Does this seem like a scam?

[SweetErika]

I received this email today, in response to an ad I placed (I'm a tutor), and I'd like your impressions:

How are you doing today?
Hope you are fine.
I am john kirk .
I presently live in 7 lynford court,toronto, ontario,canada.
But i am out of canada now for some conferences....
I am 42 year-old man.
I am a renowned artist and craftsman.
I was out of the canada some months ago.
I am planning to have the exihibition of my arts and my drawing in the
united states in
some weeks ahead in various hall in SEATLE ANDTECOMA

and attends some conferences also before i leave there.... So i am expected
there and i planned to stay for 4 months in the united
state,and am due to be in the state in the next 3 week .But my two
daughters that are in canada now insisted that they will come and meet me in
united
state when i get to the state for my exhibition and stay with me...
Their names are ( The first girl barbara ( 13 year old) and lizzy ( 5
old) ) .And i have agreed that they should come and meet me in the state
when i
must have gotten there... So i planned to have teachers for them...
Because i dont want them to lack in there studies......
I have contactd you so that you will able to take care of one of them for
me... I will be needing a teacher for lizzy but i will need different
teachers
for barbara ,you know she is in high school ,besides she is in science
department.....
Besides i want them to learn some foreign languages too like (french or
german , spanish and even italian) before we get back to canada
together....
I also wants barbara to undergo some lesson in music because i have seen
that she has the talent..
Moreover she has a teacher present now in canada but i want to have a
teacher for her in the state when we get there......so you can tell me the
one you will available for.
I promised to pay you any reasonnable price you mention,because i love them
so much.
Reply to me as soon as you got my message with all the necessary
conditions(i mean your fee, the conditions),
I must know about you and the deal.
you can tell me more about yourself.......
HAVE A NICE DAY.
LOVES FROM LIZZY AND BARBARA
(JOHN KIRK)

It seems a little fishy considering I can't find a renowned artist named John Kirk who's based in ON, there's no such place as 7 Lynford Court, Toronto, and I found that same address (along with similar basic stories and the broken English) here.

So, what do you think? Is it worth my time even replying to this guy? Do you guys check up on potential clients, dates, etc., like this?

 

[midwestyankee]

Erika, this seems a lot fishy to me. Especially since you discovered the anomalies that came up in your research, I would stay the heck away.

 

[jenlee84]

OBVIOUSLY That is a scam. His english SUCKS!

 

[MagicFingers]

Definitely sounds fishy

You're a sharp gal and can see the obvious anomalies in his grammar, reasoning, address, profession, spelling, etc. Barbara is too young for high school?, and "in the Science Dept?" His name doesn't fit his speech either.

But, if you want to check it out more, ask him some questions. Reply to his email only, asking if maybe he got the address wrong, and where you might view some of his work. Don't give him details about you!!

Maybe he was underprivileged and wants more for his daughters? MAybe he was adopted.

You're right to be cautious about him.

MF

 

[center_stage]

I think this sounds like a scam. Perhaps you should reply and see what happens next? You don't have to promise anything, just ask for some more information.

 

[Starbuck69]

SweetErika,

It is a scam, go to the following url:

http://www.4nannies.com/info/Nanny-Scams.cfm

check out the names and address, they already used this street address but at least they changed the state and country.

That url also shows some e-mail examples and also how to report it.

Im glad you didn't get taken

 

[SweetErika]

SweetErika,

It is a scam, go to the following url:

http://www.4nannies.com/info/Nanny-Scams.cfm

check out the names and address, they already used this street address but at least they changed the state and country.

That url also shows some e-mail examples and also how to report it.

Im glad you didn't get taken

Yep, that's the one I linked to in my post. It was the only reference I found to that addy.

I might reply just to play with him a little bit. If he's a scammer, I might as well suck up some of his time on useless communication, rather than allow him to use it to try to hook others.

Thanks for the impressions, guys.

 

[Starbuck69]

Sorry SweetErika, I was bad, I didn't read that far down, once I seen the main part of the e-mail I found the url and then did a reply.

If you do that, just be careful not to give him any info that he doesn't already have, as Im sure you already know.

