www.junkmail.co.za SCAMMERS BEWARE

This post is from
http://dotnet.org.za/janus/archive/2005/10/13/beware-www-junkmail-co-za-scammers.aspx?CommentPosted=true#commentmessage

just as a refernce so we can be aware and help each other.

PLEASE POST YOUR STORY:

Beware: www.junkmail.co.za scammers

I know that this has been going on for a while so please beware.

I advertised my TV in the junkmail, and this morning i recieved an SMS from "Robert" # 082 761 9605. His story was that his company is paying for the TV and they will deposit money into my account, then he will let me know to meet somewhere.

Well, I just got the SMS telling me that the money was deposited and that we should meet. When I checked my account the money was there but offcourse not cleared, being a cheque. I replied to him saying that we can meet once the cheque has cleared.

Have'nt heard from him since.

I hate scammers :(

Posted: Oct 13 2005, 01:14 PM by janus | with 24 comment(s)

Filed under: General, JunkMail, scam

Comments

trev said:

ihad advertised my tv. a chap phoned saying that he would like to come along to see it the next morning. he phoned later that night and asked if i had anything else to sell, eg dstv hifi ect ect. Then guess what....my house was broken into that same night and everything stolen.....so BEWARE.

# August 31, 2007 8:53 AM

Cris Rogers said:

The following is the only response I had from my advert in the junkmail. Now ask me if I would like to advertise in the junkmail again.

Junkmail: Private Cash Sale of your Car in South Africa

Thomas (African) called me several times during the seven days before I was to meet him in Witbank (± 100 km from Secunda where I reside). When he phoned the day before the meeting, I offered him my account number so that he could deposit the money into my bank account. He said he did not need my account number because he was a cash buyer. Also, I should not bring the car I wished to sell if I had another car available to drive. That sounded good – no chance of being high jacked. I was not sure what “cash buyer” meant and I thought about this for some time. Cash buying for me was an immediate electronic transfer from one of my accounts to the seller’s account. A few hours before I was to meet him, I realised that he could mean “cash” cash, as in notes and if this was the case, he was probably trying to launder money.

Events on the morning of 26th September 2007 – The Cash Deal:

After I had arrived in Witbank, Thomas called me to say he was waiting for me at a petrol station near a hotel. I drove there to meet him. He looked ok. He was from Namibia (Nigeria?). A white bum walked up to me and asked if I could help him with five litres of petrol. I gave him my standard reply: Sorry, I don’t have any cash. (In hindsight, he was probably in on it too – lucky I said I had no cash.)

Thomas said his friend was waiting for us with the money at the bank in the nearby shopping centre. Excellent, no chance of being murdered for this money at the petrol station. We would deposit the money, I would provide him with a receipt and an affidavit at the police station which stated I had received the money. Perfect, this is what I wanted to tell him. A week from now he would collect the car. This would give enough time for the money to clear and for me to settle with the bank, obtain the car’s papers and service the car. So, I asked him if he was going to follow me to the shopping centre or should I follow him. No, he didn’t have a car, he came here by taxi that morning. He will ride with me. I should have told him the deal is off right there and then. How could he be buying an expensive car if he doesn’t own a car?

We drove to the shopping centre and parked in a quiet open area of the parking lot. I was happy with that. His friend arrived in a very smart suit, gold caps on his teeth, well spoken and a very expensive looking money bag. Very friendly greeting. He climbed into the front seat next to me and Thomas in the back seat. He said he had R270K in his bag – I was expecting R153K, the sale price of the car. Then he said to Thomas “I like your stones. I will give you R650K.” Then he said “I am a licensed diamond dealer from Belgium. I buy stones all over the world and take them with me back to Belgium. I have bought diamonds from Thomas before and we are establishing a long term relationship.” He began taping up a small, flat, square parcel, ± 8cm by 8cm. When I heard the tape being drawn off the roll, I opened the car door and nearly ran away. These kind of people use tape to bind you up. The Belgium diamond dealer handed the parcel back to Thomas and said he has R270K in his bag, would we like to take the R270K now or would we rather wait for the whole R650K? Thomas suggested we should wait for the total. The diamond dealer pulled out two R100 notes from his money bag, gave them to Thomas and told us to relax, get something to eat and drink and he will meet us at the FNB bank in 30 minutes. Then he climbed out the car and walked away slowly, in a relaxed manner towards the shopping centre.

I was beside myself. I felt the sheer terror of unwittingly being caught up in a R650K diamond deal. I told Thomas I am going straight to the Standard Bank and I am going to stay inside the bank until this is over. Panic. Fear. Terror. This would be the last five minutes of my life. I parked close to the Standard Bank and Thomas tried to calm me down. I was thinking, “Could I wait in the bank, then walk out for a while and return with R153K while being filmed on security cameras?” I sat in the car waiting for bullets to start ripping through the door. Thomas was busy trying to calm me down and convince me this was not going to happen. No one knew of this deal. I was thinking “Sure. Somebody always knows.” Then he told me that he was the “go between” man and that he was not sure how much the owner of the diamonds wanted for his package. The owner was close by and Thomas needed to confirm how much the owner wanted. I thought that we needed to make damn sure how much the owner wanted. People were murdered for less. I was thinking I must get out of here. I must keep moving. I don’t know what else to do. I decided to take Thomas to the owner. What else could I do? I felt that my life was in grave danger and this was a means to an end – I would sell my car. Let’s do this thing.

