Job Discussion Forums

[fishmb]

I advertised on craig's list to try to pick up a private student or two, and I got this message back, which completely sounds like some sort of scam and wanted to give other teachers a heads up.

Hello Teacher,
My name is Chris Moriss I am presently in Canada working with
a construction company, I m 47 years old man with 3children
(Caroline, Ben and
Kelvin) both of them are presently in South Africa with there
mum, but Caroline will be
coming down to your location in a couple of 2week, and I want the
best for them in terms of education so I will need a good
Lessons Teacher for her as soon as she arrive to your location,
And I saw your advert concerning the Coaching/lesson you listed
to lecture anyone who is ready or who is lacking the knowledge
and I am really impressed.

My daughter (Caroline) will be coming down to your location, in
a couple of 2weeks for vacation and I don't want a situation
whereby she will be less busy without doing something
reasonable ,so I make decision that she should be attending a
good lesson over there .

Caroline is a young girl of 20 years old, she is clean, quite and
well organized, she love
Being around good people. So she will be coming for 3 hours a
day (9am to 12pm) 3times a week or at your lecture period, I
need you to calculate the cost for 4 weeks lessons and I will
want us to make an arrangement for a good Hotel close to your
location where she will be staying for the period of the vacations.

And let me know if I can make subsequent amount to show
commitment in this programmed, she will be coming for lessons
3days a week. If you are interested in Tutor my Daughter...

Kindly get back to me with this information bellow....


Charges for an Hour: .......................
Changes for 3days a week:........
Total Charges for 4 weeks:.........
Full Name: ...................................
Home Address: ....................
City: ........................................
State: .............................
Zip code: .............................
Nationality:........................ .
Home and Cell # ...................
Do get back to me as soon as you get this message I will be
looking forward to hear from you as soon as possible thanks.

Best Regards
Chris Moris
[email protected]

[eclectic]

[himynameise]

I'm trying to figure out what the scam really is, seeing as he hasn't yet asked you for bank account information or money. But I guess asking for your address is creepy enough, and this definitely can't be legit.

I like how he says "to your location." I wonder if his daughter Caroline would still come to visit you if you relocated to Patagonia or something...

[studymylesson]

From the description of the 'daughter', it seems like some hard sell escort agency touting for business - if 'the price is right'...

[fishmb]

Yeah, the "to your location" bit is the most obvious part - but also all that specific information that he wants right away. The whole set up is a little weird, especially because my post didn't contain a lot of information - so there's no reason for him to be "impressed" because my craig's list post was hardly different from the fifty bazillion other native teachers advertising private lessons online. Definitely a scam - I'm sure the trick comes a bit later. After the fee has been negotiated he'd probably ask for bank information to make a direct deposit into my account or something like that.

[himynameise]

Reminds me of this Kasper Hauser bit:
http://kasperhauser.com/scammer-letters


You should mess with him!

Also, I really like your scammer's e-mail address.

[bulgogiboy]

I've read about this scam. What he'll do is ask for your bank details and then send you a cheque which will 'overpay' you, asking you to send some money back, or to another party. It's quite a common scam now I think:

http://hubpages.com/hub/Tutor-Scam-on-Craigs-List


I got a similar kind of email when selling my car online, similar kind of long spiel about sending bankers draughts, and explaining about why unfortunately buying my car had to be complicated because of the buyer's personal situation. I told him politely to piss off. I would assume anyone with 2 functioning brain cells would immediately tell these scammers to sod off, but according to a documentary I saw there are fraudsters in Nigeria who make MILLIONS from these internet scams!

Hehe if you want a laugh please read this one about a Nigerian astronaut stuck in space and how he needs your assistance, its priceless!

http://www.lindqvist.com/nigerian-astronaut-wants-to-come-home/

[fishmb]

Wow, that is a good read!

[himynameise]

I fear to think of the effects 14 years in space might have on the body.

[fishmb]

Yeah, he'll probably never be able to walk on earth again.