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Scamming in the Rain

By
Real Estate Agent with InActive Agent

Yesterday I received an email sent via Active Rain by a Williams David & Associates. Apparently investment houses in England aren't able to handle large investments in the U.S. and need my assistance (I'm flattered). If anyone reading this would like to assist this person in investing twenty eight million, be my guest. -----

From: Williams David <willy_david123@yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: INVESTMENT PROPOSAL (Sent via Activerain)
To: "Michael Creel (Brio Realty Inc.)" <creelrealty@yahoo.com>
Date: Friday, August 8, 2008, 3:21 AM

You've received a contact message from your Contact Form on the ActiveRain network.

Message details:
From: Williams David
Email: willy_david123@yahoo.co.uk
Subject: INVESTMENT PROPOSAL

Williams David & Associates.
14 Queens Drive South West London
England
United Kingdom.
Attn: Managing Director/CEO


Dear Sir,

We have our presence in all major cities in London. However, we are writing you on the strength of a directive from one of our clients, a 56-year-old widow, who desires to invest twenty eight million United States dollars (US$28,000,000.00) overseas preferably in Asia or America.

She has directed us to look for a viable investment portfolio (opportunity), partnership or an individual who can be trusted to invest or oversee the investment of her twenty eight million United States dollars (US$28,000,000.00) in America or Asia.

It is important you note the source of this fund legitimate as our client has provided sufficient evidence to support this claim. Since our operations are limited to Europe and our experience in the investment portfolios (opportunity) in America and Asia is shallow, as we are not conversant with the law in America and Asia concerning such a huge investment.

In our quest to find a valid and viable investment portfolio in America and Asia inline with our client's directive, we decided to contact you, we got your companies contact information from the internet, however you will be expected to provide us with a background information concerning your self and your companies to enable us make an evaluation and advice our client on which line of action to take.

Our client has proposed a commission/percentage of the investment (US$28, 000, 000, 00) for your services; however the said percentage is negotiable. We look forward to your immediate response.


Yours Faithfully,


For:- Williams David & Associate
Williams David
willy_david123@yahoo.co.uk

 

Comments(16)

Rebecca Schrader
Competitive Insurance of Dundee - Dundee, FL

Yeah, I've won the lotto over there several times this month.  South Africa too.  How lucky is that?

Aug 09, 2008 01:07 AM
Michael Creel
InActive Agent - Bellevue, WA

Oh, just about a week ago it was a representative of Prince Al-Waleed Bin Tala that contacted me to invest his money. If only real life went like that, I would be so busy, and happy.

Aug 09, 2008 01:15 AM
Edie Lomason
Michael Saunders & Company - Venice, FL
BA, ABR

I have also been getting solicitors calling me on my cell since I have become more active on the RAIN.  I guess this is just a side effect.

Edie

Aug 09, 2008 01:16 AM
Lenn Harley
Lenn Harley, Homefinders.com, MD & VA Homes and Real Estate - Leesburg, VA
Real Estate Broker - Virginia & Maryland

I got the same thing.  I got three such mails in the past 3 days.  We must be becomming popular.

Aug 09, 2008 01:16 AM
Christopher Bonta
The Bean Group - Londonderry, NH
Realtor, Integrity and Honesty

It appears no network is imune to scams, at this these scam artists could write. I get a kick out of the ones that spell everthing wrong or use incorrect phrasing when the write!

Aug 09, 2008 01:18 AM
William Collins
ERA Queen City Realty - Scotch Plains, NJ
Property and Asset Management

Michael,

Thanks for the post. Scammers have made their way into the Rain. I don't know if there is anything that can be done. My email box gets two to three of these a day. They must be successful at defrauding people, otherwise they wouldn't continue. You would think that people would have caught on by on!

Aug 09, 2008 01:21 AM
Michael Creel
InActive Agent - Bellevue, WA

Scam artist know that currently Realtors are looking hard for clients, they can read papers. They've been hitting agents and landlords pretty hard this last few months. They even make offers on listed homes and send fake checks for escrow.

I'm quite sure AR's data base of over 100k people in the business with phone numbers, websites, and email addresses readily available is quite the goldmine to them. Hopefully, no one will fall for any of it; if they have, or do, they will never admit it in here!

Aug 09, 2008 01:21 AM
Dawn Maloney
RE/MAX Trinity Northeast Ohio Real Estate Specialist - Hudson, OH
330-990-4236 Hudson & Northeastern Ohio

Ok, I am feeling left out. I didn't get any of these fabulous invitations. Where do I sign up?

