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What do you think, scam?

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by dhcdbd 2 views

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I just received this email. It is outside of the area I normally do business. The spelling is terrible and the wording makes me think something is not right. What do you think?

"Hello Their
Am Cindy by name,I live in OHIOand right now i work in Tennese, I
read your description and am interested in your services, I just
brought some computers from New Baltmore and they are D510 Dell
laptops. I want you to Installation of Laptops and Servers, clean
inner and outercomputer components,Upgrade troubleshoot, Remove
Viruses, Pop-ups, Spyware,Hardware installation, Windows installation
and update software to current status,Get back to me with your total
cost for the services of eight Dell Laptops excluding the shipping
cost cus i have a shipper that will come with the computers and the
necessary Softwares to you. I await your Swift response so that i can
put the arrangement in order.I need certified experience person With a
commitment to making computing simple and a belief in personal.
Thanks
Cindy"

31 replies

by wanttocancel

All the typos scream scam. Yes, there are people out there that don't have even a basic understanding of writing English but this is too much.

by oh smeg

Is one of the Gen Y er who didn't buther to woory about even thre most basic things in life like breathing.

Shee is obviously one of the Text Generation where close enough is perfectly acceptiably cus peuple understand exactly what he means here.

But the question here is not weathur Cindy is legit or not but why did you get thus E-Mail asking for a Guesstimate. Lets see as Sindi is defiantly one of the Gen Y s-h-it has 1 install Disc and wants thee computers reloaded with Pirate suftware and will sent Gino around to make sure that you pay her for the privilege of stealing from M$ most likely working on stolen computers and over all doing what is considered as Illegal Things.

Personally I would have sent that straight to the Trash and not given it a second thought. :)

Oh and most likely Gino will want to pay for ll of this with a Credit Card which is stolen too and you get to pay the bank for the privilage of thinking about this.

Col

by mamies

I am only the age of 20 and I would be classed as being in the age range of these people who can not be bothered to write correctly.

That made me laugh on the difficulty to read. The people that spell like this all of the time must be a kind of talented bunch just to make sense of what they write in such a fast manner.

by w2ktechman

however you need to remove popups, viruses, spyware, etc...
Hmmm -- Is the Shipper HOT? :D
and with the other typos, are we sure it's not Stripper??

by rob miners

contact information supplied. If there was a phone number you could check it out. It doesn't look right to me, more like someone trying to have a lend of you.

by dhcdbd

Actually sounds like the units are hot or... or an attempt to harvest email addresses.

by rob miners

if it had of included contact numbers I probably would have checked them, but as far as I can see they were trying to pull the wool over your eyes.

by boxfiddler Hot topic

to me to have the authority to hire you even if this is legit. Which I kinda doubt. Nothing about that looks remotely intelligent. Maybe she's the hot unit.

by dhcdbd

anyone with English that bad would be a hot unit.

by boxfiddler Hot topic

I now notice that the Thumb count isn't updating. Time to b*tch! :D

by oh smeg

But I have my doubts. However I have in the past got E-Mails from potential Customers who want things from various Web Pages and District Listings.

One was even legit though I had my doubts as it was a business wanting to buy hardware and the E-Mail account was from G Mail. In that case when they made the initial Inquiry they didn't want to hand out their Business E-Mail Address they thought that they could get things cheaper if I thought that they where a small business or a domestic user wanting to get a [b]DEAL.[/b]

But I have also had hundreds of [b]Try Ons[/b] to that one genuine Customer where they walk you through Hoops to get a solution to their problems and then hit you with paying by Credit Card. Then when you back out they Bitch that you have been wasting their time because you never told them that you do not accept Credit Card Payments. With my business I have most bills direct Debited into a Bank Account and as I don't do much Domestic Work it's not something that I need and when they carry on I get immediately suspicious as to their motives.

Col

by dhcdbd

except personal checks.

Just the poor grammar, word misuse, and spelling errors raised my suspicions to a new scam.

by mamies

I would be very careful because scammers are becoming much more sofisticated and yes believe it or not most can spell :).