And if you can keep us posted, it could turn out to be some good intertainment

 

[Ezzy]

Don't forget that once you respond he knows he has a "live" email address, and if he is spamming other things too, then you are going into his "live" list and your email is gong to be passed around all his spammer friends.

The best thing to do is either report him or ignore him. Responding to him is not such a good idea, IMO.

 

[ravenous_os]

 

[The Gimp]

My guess is that if you go through with the transaction the guy will send you a large sum of cash in the form of a money order as advance payment for teaching fees. Then he will ask you to Western Union him a percentage of the money. A few days later when the money order bounces Mr Kirk will be long gone and you'll be on the hook.

 

[SweetErika]

My guess is that if you go through with the transaction the guy will send you a large sum of cash in the form of a money order as advance payment for teaching fees. Then he will ask you to Western Union him a percentage of the money. A few days later when the money order bounces Mr Kirk will be long gone and you'll be on the hook.

Yep, I'm sure. I did write back with some innocent-sounding questions, one of which asked about payment, so we'll see if that's the scam if he replies, I'm sure.

 

[Ezzy]

I don't think it'll hurt to write back and ask about your concerns.

In reply to Ezzy, a lot of people have my IP number from my email addy, and nothing has happend.

I've even been threatened by a man once who knew it. Afterwards, I called my server and was told I have nothing to worry about. It only shows who your server is and sometimes the location is totally off. Mine is an hour away from where I live. It doesn't show our actual address.

Edited: I may have misunderstood your post, but it doesn't hurt to throw it in.

The IP address has little or nothing to do with what I was trying to get over, if you are getting spam to an email address now, and your email address is not known, is just being probed. Then you respond to a spammer who makes his money from the "live" emails he can find, and there you are standing on the roof, waving a big red flag, and saying aim it all at me.

I get 25 -30 spam emails a day on the different accounts I have, and it is not known about them being live, just that the addresses exist. I have a friend who likes to respond to the "Russian Bride" & "Earn a million a week from your bed" emails he gets, he gets 200+ spam emails a day, (on a Sunday, and I may get 5 or 6 on a Sunday), so because he answers some of his spam, he gets more spam.

In this world where email addresses are free and easy to obtain, if you want to "play" with a spammer, open a new email account and copy their details to that account, reply to them without referencing your real email address, and watch the spam start to accumulate in that account, take a look at the different amounts in the account they know you are using and the account they are trying to get a response from (your existing account).

Give it 3 months and then come back and let us know if you get more spam on the account you respond from or the one where they are not sure you are even reading the message.

For me I hate to waste my time reading spam, so inviting more spam to my email accounts looks like a strange thing to do, if I want to keep my spam to a minimum…Of course this is just from my point of view, there must be someone out there in cyberspace who is trying to open up the first cyber spam museum, he has his email addresses on as many spam lists as possible, he may crack the secret to making a million a week from his bed, while I’m struggling to make $1,000 a week from my office.

IP logging really only has an effect if you are running your own server from your house, very few people do, but you can track back to an ISP who controls that IP address, and so you could find out what area of the country or state you live in, if you then want to give out information about where you go, and what school you are in, they can follow the information, and if it is their intention to stalk you they can ask simple questions about anything say, if you comment on a sports match, they may ask which team your team is going to play next, or do you sit at the top of the bleachers or at the bottom. This is the way the cyber stalker gains knowledge, one piece of information at a time.

 

[Ezzy]

I also found another non-existant 7 Lynford Court this time in San Antonio, TX, looks like the original from the nanny site.

 

[jenlee84]

Wow way to be an obvious scam! Poor grammar!

 

[AboutFace]

Gee - what would give it away? Looking to learn foreign languages, but doesn't seem to have a basic mastery in English?

This is a funny one - not as funny as the Russian "female friends" - but funny.

 

[Davross]

Definite scam. If you have spent much time in canada you will notice a great many Canadians already speak some level of French, and he wants his girls to learn it. Hmmm

 

[Phaedre]

A scam IMO as has already been stated, that it would be best to pass on to the authorities and not respond to in any other way.

In a strange coincidence yesterday we received the classic 'you have won the lottery' type scam letter through the post. We will be passing it on to the authorities and otherwise ignoring it completely.

