I am not the smartest cookie in the jar, but even I could see this one a mile away. Well maybe not right away, but then again I did mention that I am not the smartest cookie. Recently I was contacted by a supposed buyer that lived in Milan, Italy. I advertised my personal condominium for sale on a web site called SubmitTheOffer.com. I made sure to note in the advertisement that I was a licensed realtor selling my personal property.
Well I was pleasantly suprised when 2 days later I received an e-mail from the lady from Italy. Here is the originating letter:
Hello, I Would love to acquire this property. I intend to employ the service of an attorney for the purchase because i am currently in Milan, Italy. The transaction will be handled by the attorney. He will come to inspect the property, go though the documents and give me a feed back.The advice and opinion of the attorney will determine if am going to acquire the property. I hope you understand. Email me direcly at : sherryzzzzzz@gmail.com Awaiting your soonest reply. Thanks
Name witheld
I am not sure why I am withholding her name because it probably is not her name. In fact she is probably a he. I was somewhat excited to receive the e-mail. My "Smell a Rat" radar was about a 10 on a scale of 100 at this point in time.
Here is my reply:
Thank you for your e-mail concerning the property we have advertised SubmitTheOffer.com. We would be happy to provide any information that you need.
Please let us know what information you need.
Best Regards,
Steve
Here is her reply:
Hello
I am currently talking to an attorney to oversee the buy-sell process because I dont have an attorney at the moment. Hopefully by tomorrow I will be able to finalize everything thing with the attorney. I shall get back to you with the outcome of my meeting with the attorney.
Thanks for your response
In internet-scam lingo, I think this would be the set up stage. Behind the scenes, let me get my co-conspirators lined up. The next day, she was ready to implement the plan. Here is the e-mail:
Hello,
Having contacted the attorney, he stated categorically that he will
not be able to represent me to inspect the property due to some
important official duties. He recommended another attorney for me in
the States.
I have the service of Jason Bradley Kell recommended to me. Jason
Bradley Kell practices in the following areas of law: Immigration,
Real Estate, Corporate, Family Law, Personal Injury, Entertainment
Law, Divorce.
We spoke at length on phone on the property, he advised proper
inspection, legal documentation and necessary paper work. He will be coming to inspect
the property, discuss price, payment with you and other proceedings.
He made certain things known to me that before inspection, a 2 day
hotel accommodation should be made available before his arrival.
In order to save the attorney the time and energy in getting a
suitable hotel not too far from the property, you are in a better
position to book an hotel accommodation.
I shall make available to you money for the hotel accommodation, you
will book 2 days hotel accomodation before inspection of the property.
Please advice on whose name and address should the check payment for
the hotel accommodation be sent to.
You can get in touch with him as to when he will be coming for the
inspection.
Email: attorney-jason@excite.com
phone: 3478538877
Awaiting your reply.
Name witheld
At this point, my "Smell a Rat" radar was about a 110 on a scale of 100. Just to be prudent, I did research the attorney's name and cell phone number. I determined the cell phone was a New York number so I searched New York and New Jersey Bar Association member lists. That is one professional e-mail address for the attorney isn't it? At this point in time, I am not sure why, but I had to respond to my supposed buyer.
Is there some reason that you are using an attorney from out of state?
Wouldn't you like to be represented by an attorney that practices in the
state that you are making the purchase? I could provide you a list of local
attorneys that would be happy to assist you.
Steve
Here is her reply:
The attorney is from NY, his service was highly recommended to me due to his experience in real estate. I do not think booking a 2 day accomodation should pose any problem to you. Once you give me a list of hostels in your locality and cost per night, I shall make check available to you for the booking. In your next reply I will need hotel cost, and your full name and address to send the check to. Waiting to hear from you.
Name witheld
I noticed at this point that she was always waiting to hear from me. And since she was waiting to hear from me I had to oblige. Please note the sarcasm
Name Witheld,
I am worried that you may be getting scammed. You have to be very careful. The internet makes it very easy for dishonest people to take advantage of you. I am not sure how you located the attorney, but if you found him over the internet, I would be very wary.
I am very suspicious that the attorney is not a practicing attorney. I can not find the attorney's name in the list of attorneys in the state of New York. Normally an attorney would have a more professional e-mail address than one provided by excite. The phone number that you provided also is not found. I would think an attorney would have a staff that could make necessary hotel accommodations. Law firms would not rely on someone outside of their firm to determine nice accommodations. In this day and age, there are all kinds of hotel recommendation services available over the internet. As someone that formerly worked in a law firn, I know that these firms normally pay for their own expenses and then bill their customers for those expenses.
I hope that you have not given any money to this person. If you want to provide his law firm name and address, I would be happy to look him up for you since I am in the states and in would be easier for me to do so. I can then forward my findings to the local and federal authorities. There has been an increase in investigations into cases like this. Please let me know how I can help you verify that the attorney (or person acting as an attorney) is not trying to take advantage of you.
Besides the place that you are buying is very nice. There would be no need for hotel accommodations. The attorney could stay in the unit that you are buying. So if you verify that the person is an in fact attorney, there would not be a need for added expense
Best Regards,
Steve
I thought it was very nice of me to point out to her that she was buying a condo, and that renting extra accomodations would be a waste of money. I thought that this would be the last time that I heard from her. But I was wrong.
Steve,
Thank you so much for your concern, I really appreciate. With internet these days one has to be very careful. Well..I have the full details of the attorney in question (HIS NAME AND ADDRESS, DATE OF BIRTH, SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER).So I have nothing to worry about. I only need you to render extra services for me. I believe we are both looking forward to getting this transction completed as soon as possible. I am just trying to meet up with the attorney's requirements, which are: To make his hotel accommodation ready before his arrival and also his service charge. My main concern is how to get the service charge to him in NY in cash as against the check I have here in Italy.The attorney is requesting for his service charge before he can come for the inspection. I need you to render extra services for me. I intend to send you a check which will cover accommodation and service charge. You will have to book a 2 day accomodation for him with a near by hotel to you and then send the rest of the funds to his Law firm for his service charge so as for him to be able to come over for the inspection and the payment of the property. I will need your full name and address to send the check to. Pls endeavour to contact the attorney.
Note that there is now an additional problem with paying the attorney in advance for his services. But she offered to send me a check for these expenses. That was very accomodating of her, don't you think? At this point in time, no crime has been committed. I however felt that I needed to report this activity to the local police and I filed a report with them with a copy of all of the e-mails. I also filed a report at www.ic3.gov/ which is a site for reporting such activity. I also sent an e-mail to the supposed buyer that I had made these reports.
The police said that the scam artist was either trying to obtain all of my personal information for identity theft or obtain my bank account information for emptying its contents. Unfortunately the local police does not have the resources to follow up on scams like this.
The internet has allowed us the opportunity to market our properties in ways never before possible. There are sharks in all waters trolling for blood. Just be careful on who you are dealing with on the other side of that e-mail.
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