Fencing lesson Scam?

[Joe biebel]

Is anybody else getting requests for lessons from overseas visitors that seem a little questionable. I have 2 different requests, a few weeks apart that are from different individuals (at least the emails say so) that ask for lessons for their visiting child and also requests for pricing, information, fees, etc., with the promise of sending money in advance. They are new to me and yet so similar that it does not seem a likely coincidence.

I do intend to respond to the second one also, and will let the community know if it turns out to be some sort of scam. No they don't appear to be from
Nigeria

In the meantime, has anyone else experienced this?

[milstdfarm]

I got the same email.

It seemed fishy but I did respond that our Club is free and that his son should buy his own equipment and bring it with him.

Never got a response.

[Joe biebel]

I did A search right after my original post for "lesson scams" and found this: http://www.safefromscams.co.uk/MusicLessonScam.html

Here is the text of the email (the second one) I received that made me suspicious.

"Hello,
I got your contact displayed on a website while surfing for an instructor for my 17yrs old son.My wife & son will be traveling to the USA on a 3month visit starting from the 3rd week of Feb 2010, so therefore I want to secure your services in giving my son some training instructions (Fencing Training) during his stay there.

However , do let me know if your services will be available and do get back with your pricing and availabilities as i wish to have sometimes blocked out in advance.

He needs it 3 times a week at 1hr per day for 12 weeks,say Mondays,Wednesdays and Fridays or Saturdays ,the time will depend on when will be convenient for you ,as he will be free at all times.If available,do get to me with the informations Bellow:

What are the things my son will need for the lesson?
Where is your center located,i will need the address?
Do i need to sign any agreement form?

As regards payment,I am paying in advance,since i will not be coming with my family,
My wife and son will be coming. Payment for the lesson would be sent to you by my associate with a US cashier`s check/usps postal money order/moneygram in advance prior to there arrival.

So to that regards,I will need you to provide the following payment details as stated below :
Name the check will be payable to..............
Mailing address.............
Phone#..............
Cell phone#.................

Waiting your response.

Regards,
sam."

I'm no longer confused about this.

Please be aware!!!

[Cookeit]

Sounds like a scam to me, especially the format they ask for your information.
It is about the same as the "You've just won $5,000,000, where should we send it?" deals.

[edew]

Who pays by money order anymore for such things? If it's not personal check, credit card or cash, it's BS.

/But I do have a friend from Nigeria who needs some fencing training while visiting Chicago. He can give you a piece of his inheritance as payment.

[Hauptman]

100% scam.

First, why arrange payment before you even have an agreement to anything?

Second, why do they need your personal information to arrange payment?

Third, why does he not know the exact payment method he wants to use? They mention several.

Fourth, the wife and child will be in the U.S. for several months, and will have no way of paying for anything on their own; not pre-arranged?

Finally, why will his "associate" be sending payment?

This has scam written all over it. If you want to play along you will likely receive a money-order or cashier's check that will incoveniently be for too much money, after which they will ask if you could just send the difference back. And after that you will find the check to be phony, and the bank holding you responsible.

That's my 2 cents.

[thereom4]

/But I do have a friend from Nigeria who needs some fencing training while visiting Chicago. He can give you a piece of his inheritance as payment.

Ha ha! My apologies for the thread drift but as a Nigerian I wince when I hear scam and Nigeria in the same sentence. Truth be told those scammers are smart but lazy and also greedy. It's embarrassing and annoying that they are from Nigeria.

Nigeria is not a third world country. Dare not say that to a Nigerian. Nigerians will tell you that Nigeria is the best country in Africa. The job opportunities there are not the same as they are here or in European countries which is why so many Nigerians and other foreigners (my parents included) come here to go to school. And unfortunately why some of the Nigerian scammers decided to go the thieving route.

[blondie1983]

For those who might be interested, some people make a hobby out of scamming the scammers. This American Life ran a story about it. You can hear the interviews and follow the blog from these links:


http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=1260
http://forum.419eater.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=133890

It was nice to see some justice done to these con artists, but I think they might have taken it too far. They had convinced one con artist (under the promise of money) to travel to Chad during a civil unrest, where he supposedly hurt himself, ran out of funds, and was unable to return home!

[edew]

Ha ha! My apologies for the thread drift but as a Nigerian I wince when I hear scam and Nigeria in the same sentence. Truth be told those scammers are smart but lazy and also greedy. It's embarrassing and annoying that they are from Nigeria.

Nigeria is not a third world country. Dare not say that to a Nigerian. Nigerians will tell you that Nigeria is the best country in Africa. The job opportunities there are not the same as they are here or in European countries which is why so many Nigerians and other foreigners (my parents included) come here to go to school. And unfortunately why some of the Nigerian scammers decided to go the thieving route.

