several of them in testing scenarios. For example, in my hosting business I've had customers who have set up DDoS networks on my servers - which of course is strictly against our policy. Several such times, after terminating and locking the offending accounts, I had fun gaining plenty of 'know-how' by usurping their attack-botnets and playing/experimenting a good bit with them within various test environments. I've similarly played with viruses, worms, and trojan bundles as well.

 

[Birdlover11]

Cant believe she responded, and admitted she's a scammer ! I agree, if she's scamming people and is poor and homeless, where the heck did she get a laptop from ? I don't think she will stop scamming, the idea of getting 200 bucks for free , it's tempting

 

[WharfRat]

Yeah, I'm not the type to use malicious tools to punish others

Oh, I wasn't doing any real harm back then, they'd just temporarily lose their internet connection (time-out errors).

I've been hacked by a Pro once, it was NOT fun.

 

[plax]

Yeah, I'm not the type to use malicious tools to punish others

Oh, I wasn't doing any real harm back then, they'd just temporarily lose their internet connection (time-out errors).

Yeah, I hear ya... But if someone is firing a DDoS attack at a website's IP, depending upon the size of the company that owns the website, it may easily be considered 'real harm' due to loss of revenue during the down time.

 

[JerseyWendy]

Is there a book out there for me...like how "Protect Yourself from Malicous PC People"...or something like that. :54: JUST KIDDING!

 

[plax]

Cant believe she responded, and admitted she's a scammer !

He/she gave a name in the first admission reply. That name is: "numfor nicholas neba". It may well not be his/her real name, but I hadn't asked for him/her to provide it to me. While he/she may have volunteered this potentially false name in order to throw off anyone from learning his/her true identity, it sounds like a male name to me. That's why I've been calling this person "him". But what do I know about gender representation among Camerooni names? Not a whole lot

I agree, if she's scamming people and is poor and homeless, where the heck did she get a laptop from ?

He/she probably stole it from someone .

I don't think she will stop scamming, the idea of getting 200 bucks for free , it's tempting

Sadly, you're probably correct.

 

[MeganMango]

Cant believe she responded, and admitted she's a scammer !

He/she gave a name in the first admission reply. That name is: "numfor nicholas neba". It may well not be his/her real name, but I hadn't asked for him/her to provide it to me. While he/she may have volunteered this potentially false name in order to throw off anyone from learning his/her true identity, it sounds like a male name to me. That's why I've been calling this person "him". But what do I know about gender representation among Camerooni names? Not a whole lot

I agree, if she's scamming people and is poor and homeless, where the heck did she get a laptop from ?

He/she probably stole it from someone .

I don't think she will stop scamming, the idea of getting 200 bucks for free , it's tempting

Sadly, you're probably correct.

Its too bad its so hard to help people living in poverty. This person claims to be a student. If we are going to believe them, then it sounds like they are trying to better their life. Sadly there are few options for people in the third world, even with an education. I looked into it, but I couldnt find anything on assistance for people in Cameroon. The best way to deal with this in a perfect world would be to provide legal options for getting help.

 

[kalinka]

I know this scammers. I was seeking for the bird and found macaw in my area(cleveland) they were very cheap, because( as the ad says) they could not keep them anymore. There were male and female. After I emailed, the reply was that they moved away a week ago but they will be happy to ship it. His wife died and its too sad for him to look at this birds!!! I understood that its a scam . Horrible people

 

[plax]

Cant believe she responded, and admitted she's a scammer !

He/she gave a name in the first admission reply. That name is: "numfor nicholas neba". It may well not be his/her real name, but I hadn't asked for him/her to provide it to me. While he/she may have volunteered this potentially false name in order to throw off anyone from learning his/her true identity, it sounds like a male name to me. That's why I've been calling this person "him". But what do I know about gender representation among Camerooni names? Not a whole lot


He/she probably stole it from someone .

I don't think she will stop scamming, the idea of getting 200 bucks for free , it's tempting

Sadly, you're probably correct.

Its too bad its so hard to help people living in poverty. This person claims to be a student. If we are going to believe them, then it sounds like they are trying to better their life. Sadly there are few options for people in the third world, even with an education. I looked into it, but I couldnt find anything on assistance for people in Cameroon. The best way to deal with this in a perfect world would be to provide legal options for getting help.

Cameroon is indeed an extremely poor country. Hence it happens to be from where many of these scam ads originate. The question becomes whether or not to believe this individual's admission claims. One thing to consider is that this individual did not have to reply to me. And it's entirely possible that his/her reply may have been inspired by some degree of guilt. But the second element in this scenario is that we know for certain that this individual has been engaging in dishonest conduct that has been harmful to others, and doing so purely for his/her personal gains (be they life-sustaining ones or not). So to trust this individual's explanation, at the very least, would be to trust a proven swindler.

Then, even considering that this individual's explanation may in fact be true, there's still a second reality. That is, it's because of people like this individual that many folks have been, and are continuing to be put off from providing good homes to companion birds in need. Although I have sympathy for people suffering from misfortune in third world countries, my heart lies predominantly with the companion birds in need. But I can certainly see where this combination of facts may pose a dilemma for some of us.

