Look Before You Leap

As it is…always, it is easier said than done. Time and again, we have been told or heard, “look before you leap”. You know like rushing to get married just in case we run out of men or women, rushing to get rich, rushing to buy that once in a life time item, just rushing and leaping like the darn lemmings because it is the “in” thing to be seen busy rushing.

Then guess what? We realize that we leaped and then looked deplorable, and that is provided we live after our leap to look at our folly.

Here is an instance of what such a rush and a leap without looking would have meant for my ex-neighbor. Knowing that that trait is a large percentage with humans, it is exactly what manipulators and con artists are always in search of – humans who are unable to think through. We call them gullible people.

The Premise

My ex-neighbor placed his Olympus Digital Camera in mint condition for sale over the Internet for a purchase steal of USD156.25.

The Con Artist’s Bait

Anita Darnells confirms her willingness by email to buy the Digital Camera. She would have the purchase money transacted through the Royal Bank of Scotland to the Seller’s Bank Account

The Payment Condition

The Royal Bank of Scotland sent the Seller (my ex-neighbor) an email requesting for proof of delivery, namely either the AWB (Airwaybill) or a scanned copy of the Courier’s document. Payment will only be released to the Buyer on sight of either of these two proofs by return email to the Royal Bank of Scotland.

The Sting begins

The Buyer starts to show agitation that the Seller is taking too much time to show proof of delivery to the Royal Bank of Scotland.

The Seller explains that the Royal Bank of Scotland changed their demand and now wants both proofs, the AWB and the Courier’s document.

The Royal Bank of Scotland sends another email to the Seller explaining that USD156.25 is below the limited amount permissible of international money transaction. And that they have notified the Buyer to increase the amount for remittance to USD312.50.

The Royal Bank of Scotland states that before the release of payment to the Seller, the Seller must send USD156.25 by Western Union to the husband of the buyer to contra the Seller having satisfied the limited amount.

The Royal Bank of Scotland specified to the Seller what is “Control Question” and “Control Answer” to be used for the Western Union transaction to the buyer’s husband.

Containing the problem

Confused by all this my ex-neighbor sought my assistance. I checked his email correspondence and immediately detect a lot that is amiss, such as:

• the email address of the Royal Bank of Scotland could never be notifyaccount@accountant.com

• the same email from the Royal Bank of Scotland was sent three times in under five minutes.

• the email from the Royal Bank of Scotland was sent five minutes after the Buyer sent her email, titled, “URGENT ACTION”.

• the Royal Bank of Scotland introduced a third party (the buyer’s husband) as part of the payment deal.

• the Royal Bank of Scotland gave information of the buyer’s husband for the Western Union remittance and specified the “Control Question” and the “Control Answer” which is never the receiver’s authority to specify but the sender’s right of control.

ALL ACTION, STOP

I hastily advised my ex-neighbor to call up DHL International and instruct to freeze the delivery to the intended buyer.

The Buyer was then informed that the purchased item will not be delivered until the money is confirmed received at the Seller’s Bank Account. We don’t give a damn about the so called “international” limited cash remittance amount – that’s the Buyer’s business, not the Seller’s concern.

The Buyer appears immediately online at Yahoo chat and calls the Seller a fool and that the matter will be taken up by the Buyer’s solicitor and the Metropolitan police.

I took over the chat and told the the Buyer that she should add Interpol to the list of parties she wished to lodge her complaints about her attempt to swindle. I told the Buyer that we are not stupid and no sight of money payment in the Seller’s Bank Account, means no further communication needed and that DHL International has been instructed to freeze the shipment and return the consignment to the Sender.

Why Look Before You Leap?

In this instance, beware of scams and con artists on the Internet. That includes would-be lovers, future husband and wife, entrepreneur, braggarts, know-alls yeah, and even Bloggers.