Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Salut

I've just had some email exchanges with Harry, too - for a 5-speed bell-housing, tailpiece and prop. He didn't quite sound convincing and the insistance on Western/Moneygram bothered me, even if his daughter does work there The photos he sent were from a current item on eBay. That and finding this thread have confirmed the initial suspicion.

He's very helpful, though - he sent me addresses of Western Union offices near where I live...

BEWARE!!

@+

Vernon

vernon.taylor wrote: I've just had some email exchanges with Harry, too

"Harry"? User ID?

I am open to PM's but have disabled receipt of emails apart from those from administrators.

Seemingly, emails can hide the users ID, but pm's can't...

Is that correct?

Richard

Salut Richard

Harry as in [email protected] mentioned before in this thread. He sent me a direct email. He's very persistent - he sent me this email when I mentioned it's the same photos as on eBay:

Vernon, Yes ~ He is an old friend of mine who usually help with posts
since I'm not too good with computers. I'm sorry I never mentioned
that to you. Besides, he also posted the gearbox in various websites
as I need the gearbox gone. Anyways, I'll take 400GBP including
shipping and handling.

Many thanks again and regards,

Harry

@+

Vernon

EDIT: Latest message from Harry - I asked him if he was our scammer:

I think this is a coincidence and I'm going to sort it out and let you
know. I'm sorry for all the confusion.

There's another one lurking around the forum.

"Hello Dave

I still have a set of original +2 three eared
spinners in excellent shape and condition. I'm asking 150GBP and I
will be shipping via UPS or FedEx on a 3 - 4 working days delivery and
will accept payment via Money Gram as my PayPal is currently dormant.
What's your complete shipping address?

Many thanks again and regards,

Isaac"

I asked for photos, just to see what he would say, knowing full well it's illegitimate.

"Am sorry but my internet connection seems to be very poor to allow me
send out pictures. Yes I still have other bits."

The emails are coming from Isaac Brunswick <[email protected]>

LOL Just look for two tell tales, Money Gram or Western Union and a Gmail account. I guess the Exiled Nigerian Prince and the 100 million dollars in a secret account no longer works. Now we are down to Lotus parts. How pathetic these people must be.

oldelanman wrote:If you suspect an address in the UK may be bogus use the Royal Mail Post Code Finder to check it. In this case it reveals that there is no number 23 in Clayton's Gate, just 4 & 5.

http://www.royalmail.com/postcode-finder" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And even if the address exists you can often use Google maps/street-photos to see what sort of property it is.

Moderators - I realized I only received emails from these sellers because I put my email address in the actual ad. They probably aren't registered users, but just looking for email addresses. Maybe if you made the classified section 'registered users only' that would solve the problem? Just a thought.

We have the following safeguards in place:

Guests cannot:

• See or access the icons to Private Message a member
• See or access the icons to email a member
• See the member's location
• See the Membership list
• See the member's profile information

New Members cannot (less than 2 posts):

• Private message other members

All new members posts are reviewed and approved (prevents spam).

Email Scavenger Bots:

• All emails that are in the text of the webpage are encrypted. A real human can read them, but all email scrapper tools only get an encrypted line of code.

We have built these safeguards in to prevent members from being sent scams and spam.

Is this enough, or do we need to go to the next step of removing guest access to the wanted section?

Hey Jeff, all those precautions are good, but like what others have stated and do, me included, is that we tend to include our email addresses and phone numbers on our Wanted or For Sale posts. I personally feel that the inclusion of contact information just makes it easier and faster for others to contact you, especially if you are looking for that specific part in a hurry. Not sure if exclusion of guests is the answer, rather a well informed subscriber would be the best solution. Main reason I contributed this thread and started others like this one. These scammers are pretty easy to read once you are alerted to the tell tales. Anything you put in place can be circumvented and will only make these guys smarter. Thanks for this great forum, Allan

I was just notified by a member of being scammed by a fraudulent part seller. I have placed a new post in the "Wanted" section with guidelines to avoid scammers.

It can be seen here: elan-wanted-f4/beware-scammers-t29092.html

Is there something I have missed or should add, please let me know.

jeff

I posted an ad looking for some stock Elan wheels. I got a pm from a Mark Chapman in the UK who said he had lots of stock parts he could sell me. Unfortunately I sent him my phone number before I realized it was a scam. He wanted 200 pounds for the wheels but only through moneygram as he claimed his paypal account was dormant. When I asked for pictures of the wheels, he sent me a couple photos of wheels on an Elan that was for sale a few months back.

Beware.....

[quote=
Needless to say, they will eventually fine tune their methods, but a few questions will enevatably uncover the truth. BTW, anyone in Scotland? I bought a Twink for $1,000 plus free shipping to the US and haven't gotten it yet. [/quote]



I'm In Scotland if I can help?

Alex Black 13

alexblack13 wrote:[quote=
Needless to say, they will eventually fine tune their methods, but a few questions will enevatably uncover the truth. BTW, anyone in Scotland? I bought a Twink for $1,000 plus free shipping to the US and haven't gotten it yet.

I'm In Scotland if I can help?

Alex Black 13[/quote]

"haven't gotten it yet".
Oh dear Alex are you worth rescuing? All of that Yank talk plus the spelling mistakes; seems you're supping the good stuff tonight

?? Oh well Just trying to help


ab

alexblack13 wrote:?? Oh well Just trying to help


ab

Seems that I failed miserably at trying to be amusing, hope you know not to take me seriously when I make those sort of comments.

Cheers
John