 

[Turquoise]

This isn't a scam about birds, but it is a serious scam in itself. Today I have received two emails, both worded exactly the same claiming that my PayPal account has been temporarily limited. It goes on to tell me to go to a certain link to correct the problem.

I am not that old & stupid to believe an email & I went to the PayPal site to report the emails. I knew it was not from PayPal as I have done business through them way too many times & know what their emails look like & how they are addressed.

I just thought I'd mention this as I know whoever is trying to scam their customers has sent this email out to lots of folks. If anyone gets anything from PayPal that doesn't sound right or even if it does, the best thing to do to check it out is to go to their site, not any link in the email.

Oh yeah, at the very bottom where legitimate emails from business addresses say something to the effect to not reply to this email because it is not monitored & you will not get a reply. This email said, "Don't bother replying to this email cause it will just confuse the computer it was written on." Cone'on now, can't these idiots come up with a more intelligent sounding reason than that? LOL

 

[plax]

This isn't a scam about birds, but it is a serious scam in itself. Today I have received two emails, both worded exactly the same claiming that my PayPal account has been temporarily limited. It goes on to tell me to go to a certain link to correct the problem.

I am not that old & stupid to believe an email & I went to the PayPal site to report the emails. I knew it was not from PayPal as I have done business through them way too many times & know what their emails look like & how they are addressed.

I just thought I'd mention this as I know whoever is trying to scam their customers has sent this email out to lots of folks. If anyone gets anything from PayPal that doesn't sound right or even if it does, the best thing to do to check it out is to go to their site, not any link in the email.

Oh yeah, at the very bottom where legitimate emails from business addresses say something to the effect to not reply to this email because it is not monitored & you will not get a reply. This email said, "Don't bother replying to this email cause it will just confuse the computer it was written on." Cone'on now, can't these idiots come up with a more intelligent sounding reason than that? LOL

Yep. That's a typical "phishing" attempt. This type of scammer sends out emails with the intent of convincing the recipients to click on their fake links, which will in turn take the recipients to phony websites (fake PayPal sites etc.). Either within these spoofed email messages, or at the phony websites, there will be instructions to enter the individual's login information for a claimed purpose of resetting said individual's account particulars/credentials so the account's limitations (non-existent ones) can be lifted. What really happens, though, is the login information the individual enters goes directly to the scammer, who uses it to hijack the individual's account and steal his or her money.

You can easily tell if an email is legitimately from PayPal because PayPal always begins by greeting its customers with their real names or the real names of their businesses. Conversely, the fake emails typically greet individuals with "Dear PayPal Customer...".

I frequently have to deal with scammers who have hijacked PayPal accounts that belong to someone else. They often try to purchase hosting service from me with the stolen account access. Their efforts are not appreciated in the slightest !

(Edit: If you receive one of these "phishing" PayPal emails, you can forward it to [email protected])

 

[plax]

Update:

Last evening I decided to ask this scammer some additional questions. Below is the text from my email to him. Following that is his response.


plax (mobile) <*****@gmail.com>

8:34 PM (8 hours ago)

to debora

OK, I understand. I appreciate your replies and I especially appreciate your willingness to be truthful. How did the person who paid you $250 react when you did not deliver the bird(s) to them? Were they very angry with you? Did you reply to them again? And if you replied to them, what did you tell them?

And thank you for assuring me that you will stop doing this.


debora kellins

12:43 AM (4 hours ago)

to me

he got realy mad with me and then i tried telling hem the birds where
under custudy at the airport for no insurance then he said i can go
take my birds back.
hope you and your family are doing fine. please i will advice you
never to buy any thing online cuz 98 percent of them are scams and
they even do change their ip addresses okay . that was the mistake i
mad cuz if i had changed mine then you would have not gotten me . so
be wise.okay


Interestingly, this person seems confident that his only mistake in attempting to successfully perpetrate a scam upon me was his failure to utilize a US web proxy when accessing my website. The reality, of course, is that I knew his offer was a scam from the outset, even before our correspondence. The sole reason I contacted this person is to interrogate him. I'm certainly not in the market for another bird!

 

[jaco]

how long did it take u to learn. and how many people u got in the united states that help you

 

[Narkissios]

how long did it take u to learn. and how many people u got in the united states that help you

Generally to learn the skills required takes years of study.

The network administrators union is massive, thousands of specilized people work day and night back tracking ip addresses to isps. Even chagning your ip wont help much as the isp can be identified and then logs can be obtained of which account held which ip and when, which also gives home adresses ect.

Its all very technical.

I am currently tracking a scammer who is trying to get me to use western union to unlock my paypal money. The interesting part is they say thier offshore on an oil rig with no internet yet they can email. Track the ip back welcome cameroon again.

Anyway.....

 

[JerseyWendy]

how long did it take u to learn. and how many people u got in the united states that help you

Welcome to the forum, jaco.
The questions you asked indicate you must have been the victim of a scammer. Is that the case?

 

[emmett518]

I wonder if you could send them a box of dog poop instead of the laptop?