Dear Smita,

     For me, your story mostly illustrates the grave dangers of wanting to
own a BMW while still in high school ... ;-) .


     With best wishes,

          Gerard.

--
On Tue, Feb 28, 2012 at 09:02:42AM -0600, Smita Mohanty wrote:
> Yes, this is of course a scam.  My husband was almost duped by someone
> who wrote in the name of a close friend saying that he got mugged in
> Europe and to send money to return to USA. My husband of course was
> ready to send for his colleague but just gave a call to his friend to
> make this not a scam.  Of course, it was a scam.
>
> Only last night we saved ourselves from another scam.  I think it is
> good share with the group.  My son (in high school) found a 2005 BMW X5
> on an internet site.  The car's blue book price is $26,000 but the
> asking price by the seller is $2775.  Sounds too good to be true.   But
> when my son (who dreams to own a BMW) contacted the owner (Amanda
> Stone), she replied him immediately saying her son died two months back
> in an automobile accident hit by a drunk driver while riding his
> fiancee's car.  She simply wants to sell the car so that someone else
> can use it and she is not interested in making money.  She said that she
> has a deal with e-bay and that the car will be shipped by e-bay to the
> buyer once the buyer pays the price that will be hold by e-bay.  The
> buyer has 5 days to check the car out and if decides not to buy, the car
> will be shipped back to e-bay at seller's cost and buyer gets back his
> money.  She sent an invoice that was from e-bay with e-bay logo and
> exactly looking genuine.
>
> She sent car pictures and Vin and my husband checked the car out with
> car fax.  She wanted the money to be sent to a e-bay financial expert
> through moneygram although she sent name and address of an e-bay expert.
>  That is when my husband called up e-bay just to make sure before he
> send the moneygram out.  That is when e-bay told him this is a scam and
> that e-bay never asks for moneygram.  That all transactions are done on
> e-bay site only and that e-bay does not get any contract like the one we
> had.  E-bay told us that their logo has/can be copied to make an invoice
> appears to have come from them.  Of course, we went all communications
> and invoice to e-bay.  We lost only $35 for car fax.
>
> Lesson: we need to be aware of any advertisements on internet or
> unsolicited e-mails.  Here is a site to read about different scams-
>
> http://www.fbi.gov/scams-safety/be_crime_smart
>
> Thanks,
>
> Smita
>
> >>> Vellieux Frederic <[log in to unmask]> 2/28/2012 7:01 AM >>>
> From: regnicat@, reply to: regniica@...
>
> Somehow I don't believe someone in such a situation would write to
> ccp4bb instead of calling the family back home. Using Skype since there
>
> is apparently internet access !
>
> And I rather view with my mind's eye someone sitting in an internet
> cafe
> in (say) Lagos, or the Paris suburbs or Kingston or...
>
> Fred
>
> Catherine Regni wrote:
> > I'm writing this with tears in my eyes,my family and I came over here
>
> > to Madrid,Spain for a short vacation. unfortunately,we were  mugged
> at
> > the park of the hotel where we stayed,all cash and credit card were
> > stolen off us but luckily for us we still have our passports with
> us.
> >
> >  We've been to the Embassy and the Police here but they're not
> helping
> > issues at all and our flight leaves in few hours from now but we're
> > having problems settling the hotel bills and the hotel manager won't
>
> > let us leave until we settle the bills. Well I really need your
> > financial assistance..Please, Let me know if you can help us out? Am
>
> > freaked out at the Moment.
> >
> > Catherine Regni......
> >
> > Catherine Regni, Ph.D.
> >