More of them may try to trick you so I would tread very carefully there

by oh smeg

From some people but I am selective in who they are.

But just like anything in Business you need to apply what feels right to you.

If I was to reply to this I would do so in a very guarded manner and be vague with details till they where prepared to supply more details.

However I may suggest a complete Reload as being the cheapest option to clean the units up and Guesstimate accordingly.

Col

by oh smeg

Mind you if I had of tried to spell correctly the Typo's would have been enough. :D

With some of the messages that I get I wonder what Language the people speak these days. I recently gave a friend of the Wifes Son a quote to fix her mothers computer and the reply for the go ahead was as follows:-

[i]I wish that it was as easy to Upgrade a Man.[/i]

That was the entire approval for the job and even then it was sent to the son so 5 days latter when they asked was it ready yet I wondered what they where on about. To me that isn't a Go Ahead for work but as I didn't even receive it now was told about it I didn't have a clue what they where on about. :^0

It of course perfectly identified which one of the 3 quotes I gave them and what they wanted done. :0

Col

by boxfiddler Hot topic

DHCDBD
Dog Her Cowboy Don't Back Down? ]:)

by dhcdbd

That if it were legit that reinstall would be the quickest. Being of a suspicious nature...

It also sounds like there are hardware problems, while anything can eventually be fixed with the correct components, first you have to ask can you get those parts, then you have to look at the time.

As far as payment, if I know the person, I will take their word that they will pay and write a ticket.

by oh smeg

No you are incorrect Boxy.

The Thumb Count is updating for me at least finally.

At the end of last week I had 552 Accepted Answers as well as 2 of Boxy's thumbs in my freezer. At the start of this week the count was 540 and eventually it returned to 552 today. Then after that today I was awarded another 2 thumbs and the count has correctly increassed to 554.

You're just not looking right at the count. :p

Col

by boxfiddler Hot topic

still shows 88 thumbs, but next to my avatar in my posts 89 thumbs show.
Sheesh.

by the scummy one

all at the same time. Isnt it uncomfortable???

Sorry -- I will try to refrain from that in the future

So, the t-ups, yes, when I view from different areas, it shows a different #. I have no idea right now how many t-ups I have. However they dont really matter much to me anyway

by dhcdbd

Am I missing anything?

"There are a few questions that must be asked prior to making a bid.

Do the computers come with software? If not am I expected to provide the required software? If I am expected to supply software, which software.

Do all the computers turn on and off? If no, how many do not power on?

Do you have all the power adapters for all the computers?

Is there any physical damage to any of the computers. If yes, what is the damage, i.e. broken screen, missing hard drive, etc.

If any computer is missing components such as a hard drive or dim screen, do I supply the part or do you? Likewise, if I were to find a problem such as a hard drive that will be going defective in a short time, would you want it replaced? Ditto with other components. If I supply parts, there will be an added cost for the part and the defective part will be returned to you.

Are any of the computers locked with a password - do not power up unless a password is given when first turned on?

Do you pay shipping both ways or only one way? C.O.D.'s will be rejected.

Do you wish a warranty? If so, for how long?

Do you wish technical support after repairs?

Are you willing to certify that the computers are yours or that you have the authority to have work performed on the unit?"

by boxfiddler Hot topic

to such an error ridden message, you mentioned a 1200 mile distance between yourself and this Cindi.
I'd insist that she pay shipping [b]both[/b] ways, as well as insuring her property.

etu

by dhcdbd

Or a pair of them: possible expansion.

You notice the questions are worded to weed out illegalities and that they are interwoven so that an incorrect answer to one will still reveal whether there is something funny going on.

Besides read Col's response above, it could be legitimate. It also, could be no worse than when I worked in a Hispanic oriented shop, if anything had to written, I had to write it. If something needed to be said, Carlos or his wife had to say it because my Spanish is limited.

The email was returned via a proxy, so there is no big problem.

I was going to round file the email, but decided to respond.

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