More Wine Scams (31 Oct)

When I started to write the story TORB and the Dom Perignon Scam I never dreamed that whilst it is prolific, it is only one of a number of wine scams doing the rounds. And the scams are not limited to a base of Nigerians wanting London delivery.

In a segment on Sydney current affairs TV in the last few days, they featured a story about Nigerian conmen using internet cafes in Sydney's southern suburbs. Unfortunately the scumbags from the Nigerian crime syndicate have landed here too. The guy the TV interviewer chased down the street (continually yelling "when did you stop beating your wife ")  looked as pretty as a rugby front row forward and was about the size of one too.  

Anyway, here are a few more scams that work differently or have a twist. (The last one will have you in stiches.) The first was sent to me by Mark Cohen, its a beauty.

From [mailto:gltradingxx@yahoo.com.cn]
Sent: Wednesday, 24 October 2007 5:37 PM
To: sales@xxxxxxxxx
Subject: MALESCO WINE BROKER

Dear Sir/Madam,

How are you and all brisk business to you.
Today I am very honoured to see your fine products on the website. We are a large chain of retailers and looking for a manufacturer who could supply us with large and steady and a wide range of products for our market.

All the time, our least order is 400,000 dollars. Our terms of payment are normally within 3 days after signing purchasing contract by T/T. Would like to send your website and price list to us? Thanks in advance.
Looking forward to your earliest reply
Best Regards
Sincerely yours,
Gary Huang
Guilin Shengwei Trading Co.,ltd
Tel: 0086-773-2828xxx
Fax: 0086-773-2829xxx
Address: Room xxx, Office building, No.xxx, Zhongshan zhong Rd, Xiufeng District Guilin, Guangxi Province, P.R.China
Post code: 541001

I don't know how this one is supposed to work, as I thought that telegraphic transfers were irrevocable. Also, how would they get the wine before the payment bounced. What I think may happen is that the vendor supplies them with their bank details and their account is cleaned out somehow.

Here is another con that was faxed to Dennis at Flagship Wines in Sydney. Its a doozey. The fax theoretically originated in the US, but the guy's email is from Manill so  it's another Nigerian scam.  

Subject.' Attention SALES MANAGER
Sender: "Janka Albert Ramirer" <janalbert@inMaila124.OO>
Date:Thursday. October 16, 2007 1946:37

Message:
Hello Sales Manager,

Good day,

My Names is Albert, I will like to know it you could be able to supply me with the following wine below for my son up coming wedding on Last Saturday of November:

DOM PERIGNON VINTAGE750ML
REMY MARTINS XO SPEOIAL
HENNESSY XO
KRUG GRANDE 750ml
JOHNNIEWALKER BLUE LBL 7OOml x 6
FLY BROOK MERLOT
DEUTZ MARLBOROUGH Cuvee NV 750ml x 6
FREIXENET ROSE SPARKLING NV Spain 750ml x 12
HENKELL TROCKEN 750 m! x 6
KRUG GRANDS CUVEE BRUT MULTI VINTAGE WOODEN BOX MAGNUM France 15OOmI x 1
LINDAUER BRUT SPARKLING NV 750ml x 6
MOET & CHANDON NECTAR IMPERIAL NV France 75Cm! x 6
JACK DANIELS SINGLE BARREL 7OOML

So kindly get back to me with pricing and availability in the stock, so that i can advice with quantity needed on each, and type of credit card you do accept for payment (Visa & MasterCard).

Awaiting your response via email or fax, so that we can proceed from there.

Warm Regard,
Janka Albert Ramirez
USA- Fax; 1206202XXXX
 

Dennis did a little follow through on this one.  He sent Albert an email asking where the wedding was to be held and for further details. Here is the response.

Thanks alot for your respond and i really appreciate it so much that you tell me about the present situation on the order i want to place and i will like you to check your stock for the available ones you have among the list i fax to you and let me know the price for it and how many of it you have in the stock presently and the WEDDING is going to take place in West Africa , Nigeria .

Shipping address :
David Oladeji Obadimeji
59 Lewis Street Lafiaji Area
Lagos Island  Lagos  State Nigeria

Here is another one sent to me by Cecelia at Schubert Wines. The email said, "We frequently receive emails such as the attached from "John Hurt". The attached is obviously a scam but at times we get some from other sources that sound almost genuine in offering to import/export/buy our wines. We dismiss any casual approaches (especially obvious fakes) a however I know of two small wine producers (desperate for a sale) who sent samples to England, Russia and China on a similar request that they thought were genuine."

The English, as well as the request is so bad that you can't help laughing when you read it. This poor bunny won't be getting rich with this attempted scam.

