What is this? A scam?

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framinzfun

MGF, Master Grumble Framer
Joined
Aug 28, 2002
Posts
893
Loc
eastern pa
I just received this email. It screams scam to me... and I really have no idea what the point is of the whole thing....

Dear sir / Madam ,

My name is Mr...bill huffman and am contact you to know if you sell Picture Framing
. If you do, i would really appreciate it a lot if you could send me an email back with a price on this two type OF PICTURE FRAMES I WANT YOU TO GIVE ME THE PRICE ON EACH SIZE I GIVE YOU

Wood Document Frame with Black Mat, Desk/Wall, 11 x 14, Brushed Charcoal or

brand new 6x8 picture/photo frame (meaning a 6'' x 8'' or a 8'' x 6'' print will fit just right). Solid wood, semi-circle profiled 0.875'' wide and 0.625'' thick molding with a 0.25'' deep rabbet is covered with a thin layer of gesso and painted black. It also features thin gold leaf insert around the opening.

. As soon as you provide me with a price quote including sales tax, i can then e-mail you back with my credit card details for the total payment to enable you order them in for me. Let me know if payment by credit card is okey with you as this is the only method of payment i can provide. I will be awaiting your response back the soonest.
best regards
mr.bill huffman
 
That has about a 90% chance of being a scam. Next theyd ask for 100 of them or even 1000, to be picked up by a courier. (shipping company paid with a fake credit card to pick it up and re-ship it). Sometimes they'll ask you to mail it to a US address, which is a re-shipper and will send it overseas. The shipping company is usually a victim of fraud, also.

One way you can often tell is to look at the HEADERS of the email, which may be hidden initially. You can determine the IP ADDRESS where the message came from, to determine the most likely country of origin. The fake ones will often originate in China or Russia.

By the time the cardholder realizes they have bad charges on the account, the recipient will already have the merchandise. Unfortunately, the vendor (yourself and the shipping company) are usually stuck taking the loss - because you don't have a swipe or imprint of the card.

If it's going to China, you have to ask why they would be buying it for a much higher price from USA when it was probably manufactured locally in China.

It COULD be legitimate, but approach with caution :)

Mike
 
Also be wary of someone trying to over pay you with a check or credit card, then they want you to send them a check for the overpayment. SCAM!
 
The guy didn't even capitalize his own name, it's a scam. You should e-mail him back and tell him you only sell used frames or that you are German and only work in metric so he needs to convert the units into metric before you give him a quote and that he should type everything backwards due to your dyslexia.
 
I would never reply to stuff like this. If you do, even for a bit of fun, you could go on the guy's 'sucker' list, which he may well sell to other scammers.:icon11:
 
I have been getting similar ones about acrylic.

If the email starts with "My name is Mr." it's probably a scam.

Our Nigerian friends seem to think that calling themselves "Mr." will make us think it's legitimate.
 
Now I finally feel like part of the group - I just received an identically worded email only difference was the signature - mine was from "mr jamal jones."

DELETE!!!
 
I get the same from Dr. and Rev. wanting a large # of frames. Always delete. Too good to be true?....then it is. If you open you get bumped up on the mailing lists. I personally find it offensive that they use those titles to gain trust in tose who are not that knowledgeable about these sheep in wolfs clothing.
 
Too Funny! I have a customer who just emailed me asking for the same thing!

"Goodmorning,

######## My name is ...al ...nes
#and# I will like to know if you can supply me with a special Order# Picture Framing
#
can you get me
6x8 picture/photo frame (meaning a 6'' x 8'' or a 8'' x 6'' print will fit just right). Solid wood, semi-circle profiled 0.875'' wide and 0.625'' thick molding with a 0.25'' deep rabbet is covered with a thin layer of gesso and painted black. It also features thin gold leaf insert around the opening.
# can you give me price plus tax without shipping i want# the Picture Framing
to# pick up

# Please advice so that we can get the ball rolling.Please advice if u
take
## credit cards
best regards
mr. ...al ...nes"
 
I got similar message last year, but then it got topped:

One day I received a phone call from some 800 number (caller id, some communications company). I answered it, turned out to be somewhat legit. It was a TTY operator normally used by hearing-impaired people to call those that don't have terminals. Whatever I say, the operator types back to the caller, who types in return, then is read back to me.

After the introductions and acceptance, the operator begins reading the caller's message. It started to sound EXACTLY like these e-mails! I quickly apologized to the operator and told her that was a scam and that I do not wish to continue the call.

How low do you have to stoop to get free picture frames by abusing a legitimate service for people with disabilities?! No, that's WORSE than stealing Christmas presents on Christmas eve!

I've since received only one or two more message, and haven't been bothered. I've also taken our e-mail address off of our website to keep the crawlers guessing.

And thanks Mike, I knew this was a scam, but didn't know how they were making off with it. Reminds me of one where I was sent a check for $10,000 too much, and they wanted me to pay them back. (I never cashed the check).
 
I feel for the one guy in Nigeria who honestly needs
to order a shinny gold frame for his honey and wants
to have it ready for when he gets here. The fifty zillion others
who run these scams have made doing so an impossiblity. :p
 
W.C.Framer said:
I got similar message last year, but then it got topped:

One day I received a phone call from some 800 number (caller id, some communications company). I answered it, turned out to be somewhat legit. It was a TTY operator normally used by hearing-impaired people to call those that don't have terminals. Whatever I say, the operator types back to the caller, who types in return, then is read back to me.

After the introductions and acceptance, the operator begins reading the caller's message. It started to sound EXACTLY like these e-mails! I quickly apologized to the operator and told her that was a scam and that I do not wish to continue the call.
Click to expand...

I had the same thing happen to me about a year ago. I figured that it was a scam. But it was a simple quote to do, so I did it. Then I told him he would have to put half down before I would start, so he gave me a credit card number and his "name". 30 seconds later I was on the phone to the fraud department of the issuing bank of the card. Sure enough, that account had been closed months before. That was the end of it.
 
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