Post by Gerald Croft on Jun 12, 2020 23:52:36 GMT
Back in February I got a fairly unremarkable scam email from a Barrister Spence Morrison. The script is a next of kin scam and although the name of the deceased multimillionaire bears some resemblance to the name of my character (Gerald Croft) I have found the script elsewhere online with the same name for the deceased.
I wasted about a month of the scammer's time pretending I didn't understand the statement that "the name on the documentation needs to be changed to your name" and then we moved on to negotiate about the money should be split between me and the scammer. This was the reason he gave for wanting a fee of £3500, which he has remained consistent on but didn't specify the payment method.
I introduced another character who I claimed was my accountant and he emailed the Barrister asking for more details about the transaction so that he would know how best to advise me. Of course, the Barrister was not happy about this and made it unequivocally clear that I was not to involve any third parties in the transaction. After a while of arguing about third parties Barrister Morrison agreed to my proposed 50/50 split instead of his 55/45.
Barrister Morrison then told me that I was going to meet his associate Simon Williams in London to complete the transaction. I was given an email address and (UK) phone number for Simon, and I was asked for my phone number (I said I didn't have a phone but that they could contact my neighbour [Lenny], who would pass the phone to me). At this point I decided that the only way to introduce a dollar chopper into the bait was to invent a hacker who was impersonating Simon Williams. This hacker is now "sending me" hundreds of emails per day from another account with the name Simon Williams (although when I forwarded the last chain to the Barrister I changed the thread to make it look as if the emails came from the "legit" Simon). The hacker is telling me to send the money to Nigeria through Western Union or MoneyGram, or else he will cancel the transaction. He also claims that the reason for the disparity in his and Barrister Morrison's claims is that Barrister Morrison's account has been hacked.
However, I was very surprised when Barrister Morrison told me that I should never send money through WU or MG, and that the only payment method was to be in cash. Today he asked me to contact Simon by phone, and accused me of delaying the transaction by not contacting them by phone.
I would rather not make any phone calls at the moment, but I feel this bait has a lot of potential. Since we are already exchanging money in cash, I only need to change the location in order to get a Safari (not that it will be easy, certainly not unless I call them or invent a convincing reason not to call). Perhaps the hacker has told me to go to Blackpool to hand over the money (where there is a live cam). I should at least be able to get a photo of Simon, so that I do not give the money to the wrong person. I can't be entirely sure that he hasn't already called Lenny, but perhaps I could persuade him to.
One option (which I would be happy for feedback on) would be to get Simon's number spammed by sending it to a scammer mailing list. Then I can claim that I called but the line was engaged, assuming that some of the scammers call. Alternatively if someone wants to give Simon a call as me then I am willing to share the bait, so to speak.
I wasted about a month of the scammer's time pretending I didn't understand the statement that "the name on the documentation needs to be changed to your name" and then we moved on to negotiate about the money should be split between me and the scammer. This was the reason he gave for wanting a fee of £3500, which he has remained consistent on but didn't specify the payment method.
I introduced another character who I claimed was my accountant and he emailed the Barrister asking for more details about the transaction so that he would know how best to advise me. Of course, the Barrister was not happy about this and made it unequivocally clear that I was not to involve any third parties in the transaction. After a while of arguing about third parties Barrister Morrison agreed to my proposed 50/50 split instead of his 55/45.
Barrister Morrison then told me that I was going to meet his associate Simon Williams in London to complete the transaction. I was given an email address and (UK) phone number for Simon, and I was asked for my phone number (I said I didn't have a phone but that they could contact my neighbour [Lenny], who would pass the phone to me). At this point I decided that the only way to introduce a dollar chopper into the bait was to invent a hacker who was impersonating Simon Williams. This hacker is now "sending me" hundreds of emails per day from another account with the name Simon Williams (although when I forwarded the last chain to the Barrister I changed the thread to make it look as if the emails came from the "legit" Simon). The hacker is telling me to send the money to Nigeria through Western Union or MoneyGram, or else he will cancel the transaction. He also claims that the reason for the disparity in his and Barrister Morrison's claims is that Barrister Morrison's account has been hacked.
However, I was very surprised when Barrister Morrison told me that I should never send money through WU or MG, and that the only payment method was to be in cash. Today he asked me to contact Simon by phone, and accused me of delaying the transaction by not contacting them by phone.
I would rather not make any phone calls at the moment, but I feel this bait has a lot of potential. Since we are already exchanging money in cash, I only need to change the location in order to get a Safari (not that it will be easy, certainly not unless I call them or invent a convincing reason not to call). Perhaps the hacker has told me to go to Blackpool to hand over the money (where there is a live cam). I should at least be able to get a photo of Simon, so that I do not give the money to the wrong person. I can't be entirely sure that he hasn't already called Lenny, but perhaps I could persuade him to.
One option (which I would be happy for feedback on) would be to get Simon's number spammed by sending it to a scammer mailing list. Then I can claim that I called but the line was engaged, assuming that some of the scammers call. Alternatively if someone wants to give Simon a call as me then I am willing to share the bait, so to speak.