 
Hello,

Good day and how are you i hope you are doing real good and alright i wish you a lovely production and sale these season, i am interested
in ordering for some wines from you to my location in them United kingdom, I will be paying with my Credit Card for you

to charge in US funds, in regards to shipping i am aware of the shipping problems wineries encounter in getting wines shipped so i will have you
contact a shipping agent which i have used in the past to pick-it up from your winery and get them shipped to my location. I await your urgent reply as to
the request as soon as possible.

Regards
John Hurt

N:B : I do will like you to kindly get back to me with your reply a list available wine in stock in the winery and also a link to the websites of your lovely blended
Winery

 
Here is another con from Mark Cohen - this guy is really popular! Hurry up and die!

Thanks to Mark Maxwell of Maxwell Wines for this one.  (28 Nov)

From: Terry Clark [mailto:terryclarkXXX@hotmail.com]
Sent: Monday, 26 November 2007 1:51 AM
To: terryclark400@hotmail.com
Subject: WINE ORDER FOR MY BIRTHDAY PARTY !!!

Hello,
My name is Terry Clark, an Australian .
I live and work here in Seoul, South Korea.
Actually when I was around last year for chistmas holiday, I got a bottle of of one of your wines from a friend and I love the taste .Since then , I have been planning on getting your wines for my birthday party ...coming up fourth week of December here in Seoul, South Korea.
I will be making my payment via my Australian based credit card .
You are not shipping the wines ....The wines will be picked up at your winery by a licensed shipping agency .This shipping agency have all the appropriate exportation documents and permits .
I got your contact thru your website and I want to know if you will be able to supply me some cases of wines for my upcoming birthday .
Concerning the shipping of the wines , I will refer you to the shipping company that will come for the pick up of the wines in your winery once I have made my payment .
Kindly get back to me so that I can make my orders .
Thanks.
Terry.
 

Notice its from a Hotmail address. Secondly for someone who purports to be from Australia and has an Anglo Saxon name, the English is fractured. The wine is being picked up by an agent. There is no mention about price of the wine, or indeed even what wine the guy would like. Also, when buying wine that is being exported, there are GST and WET considerations/rebates, he hasn't even asked about these.  

-----Original Message-----
From: Smith Kingsley [mailto:consultantbeninXX@yahoo.pl]
Subject: INQUIRY FROM REPUBLIC OF BENIN IN WEST AFRICA.

Dear. Sir/Madam,

I am a consultant here in republic of Benin and my name is Mr.Smith Kingsley and I understand through the internet that your company is dealing on many products and wishes to expand your markets to foreign markets.

I have endbuyer here in republic of benin that is looking for an exporter that can supply this products to them here in republic of benin and in large quantity base well, its is a pleasure to associate with you for marketing and distribution of your products and believe you will accord us the co-operation for this exercise.

kindly implore you to forward us the full specification of your products, Catalogues, prices, and general terms and conditions of payment etc for our markets study, we have a buying company that is capable of purchasing your product in a large quantity with their cash here in republic of benin in west africa.

We will like you to send your reply through our company email address below:
Address: 85 Missebo Cotonou Republic Du Benin
Email address:smitthkingsleyXX@yahoo.fr

Thanking you as we anticipate that this will lead to a mutual co-operation.
 

According to Mark, Benin is a shocker and 5 years ago they actually nearly exported wines there, but their bank couldn't trace the company. Mark now rates anything coming from Bennin and Nigeria as 100% fraudulent, under any circumstance.

Update (20 Dec)

This one was sent to me by a couple of wineries and it had me fascinated, so I decided to try and get to the bottom of it. Here is the original email.

I am Rev. James Peters of St.Pauls Cathedral London. I want to book dinner for my church committee members that will be coming
for a conference at your area. They will all come for dinner in your place from the 20th, 21st,22nd,23rd and 25th February, 2008 by 7:00pm each day.
They are 15 in number.

Get back with your response if there is availability in your restaurant,so that i can book immediately with my credit card. I shall be waiting for your prompt response so that we can proceed with the payment arrangements.
Warmest Regards,
REV.JAMES PETERS
Email: clergy_jamesXX@yahoo.co.uk
+44702406xxxx
+44702409xxxx
Fax#:+44-7005-806-xxx
LONDON U.K

Like all of these scam/cons, this also uses an anonymous web based email address. Can you imagine a Reverend from one of the most famous cathedrals in the UK having to use a Yahoo email address? Also, why would they want to eat at the same place for five nights in a row, especially when they are supposedly visiting a foreign country. Another one that smelt as bad as a teenage boys bedroom. How this one worked had me intrigued. I speculated that the way it could possibly work was if they paid for the meals up-front and then later cancelled and asked for a refund to a different credit card, so I decided to play along. A number of emails went backwards and forwards until we had agreed on three different menus for the five different nights at three different (unnamed) restaurants and I had quoted a price. My email asked for a 50% deposit of  $2625. Here is the response - its a heck of a surprise.

