Am I right or paranoid...

[The Grocer]

...or both?

I've had an enquiry (by non-traceable e-mails via Gmail and msn) from a party for a day's tour. This chap has now had to toddle off on urgent business, leaving a second party to organise things.

The requirement has gone from a one day charter/tour to a five day charter with skipper (in late October) which requires a vessel "that can comfortably hold 6 people" but is for a party of nine (who are currently on an "OIL RIG" somewhere on the planet) and can only pay by credit card...

...y'know, I've got the strangest feeling about this one. Perhaps it should be referred to Strathclyde's Finest's Marine Team.

Any suggestions should be written on the back of a nine-bob note

[Nos4r2]

Originally Posted by The Grocer

...or both?

I've had an enquiry (by non-traceable e-mails via Gmail and msn) from a party for a day's tour. This chap has now had to toddle off on urgent business, leaving a second party to organise things.

The requirement has gone from a one day charter/tour to a five day charter with skipper (in late October) which requires a vessel "that can comfortably hold 6 people" but is for a party of nine (who are currently on an "OIL RIG" somewhere on the planet) and can only pay by credit card...

...y'know, I've got the strangest feeling about this one. Perhaps it should be referred to Strathclyde's Finest's Marine Team.

Any suggestions should be written on the back of a nine-bob note

Hard to see how they'd gain anything by a scam-unless they are going to 'overpay and ask for cash back'.

Does sound a little more fishy than a trawlerman's armpit though... Why not ring the card number through before taking payment?

[willk]

... and they're going to pay you (ever so slightly overgenerously) by cc first I bet. Yeah, you're right. It was Ghanans with me. Tell them they have to pay cash or cc on the day, no returns or repayments. You'll have no more trouble.

The feckers ran up £6000 on my website on fake cards. Grrrrr!

[The Grocer]

Originally Posted by Nos4r2

Hard to see how they'd gain anything by a scam-unless they are going to 'overpay and ask for cash back'.

That was one of the thoughts wandering around my mind.

Originally Posted by Nos4r2

Does sound a little more fishy than a trawlerman's armpit though... Why not ring the card number through before taking payment?

Negotiations haven't got that far yet - I can't do a full week anyway (other commitments) - perhaps I can pass them on to the SR4 brigade to deal with as they see fit

[Nos4r2]

By MSN do you mean MSN messenger? If they email you with an @msn.com email addy the host computers IP should be visible in the header. Might even be visible in the gmail header-though I've never looked at one.

Using an online IP locator will give you a good idea of the rough location of them.

Here's one for Ebay:-


http://www.dnswatch.info/dns/ip-loca...bmit=Locate+IP

[Bigmuz7]

I always take the money up front on credit card. The hire contract is with who ever pays, IE card holder which they verify by showing the card and providing proof of their id ,.. however in my case its because I'm leaving equipment with someone I don't know, .. if you've taken the money on agreed terms, (IE if they mess you about its agreed its non refundable , or at least not in full due to you having to make arrangements & commitments) what would still worry you after that ?

[Andy Gee]

Originally Posted by The Grocer

...or both?

I've had an enquiry (by non-traceable e-mails via Gmail and msn) from a party for a day's tour. This chap has now had to toddle off on urgent business, leaving a second party to organise things.

The requirement has gone from a one day charter/tour to a five day charter with skipper (in late October) which requires a vessel "that can comfortably hold 6 people" but is for a party of nine (who are currently on an "OIL RIG" somewhere on the planet) and can only pay by credit card...

...y'know, I've got the strangest feeling about this one. Perhaps it should be referred to Strathclyde's Finest's Marine Team.

Any suggestions should be written on the back of a nine-bob note

We've had this one and ones very similar recently. Usually the next thing will be him asking you to include for something like travel agents etc etc.
But hey in the current climate youve got to "play" aling and then if he starts asking for other things just tell him you only do boats- that usually scares them off.
HTH
Andy

[m chappelow]

new of someone a couple of months ago that had a similar email from a certain african country ,they ordered and sent payment ,,[dont know exactly how cheque or card],, to him he cashed it then they cancelled and wanted their money back before any futher action his bank stopped his account as the payment was found to be fraundulant or stolen , apparently its a form of money laundering from another country,just best beware ,

[severncoxswain]

Originally Posted by Nos4r2

Using an online IP locator will give you a good idea of the rough location of them.