When you get as many nigerian princes emailing you as I do, you can see why I (and presumably many others) use Nigeria as the default country for scammers. I don't get too many claiming to be from Tanzania or Zanzibar or Kenya or Liberia or Columbia or Nevada or whatever...

[thereom4]

When you get as many nigerian princes emailing you as I do, you can see why I (and presumably many others) use Nigeria as the default country for scammers. I don't get too many claiming to be from Tanzania or Zanzibar or Kenya or Liberia or Columbia or Nevada or whatever...

Yeah it sucks. But I gotta tell you, Nigeria not a country of scammers. Not by any stretch of the imagination. Nigerians who come here and stay here are hardworking professionals. Those who stay and start families here, raise their children (myself included) to be hardworking professionals. That was a little glitch in our history. They suck. They don't count.

[Rockstar44]

Yeah it sucks. But I gotta tell you, Nigeria not a country of scammers. Not by any stretch of the imagination. Nigerians who come here and stay here are hardworking professionals. Those who stay and start families here, raise their children (myself included) to be hardworking professionals. That was a little glitch in our history. They suck. They don't count.

So, are you telling me that I'm NOT going to share in that Nigerian Prince's millions after all?

[edew]

Yeah it sucks. But I gotta tell you, Nigeria not a country of scammers. Not by any stretch of the imagination. Nigerians who come here and stay here are hardworking professionals. Those who stay and start families here, raise their children (myself included) to be hardworking professionals. That was a little glitch in our history. They suck. They don't count.

I make no claims that those emails originated in Nigeria, sent by an actual Nigerian. For all I know, they're from China or Russia (two of the more likely candidate countries). But they're stating Nigeria (or Niger, a different country) as where the money is coming from. I guess it sounds more romantic to name a country like Nigeria. I doubt we'll ever get a letter like:

Dear Theorem4, my name is Sasha Likopovski, great grandson of Prince Nicolai. I inherited 3 dozen exquisite Faberge eggs which are each insured for $1,000,000. I need to ship them to the US for safekeeping and would like your assistance...

[migopod]

[Zhais]

Yea, I got the e-mail too through my university's fencing club mail. Sent a response just as vague as the one I received. Now I'm starting to get spam mail through there -.-


Tho, in my e-mail they didn't ask for any personal information at all. So it was more than likely just searching for active e-mail accounts and selling it off. All the spam I've gotten has now been prince of nigeria inheritance scams... lovely!

[Joe biebel]

Here is the first email I got which I actually replied to with questions on the off chance that it was legit.

"I got your contact displayed on a website while surfing for an instructor
for my 16yrs old son.My son will be traveling to the USA on a 3 month visit
starting from the 1st week of March 2010, so therefore I want to secure your
services in giving my son some training instructions Athletics during his
stay there.

However , do let me know if your services will be available and do get back
with your pricing and availabilities as i wish to have sometimes blocked out
in advance.

Regards,

Shawn Acton"

Another f.netter, milstdfarm, got precisely the same email. In my second post, the link I put there to the British article, spells out the whole scam (mirrored by several other posts) so let's be on the alert.

[Triton]

Joe,
That is identical to an email I received at about the same time. I deleted it then, and it looks like it was a good idea to do so.

I wonder if it was just Wisconsin and Illinois receiving this email, or if others have as well.

[VorpalCat]

Man, that Acton kid's going to be all kinds of busy if he's going to be spending three months in each of the recipients' respective areas. When I came across that email in my spam filter, it took all of my won't power not to reply with a certain 'set up a club then disappear' fencer-coach's contact info......

[edew]

My apologies, nigerians. These emails I'm receiving are now from Ghana.

[thereom4]

Dear Theorem4, my name is Sasha Likopovski, great grandson of Prince Nicolai. I inherited 3 dozen exquisite Faberge eggs which are each insured for $1,000,000. I need to ship them to the US for safekeeping and would like your assistance...

I got this letter last week. You mean it's fake?

My apologies, nigerians. These emails I'm receiving are now from Ghana.

Apology accepted. Ghana.....now that makes sense. jk. I know too many Ghanaians to play like that. Cool ass people too.

[Equiss]

I have received one of these messages. Our recreational fencing program placed an add in a local paper to announce the beginning of our classes and I got a message via email from a man claiming to be in England and wanting to engage "tutoring" for his minor daughter who was looking to come to the states to study.
It went on to say how no amount of tuition for our classes was too much and that he would send monthly allotments if we could arrange for tutition AND board for his minor daughter. It went on to talk about exchange rates of money between pounds and dollars.

Yeah right and I've got some ocean front property in Arizona I'd like to sell too. We simply ignored it.