Dear Ric,
How are you today?How are you also getting along with the enchantments of the yuletide?
Thanks for your reply and assistance so far.I will make a deposit of $2,625.00 to you in advance to confirm the booking.More so i' comfortable with the terms and conditions you stated .

Dear,there is a little problem we are having concerning the payment for the flight and other required logistics.The agent that is taking care of this logistics informed me that their credit card charging system is faulty and is under going online upgrading and can not charge cards at the moment.The travel/flight agent is in charge of the following services:

1) The processing procurement of flight ticket.

2) The handling and processing of the guests luggage.

3) The arrangements and booking of airport transfer/pickups both on arrival and on departure.

Now i'm suppose to pay for the booking.I don't really buy the idea of giving my credit card details to more than one person. I want to ask if you could assist us to charge your cost and the remaining balance of the agent which will amount to [$10,625.00] into your account,deduct the  eposit which is[$ 2,625.00] and pay [$8,000.00] to the Agent whose information i will give to you once this is confirmed.This will enable him pay up remaining bills for our flight and other logistics.

Confirm this message and provide me with your
(1) YOUR FULL NAME,
(2) FULL ADDRESS,
(3) PHONE NUMBERS for office record.
And i will advice my credit card details to you.

Please kindly get back to me so i can send my credit card details to you immeiatelly for charging.Remain blessed as we hope to have a memorable dinner with you.Please you can as well contact me on phone.

Merry Christmas dear in adavnce.

Yours sincerely,

REV.JAMES PETERS.
Antholin house,
71 queen street EC4N 4TL,
LONDON.
UK.
+447024062538

There are so many alarm bell ringers in this con it is amazing that anyone could fall for it; the scammed must be incredibly naive.  Besides the already mentioned Yahoo address, the lack of interest shown in the menu selection, variety, cost etc was a dead giveaway. Anyone who was charged with genuinely arranging a trip like this would show far more interest and ask questions. The original email was reasonably written, but as the responses continued, the English/spelling and typing became worse and worse. I just love this line. "How are you also getting along with the enchantments of the yuletide?"  And any man that calls me "dear" is looking for trouble!

Finally, the scam itself is genius, but also completely implausible. A travel agent who can not process payments would be out of business faster than you can say Hail Mary. And how is it that the travel agent which is located in the UK, and the travel would have be charged in Sterling, is owed exactly $8,000 to the cent? The "reason" of not providing a credit card to more than one person is also completely illogical. The "Reverend Scumbag" was perfectly prepared to provide his card details to both the agent and to me prior to the agent's system supposedly going haywire. 

I responded to the Reverend telling him that I would be unable to comply with his request as there were GST (tax) implications and could not do it unless he provided an ABN number and GST Tax Invoice, but I would be happy to complete the booking. I doubt I will ever hear from the good Reverend Scammer again. 

From: shalomXX@ipnet.kiev.ua
To: undisclosed-recipients:
Subject: Greetings!

I have been waiting for you since to contact me for your Confirmable Bank Draft of $1,584,319.09 USD, but I did not hear from you since that time. Then I went and deposited the Draft with FEDEX COURIER SERVICE, United Kingdom, I travelled out of the country for a 3 Months Course and I will not come back till end of December.

What you have to do now is to contact the FEDEX COURIER SERVICE as soon as possible to know when they will deliver your package to you because of the expiring date. For your information, I have paid for the delivering Charge, Insurance premium and Clearance Certificate Fee of the Cheque showing that it is not a Drug Money or meant to sponsor Terrorist attack in your Country.

The only money you will send to the FEDEX COURIER SERVICE to deliver your Draft direct to your postal Address in your country is $742.707 USD only being Security Keeping Fee of the Courier Company so far. Again, don't be deceived by anybody to pay any other money except $742.707 USD. I would have paid that but they said no because they don't know when you will contact them and in case of demurrage.You have to contact the FEDEX COURIER SERVICE now for the delivery of your Draft with this information bellow;

Contact Person: Mr. Dominic Leonard
Email Address: fedex.delivery.dl@live.com
Telephone: +(44)704-571-4XXX

Finally, make sure that you reconfirm your Postal address( ) and Direct telephone number to them again to avoid any mistake on the Delivery and ask them to give you the tracking number to enable you track your package over there and know when it will get to your address.