Aug 09, 2008 02:29 AM
Christina Ethridge
The North Idaho Dream Team powered by SKE Realty Group - Coeur d'Alene, ID

This has been going on since the beginning of AR - it's old - it's annoying - but there isn't much that can be done unless we want to run the chance of not receiving legitimate leads as well.

Aug 09, 2008 02:57 AM
Patty Carroll
Vancouver, WA

Do they really think that we are going to believe this junk? We are receiving 2-3 per day and its such a waste of time.

Aug 09, 2008 03:01 AM
Michael Creel
InActive Agent - Bellevue, WA

I've been told that there is a way to block the IP's that are used in Nigeria, which is where most of these come from.

Aug 09, 2008 03:07 AM
Jackie - computer-training-atlanta.com
770.498.7333 - Atlanta, GA
Learn to leverage technology to get more done.

Michael - I feel left out . . .I never get any spam through my AR contact form :-(

Aug 09, 2008 07:11 AM
Joseph Quiroz
Realty One Group - Glendale, AZ

Michael, I just got the same looser e-mail with the exact same content from a James Thompson and Associates however just as Chris writes, my e-mail had Kigdom instead of Kingdom. The coolest thing regarding these messages that appear on ActiveRain though is that the IP address is available to see where the e-mail actually originated! Afrika is not England!!! ;)

Aug 14, 2008 05:41 AM
Michael Creel
InActive Agent - Bellevue, WA

I got a new one today, here it is with the IP details:

From HART LOAN FIRM Thu Aug 14 18:20:47 2008

Return-Path:   <noreply@loan.org>
Authentication-Results:   mta553.mail.mud.yahoo.com from=loan.org; domainkeys=neutral (no sig)
Received:   from 203.162.44.74 (EHLO webmailserv) (203.162.44.74) by mta553.mail.mud.yahoo.com with SMTP; Thu, 14 Aug 2008 17:49:16 -0700
Received:   from hcmut.edu.vn (webmailserv.hcmut.edu.vn [172.28.2.4]) by webmailserv (8.13.1/8.13.1) with ESMTP id m7F1Klkb011652; Fri, 15 Aug 2008 08:20:47 +0700
From:   "HART LOAN FIRM" <noreply@loan.org>  
Reply-To:   hartloanfirmniglimited@hotmail.com
Subject:   Loan At 4% Interest !
Date:   Fri, 15 Aug 2008 08:20:47 +0700
Message-Id:   <20080815012047.M46553@loan.org>
MIME-Version:   1.0
Content-Type:   text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Length:   855

Low on finance? don't worry as we are here to help you on your finances.We are  certified and approved loan lenders.We give loans to interested individuals,entrepreneurs and cooperate bodies,businesses and companies that require urgent financial assistance or uplifting.Our loans are guaranteed with an interest rate made suitable to fit into your life style.Contact us today and a trial will convince you.

Are you facing financial difficulty? having problems paying your bills or


* Collateral Loans
* Non Collateral Loans
* Entrepreneurship Capital Loans
* Home Mortgage Loans and others.

We offer right here HART LOAN FIRM all in the package of unsecured and secured loans.

If you are interested in taking up a loan with us,kindly contact us on this Email:

 
hartloanfirmniglimited@hotmail.com

THANK YOU.

MR MATT.O.HART
MD,CEO
HART LOAN FIRM.

------------------------------------

This one apparently stems from Vietnam:

203.162.44.74 VN VIET NAM HO CHI MINH HO CHI MINH CITY TRUNG TAM PHAT TRIEN CONG NGHE THONG TIN - DHQGHCM

 

Aug 14, 2008 03:35 PM
Terrie Leighton
Ferrari-Lund Real Estate - Reno, NV
Reno Real Estate Agent ~ Selling Homes in Reno

Ditto. They have been popping up quite a bit on my email as well....luckily they are very easy to delete!

Aug 26, 2008 08:52 AM
Thomas Hargreaves
TriStar Financial Services - Eugene, OR

Michael,  I just got this EXACT email a few weeks ago.  I emailed back that I wanted more information on the author of the email and they responded.  Kept asking how they found me, and he would not say.  I knew it was a scam all along, I just wanted to see what info I could get on them.

Sep 04, 2008 04:22 AM