Scam alert

Just got this email (addressed to 'undisclosed recipients'). The tip off is the need for my credit card, and the vague info - and then the immediate reply:

> Greetings
> My name is Peter Schuller. I would like to book for 2 weeks dance
> classes for 3 hours each day Monday to Saturday (morning hours) for a
> group of 12. The group would be performing for a group of family
> members over there.
>
> We are asking for 3 hours per day
for 2 weeks - Monday - Saturday. A
> total of 36 hrs. We would be coming over for holiday and as part of
> our plans we need dance classes as well as choreography in ANY of the
> following area Ballet, belly dance and Pre-Dance as well as Salsa,
> Swing,Tango and Ballroom. Do you teach any of the above? If not, let
> me have the types of dances you teach.
>
> Do you have a training studio/facility where you conduct the classes?
> Do you have guest rooms or any 3 star hotel close to your facility?
>
> DATE: 5TH JULY TO 19TH JULY 2009
>
> I would love to get the total cost or a quote/estimate. What are your
> payment options? Do you accept credit cards? If yes, do you a
> POS/credit card machine in your office?
>
> Your swift response is highly needed. No attachments please.
>
>
> Best Regards,
> Peter Schuller
> 74
Queensborough Terrace
> Bayswater
> London W2

From: Robert Blank
Subject: Re: Booking Details
To: peterschuller78@yahoo.co.uk
Date: Saturday, 25 April, 2009, 12:45 PM

Good morning. I can teach Ballroom to your group. I need to know
more about your situation etc. We teach in NYC.


From: peterschuller78@yahoo.co.uk
Subject: Re: Booking Details
Date: April 25, 2009 9:34:39 AM EDT

Reply-To: peterschuller78@yahoo.co.uk

Hello
Thanks for the quick response. We would love to have the dance lessons on the very ones you listed with you as well as choreography. We want to entertain a group of important guests as well as board members of some cooperate organizations and family members that would be attending the 50th anniversary of our parents. The dancers are all beginners and are at their intermediate stage. We would also love to learn the following if you can be of assistance;
• Stretching, Warming up and Meditation to Ensure optimum results
• Breathing Techniques
• Musical Interpretation
• Complex Combination movements
• Learning how to choreograph

What would be the total cost for the classes for the 4 couples (4 males 4 females) Ages: 27to 42).
DATE: 24TH JUNE TO 10TH JULY 2009

Get back to me with the total cost for the classes. We would like to make reservation immediately.

Kindly send a confirmation to this email as soon as possible.

Best Regards,

Yeah this doesn't sound right. They said 12 people originally in the email, then 8 in the next. They wanted to learn ballet, pre-dance ?, or any ballroom/latin dance seems a bit strange. If anything, they could have received lessons somewhere locally. Why take a vacation and go to a studio for 3 hours of lessons each day???

I'd just ignore any further emails, next thing you know they'll be asking to wire their "payment" to you if you give them all your information first.

You may want to suggest they CALL the studio, then see if he responds.

Just to play devil's advocate for a moment...I did go on vacation, for a week, and took four hours of lessons a day. It was pretty much the reason I went. And it was a very quick timeframe between when I first made contact and when my trip was (2 weeks? 3 weeks?).

Not saying that this is legit--it doesn't seem like it to me--just pointing out that some of those things aren't necessarily so strange.

I just emailed him to give me a phone # so 'we can talk'. Let's see how this evolves.

I'm hoping that if this is a scam that this thread will alert people who are getting this and dissuade them from putting out $$$sss...

I have seen similar emails before. It's a scam. They want to know the total upfront. But then they send you a check for an amount more than you ask and want the difference back. The problem is the check they originally send you is bad, and by the time it goes through the bank, they've already walked away with your real money ("the difference").

Yep, Nigerian Scam. Except this time you get to give the Nigerian Royal Family some dance lessons.

so when they arrive they will inform you that you can assist with millions of dollars locked up in a foreign bank account...

Yep, versions of this have been floating around for the better part of the decade, at least. (I've personally received probably a dozen emails of this nature.)

At the next stage, exactly -- they offer to send a (fake) money order for more than the actual amount, and ask you to send them a (real) check/money order for the difference.
Another friend who teaches dance once went ahead and had the scammers send the (fake) money order, which she passed on to the authorities, along with all the info from them from emails. This involves a variety of sorts of prosecutable fraud, if the authorities can find them.

For some reason, the address given is usually in London, and they are usually rather non-specific about the type of dance they want to learn. Usually the lessons are for their teenage son/daughter, who needs some obscene number of lessons over a very short period of time, and being "on holiday" is always mentioned.