Let me repeat again, try to contact them as soon as you receive this mail to avoid any further delay and remember to pay them their Security Keeping fee of $742.707 USD for their immediate action.

You should also let me know through email as soon as you receive your Draft.

Yours Faithfully,
Mr. Anthony Jefson

The guy who sent it must have a warped sense of humour; his email address is Shalom@ which means come/go in peace. It has also been sent to "undisclosed recipients" which should be a dead give away as a scam, as no one in their right mind would be sending over US$1.5 million to a blank distribution list of people. As usual the English is fractured. The email asks the recipient to send US$742.707 to Domenic Leonard at Fedex. Firstly, how do you send point seven of a cent? Secondly, since when does Fedex use a free web mail service (live.com)?

This one is hoping to catch the really naive and greedy, and unfortunately there are lot of those people out there.    

 I got your contact through your website and I want to know if you will be able to supply me some cases of wines for my upcoming birthday . Concerning the shipping of the wine,i will refer you to the shipping company that will come for the pick up of the wines in your winery once I have made my payment . Kindly get back to me so that I can make my orders .
Thanks.
Lisa Schlein
Coordinator,Humanitarian and Disaster Response.
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
 

 I loved the response to this email that was sent by Winelist Aust. It said, "Lisa, I suggest you might want to consider a more convincing scam.This one has been around for some time!" It then copied a previous email where the only differences were the name of the originator and the country of origin. 

Update (February 24)

Subject: Interested Offer To Purchase Your Wines

Dear Sir/Madam,

Compliments of the Season to you all.

We came in contact with your name through the Internet as the Manufacturer and Exporters of Wines, and presently we had a serious Purchasing Organisation who is interested to buy your Product in a large quantity under a Contractual payment terms of 100% T/T advance payment.

Therefore If you are able and willing to handle this Contract Suply of your Products here in our region, Then we will then gives you the direct contact of the Purchasing Organisation.

Meanwhile you are required for now to urgently send to us your Product details Specifications and its C/F or FOB delivery pricelist for our submission and approval by the Purchaser. As soon as we receive it and submit to them the total quantity required by them will be send to you.

Please note that we are only Commission Agent in this transaction, and our Company 2% Agent Commission is to be included on the Pricelist which you will send to us for submission and approval by the Endbuyer. The final destination Ports of Delivery is Cotonou Seaport, Republic of Benin, West Africa.

Waiting for your urgent email response, as we are willing to have this Contract handled by your able Company. Furtherstill, feel very free to call me on my direct line (00229) 97 87 43 13 If you requires any urgent information.

Thanks & Best Regards,

Mr Hanny Ope (Director)
Hannop Marketers & Agency
Carre 284 Yenawa Akpakpa
Cotonou, Republic Of Benin                
 

What a weird request. It should ring more alarm bells than a fire station.  I responded: "My Father has the same first name as you do; Mr.

So Mr, what sort of wine racks are you after and where do you want them delivered."

Joe baby responded in seconds....
 

Hello Cheers
Thanks for the mail i do appreciate.I will like to Order for the Pine Wine Racks so lets me know the price of one then i will lets u know the quantity i want.And if u don't have some lets me know the types u have in stock.And here is the address where the goods are going below:
BENELACOT HOTEL
269 ashaley botwe st
Lome-Togo 00228

If the alarm bells are not worrying the life out of you now, you must be comatose! Or completely stupid. Or both. Wine rack delivered to a hotel in some God forsaken place in West Africa and the knucklehead whose buying them has no specification. My response....

"Hello Mr,

Well the heck is Lome-Togo? What country?

How would you get the racks there?"

Hello Cheers
Thanks for the mail.Sir i will like my Order Total to be $5000 so advice me with the quantity and will like to know if you accept all major credit cards for payment.
Waiting...
 

What! He doesn't answer any of my questions, but wants to spend $5,000 of his hard earned buying plonk racking and he is desperate to get them. You can see the drool coming from his mouth as he thinks about them. Could this be too good to be true? No way. It must be real. About as real as a $3 bill.  My response....

"Hello Mr,

As I asked you in the previous email, where are you located and how will the goods get to you. You have not answered that question. I need to understand this before we can go any further.

I too am waiting…."
 

Hello Sir
As for now am on business trip at London and the goods are going to Togo to my client
Waiting....
 

What? He is not buying the racks for his own wine cellar. I am devastated. Almost devastated enough to not notice that once again he is not answering my questions.   My dispirited response was....

"Hello Mr,

How do you intend to get the good from me to Togo?

Still waiting….."