 

[ravenous_os]

 

[MagicFingers]

boob?

Gotcha. I know what you mean now. I should've known by the thread title. Red heads can have blonde moments, too.

I'm such a boob! And I'm the only boob that said it was okay. Uncheck my vote in your mind, Erika.

I don't know about your boob, but that ass in your AV looks great!

 

[marge_w]

Gotta love those scams!

Maybe the approach to take would be something similar to this , the all time classic of taking a financial scammer, making him fall in love with you and then making him contemplate the financial benefits of Angora goat farming!

have a chuckle

love n hugs

Marge

 

[Reba67]

There is a 7 Lynford Court, Toronto. Google just doesn't call it Toronto. Etobicoke was one of the 6 municipalities that amalgamated into Toronto in 1997. But STILL places like mapquest google maps, the phone company etc etc etc all use the old city names.

http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=7+Lynnford+Dr,+Etobicoke,+ON&ie=UTF8&z=15&om=1&iwloc=addr


LOTS and LOTS of people in Toronto have poor grammar. We have a HUGE HUGE HUGE number of immigrants in this city.

 

[Ezzy]

There is a 7 Lynford Court, Toronto. Google just doesn't call it Toronto. Etobicoke was one of the 6 municipalities that amalgamated into Toronto in 1997. But STILL places like mapquest google maps, the phone company etc etc etc all use the old city names.

http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=7+Lynnford+Dr,+Etobicoke,+ON&ie=UTF8&z=15&om=1&iwloc=addr


LOTS and LOTS of people in Toronto have poor grammar. We have a HUGE HUGE HUGE number of immigrants in this city.

The address you posted was for 7 Lynnford Dr, Etobicoke, ON. Now I can see that you could have poor grammer, and really not be able to string an email together that makes sense in a langauge that is not your first. But I still fail to see how you could get your own address so wrong: -

7 Lynford Court, Toronto, ON when you really meant to type 7 Lynnford Dr, Etobicoke, ON.

I also fail to see that as a "renowned artist and craftsman. I am planning to have the exihibition of my arts and my drawing in the united states in
some weeks ahead in various hall in SEATLE AND TECOMA," not only can I find no record of a renowned artist and craftsman in, ON. But I cant find reference to him anywhere else either.

 

[SweetErika]

The address you posted was for 7 Lynnford Dr, Etobicoke, ON. Now I can see that you could have poor grammer, and really not be able to string an email together that makes sense in a langauge that is not your first. But I still fail to see how you could get your own address so wrong: -

7 Lynford Court, Toronto, ON when you really meant to type 7 Lynnford Dr, Etobicoke, ON.

I also fail to see that as a "renowned artist and craftsman. I am planning to have the exihibition of my arts and my drawing in the united states in
some weeks ahead in various hall in SEATLE AND TECOMA," not only can I find no record of a renowned artist and craftsman in, ON. But I cant find reference to him anywhere else either.

Yeah, it's really all of the information strung together that doesn't work for me. In any case, for all of his immediacy, he hasn't replied to my email, so I'm sure he's a scammer.

On 4nannies, you'll notice an awful lot of these scammers use two Christian first names for their full name. This guy, John Kirk (or kirkjohn, as his email address reads) fits that pattern as well.

Reba, a lot of my clients and parents I deal with aren't native speakers, so I'm sensitive to that and do well at deciphering a variety of rather mangled communications. I'd never dismiss or be suspicious of someone on poor English alone; as we see around here, plenty of native speakers have enough trouble with the language as is. However, when the facts don't add up or something srikes me as off, I just won't work with them period because experience has taught me those people bring a lot of trouble. Thanks for the info on the city names and your other input - I'm sure it'll come in handy in the future!

 

[The Gimp]

I had the son of the King of some African nation send me a money order for $6000 to rent my house that was advertised for $750/month. Keep in mind that he agreed to rent the house sight unseen because I hadn't as much as posted a picture of the place yet. Of course the guy unexpectedly called and asked me to send him $3800 so that he could get a plane ticket to the US. When I told him that the US Secret Service told me that his money order was counterfeit he hung up