And Peaches -- the thing that is always fishy about these is that they don't care/specify what they'll be learning -- just anything will do! You wouldn't plan to travel to take random lessons, then offer to pay (up front) for hundreds - thousands of dollars of classes in just any old thing. You researched an instructor (or several) who you knew you wanted to learn specific things from, right?

wooh said:

yep, nigerian scam. Except this time you get to give the nigerian royal family some dance lessons.

Click to expand...

419.

So... does this mean it is my turn now? This reads very much like the ones you guys have posted...

(copies and pastes e-mail, and removes name of sender)


E-mail title: Teacher For Argentine Tango dance training.


Hello,

I'm looking for an experienced choreograph/Dance Instructor that could take about 12 individual for Argentine Tango dance training, I will like to get the list of dances you can teach and the cost of teaching them so I can choose the one you will teach them. I will like them to be taught for 2 hours very two days.
What can your establishment offer with regards to the request above as we have performance to participate.
I would like to know what is required cost implication and any other thing that will be require for a successful training for at least four weeks between the month of May and June 2009.

Kindly get back to me if you can offer anything by a return mail via this email with details because they have no experience on that before.
Best regards,
[name removed]

sounds similar....

A close friend of mine was actually scammed by this, I know it PERSONALLY to be a scam, and at the time I was naive enough to not see the warning signs and did not warn the person, unfortunately. Do NOT do this. It's usually of european origin, and according to the FBI, who I talked to with my friend about it, the funds usually go to support terrorism of various kinds.

The process is:
- You receive a check (it looks real!) for more than the actual agreed-upon amount (wow, amazing!)
- You are asked to send the difference back via western union
- You take cash from the check for the difference (say, $2K-$5K or so) and send it to them
- The check bounces, and your account gets hit for the amount of the check

The email address for these people will usually have a number in them (this case '78'), as they just register a bunch of email addresses so they can't be tracked easily, and they are usually from another country outside the US (.co.uk, .gr, .fr, etc.). The guy, after scamming my friend, had the audacity to call before the check bounced and say that they had changed their mind, and asked for a full refund of the remaining amount--very bold but clever.

I'm unfortunately very familiar with this so if anyone has a question about it please ask--I just got one of these actually a few days ago. I think I'll respond back just to mess with him.

Thank you Josh!

Here is the unedited e-mail I received:

--- On Thu, 4/30/09, Martin <mb_reserv1@yahoo.com> wrote:

From: Martin <mb_reserv1@yahoo.com>
Subject: Teacher For Argentine Tango dance training.
To:
Date: Thursday, April 30, 2009, 10:18 PM


-----Inline Attachment Follows-----

Hello,

I'm looking for an experienced choreograph/Dance Instructor that could take about 12 individual for Argentine Tango dance training, I will like to get the list of dances you can teach and the cost of teaching them so I can choose the one you will teach them. I will like them to be taught for 2 hours very two days.
What can your establishment offer with regards to the request above as we have performance to participate.
I would like to know what is required cost implication and any other thing that will be require for a successful training for at least four weeks between the month of May and June 2009.

Kindly get back to me if you can offer anything by a return mail via this email with details because they have no experience on that before.
Best regards,
Martin Bruce
​

Click to expand...

I searched for their e-mail on Google and came across a post on a photography messageboard where somebody was being scammed with the same e-mail: http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2008/04/28/photographer-scam/

Eva Johansson wrote:
Hello,
I am is Mr Martin Bruce,I am looking for an experienced wedding photographer who will handle my wedding dinner for a group of people who will be attending the wedding ceremony.Seven will arrive few days before the wedding day.
The wedding is expected to hold on the 20th December,2008 and 25 to 40 guests are expected to attend.
Get back to me with your total cost as we don’t have much time with.
you will have to contact me on my email mb_reserv1@yahoo.com
Best Regards,
Martin Bruce
[Reply]
Posted 11 Nov 2008 at 4:13 pm ¶

Click to expand...

Oh and one last note - When I clicked "reply" it turns out the mb_reserv1@yahoo.com was a mask. The e-mail I was replying to was mb_reserv2@yahoo.com.

So, definitely a scam.

I didn't know the Nigerian scam was being used to target people who offer services for a living. I knew this was a problem on eBay, Craigslist, and other various online marketplaces where con artists would send a fake check of excessive payment. If successful, the con artist would receive a free item and free "refunded" cash, while the seller would be out the item, shipping, whatever money they refunded, and the entire amount of the fake bounced check.

I got one of those on facebook! He wanted me to "teach in India" or something like that.... it was very odd. I felt like a mail-order-bride. I've gotten some great emails from people :-D