The man who has shattered my heart soon responded....
 

Hello,Cheers
Thanks for the reply, after the purchase i would like you to contact a courier which would be picking up the units from your shop or warehouse as soon as you sum up the total cost together with the freight charges and i proceed to make payment, shipping arrangement would be made for the units to reach my client successfully.Standing by to hear from your respond to proceed further.

Regards
 

Ouch. Now I have to deal with international shipping agents to secure this all important order that could make or break my business. Getting the sale is not going to be so easy after all.  My response was...

"Hi Mr,

I have contacted my courier company, The Mouse Mickey Movers (also known as 3M) and have obtained a quote from them to get the racks to you. Unfortunately it is not inexpensive, but as they use UDL to move overseas freight, so their hands are tied. Including insurance, door to door, the freight will cost $1,359. Ouch! I hope this will not mess up the deal. To sweeten the deal and lessen the pain, I could always throw in a number of thumbscrews to go with the racks, they may come in handy.

If this quote of $6,739 is acceptable, please let me know how you would like to pay for it. We offer a discount for cash but I guess that may not be possible in your case.

Sitting down waiting to hear from you too."

He will need to be sitting down when he sees the cost of freight. It must have given Ol' Joe's heart a bit of a turn as it took him four minutes to respond this time.  
 

Hello CHEERS
Thanks for the mail i do appreciate.The shipping company u introduce to me is too high so i will like you to contact this international shipping company that they do door to door delivery,here is there address below:
fastnetshippingcompanyXX@yahoo.com
Waiting...
 

That seems completely Kosher. I mean my quote was a tad high, so I can understand our cost conscious purchaser trying to save a buck or two by using an international freight forwarding company that has no Google listing and a Yahoo email address. My response...

"Yes, I know its expensive, but the goods have to be shipped from Australia. I have contacted my shipping company and they tell me that Fastnet Shipping Company does not operate in Australia. "

That must have thrown him for a loop! It took almost three hours for him to respond with....

Hummm; this is getting difficult! I fired off this one....

"Hi Mr,

Our business is selling wine racks, something we do extremely well because we are so well priced, have a huge range of goods and we really look after our customers. Arranging freight within Australia is something we do all the time, but we normally do not ship overseas and have very limited experience with this sort of thing.

I am more than happy to help you, but if you want the excrement freighted to some exotic destination using a specific contractor, you need to arrange the freight yourself. This should not be difficult if you have worked with them previously.

Waiting..... but its not as much fun as roo ting. "

I never heard back from ol's mate Joe, so I can only presume he prefers waiting to roo ting, or is he so busy roo ting that he has forgotten that he is keeping me waiting?

Update - July 23

Our mate Maxwells Brown has now moved onto the wineries in Germany. I have just received an email confirming he is quite active there at the moment. However as their Federation has alerted its members, no doubt he will move onto another country soon. However,  in this scam it looks like there may even be a double whammy involved. Maxwells is trying to trick the winery into paying the freight by Western Union transfer to some bogus operation and then picking up the wine and having it delivered off shore. The particular German winery Maxwells was trying to Scam found this story and sent him the link. His response was, "MY GOD!!!

SO SUCH AS BEEN HAPPENING?.WELL I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT MEBUT REALLY MY BIRTHDAY IS COMING UP AND I DON'T EVEN HAVE TIME TO SEAT AND START SCAMMING PEOPLE.I SWEAR I AM NOT A SCAMMER,ONLY SOMEONE WHO NEED WINES FORHIS BIRTHDAY."

When I saw this response I laughed.  It sounded like a petulant child yelling and stamping their feet in the supermarket because their mother would not buy them the chocolate bar they wanted.  

A new one sent to my mate Mark Cohen. This guy Larry Kay is so desperate to buy "stuff" he does not even try to be subtle about the purchase. No types of goods are mentioned. Anyone who falls for this has got to be really naive. Perhaps I should offer to sell him 5 kg of gold plated manure, because his email is full of it.

From: Larry Kay [mailto:dokylandXX@yahoo.com]
Sent: Thursday, 24 July 2008 7:31 PM
To: mark@
Subject: items enquire,,

Dear,

We are contacting you with the aim of making some purchase from your company.Send a return email to us with the following details:
-If you can ship out of your country and i will need the goods ship to my clinet west african.
-Shipping destination Nigeria/Benin with Fedex, UPS, Chronopost and DHL -Do you have a minimum order.
-Do you accepts credit card as a method of payment (Visa, Master&Amex) We are looking forward to hearing from you with regards to our request.

Tel:+447024064XXX
Best regards,
Larry

 

Feel free to submit your comments!