Thursday, November 27, 2008

Beware The 070 Number

Having received the following in reply to my bike ad and exchanging a couple more emails I eventually called the number, what harm can it do I thought?
My Name is Mr Frank Moore am an Australian based in Hawthorn Terrace DURHAM UNITED KINGDOM.I saw your advert that you have a bike for sale am interested in buying the bike from you i will like to know the mechanical history bike.I can't download the pictures from the site kindly furnish me with more picture's of the bike so that i can have a view and make up my mind on it.Am buying the bike for my Son as a birthday gift and my Son his presently in South Africa practicing as a Medical Doctor.you can ring me on 07031856882 or email:moore.fm@gmail.com. Regards Frank
Well it turns out that 070 numbers are not mobile numbers, they're "personal" numbers, that can cost up to 50p a minute. I wish I'd googled for that particular number earlier, having found this, which sounds strangely familiar:
My Name is Mr Dennis Wilson am an Swedish based in DURHAM UNITED KINGDOM.I saw your advert on internet that you have a pup for sale am interested in buying the pup from you i will like to know the health condition of the pup,Is the pet KC registered?furnish me with more picture's of the pup so that i can make up my mind on it as am buying the pup for my Son as a birthday gift and my Son his presently in South Africa practicing as a Medical Doctor.you can ring me on 07031856882 or email:dw.wilson007@gmail.com. Regards Dennis

4 comments:

Yvonne said...

Not having much luck with ebay lately, are you? MAybe I can get my colleague to rip their heads off.

Anonymous said...

Hi there
I'm selling pups at the moment and have advertised on on 3 different web sites. I'm so used to getting these scam emails that I immediately google any replies I get now.

The following arrived in my inbox this morning

"My Name is Mr Frank Moore am an Australian i leaves at Hawthorn
Terrace Durham United Kingdom.I saw your advert that you have a pup
for sale am interested in buying the pup from you i will like to know
the health condition of the pup,Is the pup KC registered?furnish me
with more picture's of the pup so that i can make up my mind on it as
am buying the pup for my Son as a birthday gift and my Son his
presently in South Africa practicing as a Medical Doctor.you can ring
me on 07031842817 or email:moore.fm@gmail.com.

Regards

Frank"

I'm about to send dear old "Frank" a lovely reply with a link to my local police force ;0)

The best advice when dealing with replies to ads online is, if in doubt, google the hell out of it first!

All the best.

Jamie said...

Do you think this person is just making money from the phone calls or is there more to it than that?

Anonymous said...

They're just making money from the calls. Unfortunately these and other types of scam are all too common now. Never, EVER call them, always have them call you. If they're genuine, they won't mind.