IP Locaters wont actually give you the proper location.....the signal is bounced around the entire world most of the time, and will end up leading you to somewhere random in the world......There usless.......There is only one way to trace emails, which is with a post graduate course of computer forensics at uni.......

I'm kinda a geek......

I would advice that you check with banks on the cc just incase it's fraud which sounds like it......I would be very aware of the 'bull dog'........my term in computing for cc fraud ect.....

[Nos4r2]

Originally Posted by severncoxswain

IP Locaters wont actually give you the proper location.....the signal is bounced around the entire world most of the time, and will end up leading you to somewhere random in the world...

I know. It's not about precise location, more that it's obviously not where they say they are.

[severncoxswain]

No wat I mean is that, any IP address will be bounced around the world before it reaches your IP provider....e.g. Sky....Virgin Media ect.....Try it with your own IP adress and you'll know wat I mean

[MikeCC]

Are they overseas individuals? Just ask for copies of passports and the credit card front and back plus street address for card.

[Poly]

Originally Posted by severncoxswain

No wat I mean is that, any IP address will be bounced around the world before it reaches your IP provider....e.g. Sky....Virgin Media ect.....Try it with your own IP adress and you'll know wat I mean

I frequently geographically lookup IP addresses. In my experience legitiamite users from the "western world" show as coming from roughly the right place.

e.g. my home computer reports "Edinburgh" (about 15 miles out); my office computer shows as Maidstone - which is wrong (athough the right country) but the ISP is based there. All my main customers either correctly lookup to their actual country (and increasingly to their actual region/city) or to the city where their global headquarters are based. (Actually one customer in England shows as being in "Dublin" for no obvious reason).

Whilst I don't doubt that someone conducting fraud can ensure that their IP address reports back to being in whichever country they desire - as a first check if he says he's in London and his IP address says Nigeria then it doesn't add up. Likewise if he say he is in Germany and it lists as Rusia then its not right. Is it fool proof - no; is it a quick and easy way to avoid wasting time yes.

[willk]

In my experience, the first giveaway is their language, the sentence construction is never "right" for the profile they're trying fit. The first communication is generally fairly good, as it's had a lot of time spent on it, some variation on a generic model, but the next few generally are a bit "off".

[JSP]

Originally Posted by willk

In my experience, the first giveaway is their language, the sentence construction is never "right" for the profile they're trying fit. The first communication is generally fairly good, as it's had a lot of time spent on it, some variation on a generic model, but the next few generally are a bit "off".

A bit like,
"My Friend how is you. Good to day I am hoping.
Numbers I have for you for our trip............"

[willk]

Originally Posted by JSP

A bit like,
"My Friend how is you. Good to day I am hoping.
Numbers I have for you for our trip............"

Ye Gods JSP - it's been YOU all this time!

[JSP]

Originally Posted by willk

Ye Gods JSP - it's been YOU all this time!

I...err....I'm....errrm....oh well it's a fair cop!
Would my friend not miss this fanatic opportunity to buy this latest Atari computer?
Yours for only 400 of our english punds!

[severncoxswain]

We all becoming fraud detectors know a days and things or wat All for a good cause though

[John Kennett]

Originally Posted by severncoxswain

IP Locaters wont actually give you the proper location.....the signal is bounced around the entire world most of the time, and will end up leading you to somewhere random in the world......There usless.......There is only one way to trace emails, which is with a post graduate course of computer forensics at uni.......

With most genuine emails it is relatively easy to establish the originating IP, and to decide whether or not it's suspicious. The routing of the email is largely irrelevant, and it's not complicated.

For instance, your IP tells me that you are in Livingston as your profile says. It also tells me that you are connecting through a major ISP. Most scammers lack the clue to fake this information, so it's a fairly good indication that you are where you say you are. If your IP resolved to another country, or an obscure organisation, it would be a possible indicator that something might be amiss.

It's not 100% reliable, but is definitely useful. It certainly doesn't require a post graduate course of computer forensics though.

[severncoxswain]

Originally Posted by John Kennett

It certainly doesn't require a post graduate course of computer forensics though.

If you really wanted to trace it to a pesific computer a post grad course would come in useful though...