We drove back to the petrol station and I was directed around the back to a secluded park with a small dam. This place was really dodgy. I was reluctant to drive in. Thomas urged me to drive further and I turned the car around to make a quick getaway. The owner approached the car and Thomas gave the parcel back to the owner. The owner was very relaxed and friendly and talkative. He said he wanted R270K and we could have R10K for helping him, R5000 each. The Belgian had offered R650K. I told Thomas that he had better give the owner more, in fact all of it. I didn’t want anything to do with this. Thomas said he would not give the owner more than he asked for and the remainder was his commission. R380K? Thomas would surely be murdered for that.

Anyway, the owner kept on walking around, getting in and out of the car, saying he did not know me and that he could not trust the two of us to bring his R270K to him. It soon became clear that he would not give the parcel to us. At one point, I asked the owner if he had a gun on him. He said no and exposed all possible hiding places, then also emptied his pockets. In the mean time, the Belgian was phoning every five minutes to say he was waiting with R650K. This was taking too long. I realised what was going on. I tried to short circuit the process and get out of there by offering the owner cash as security. Thomas and the owner continued to talk for another five minutes or so and then they approached me for security. (I was expecting this … stop wasting my time.) How about your cards? My reply was no way, forget it. I could offer cash and cash only. So I asked him how much he wanted. He said R70K. I said R10K. He said R30K. I said R10K and that’s it. It was agreed. (I knew I could probably manage R10K if this situation became really ugly.)

Game Over:

Finally I could drive out of the secluded park. We drove towards the shopping centre with Thomas talking. I wasn’t listening – just saying whatever now and again. My mind was far away. I took the turn before the Standard Bank and Thomas immediately asked “Aren’t you going to the Standard Bank?” “No, I’m going to the FNB.” “Do you have an account there?” “Yes” I lied. We drove into the parking lot and both of us climbed out of the car. We shut the car doors. Thomas asked the car guard where we could find the FNB. At this point, I opened my car door and told him “Listen my friend, I’m out. I’m here to sell a car, not drive up and down across Witbank. If you get the money for the car, phone me.” He was very surprised. I climbed back into the car, locked all the doors and drove away.

Thereafter:

I drove a short distance and stopped the car. I was a little upset and very shaken over what these guys had just done to me. They had also wasted my morning.

cris.j.rogers@gmail.com

# September 28, 2007 8:30 AM

Chris said:

Same thing happened to my parents . Advertised to sell a vehicle in junkmail - a person called THimo phoned with the following number 078-348-3638 . Say he's a truck driver at the Nabibian Border post interested in purchasing the vehicle . Driving a Low-bed for De-Beers and will be off-loading his Load near Klersdorp, Cant they meet him in Klersdorp so that he can give a deposid on vehicle , He will be going back to Namibia for 2 weeks and when he is back will collect the vehicle and pay the differance .Sounds great . My parents drove to Klerksdorp (+/- Hours Drive). On way there Thumo phoned +/- 5 times confirming that they are on their way . My parents got already suspicious already.

Arriving in klerksdorp they met near the taxi rank in Klerksdorp at KFC. Thumo is aprox 6 feet in lenght - 80 Kg aprox Afrikaans fluent well dressed . Thumo said he is actualy from Namibia and will be taking the vehicle he is buying to Namibia - He even showed my Parents a Namibian Pasport.

He said that he does not have the doposid on him - and if they ind taking him to a friend where he left the deposid in safe Keeping. They drove o Near the City Centre.

Same happened as with cris Rogers . A Nicolas Bingo - Discription as follows Very tall very dark shining complexion well spoken expensively dressed pencil striped suit white shirt expensive leather shoes. Cell 072-660-8490.

He got into vehicle with us with a Blue camera Bag.

Nicolsa Bingo flashed suddenly money what he had - with min - Camera Bag dimension s 30x30x30 . The camera bag was full of r100-00 Notes . he said to Thumo that he has only r295k and must wait a few minutes that he can go to bank and withdraw the diff.

Thumi flashed the diamonds to my parents and said he is looking for 840K for the parcell. Start wrapping diamonds . Suddenly my parents is chaufers for them driving them to 2nd location .

2nd location was back of town hall/civic centre .They climed out of the Vehicle and starte dealing in Diamond selling / Buying. Next to them my parents saw Drugs being dealt aswell.

Thumi walked back to parents said that he has to finace a diff of 110K out of his own pocket and if my parents would not mind him using their cell to phone his wife in Namibia so that she can transfer the money to him - tel in Namibia aka Anita 00264813537300

Parents waited a while . Sudenly Thumi came back to them saying that he needs a 50K to finish the transaction . My parents asid they will go to bank to witdraw money.

Thumi waved them off expecting a promt Payment . They drove back home and never went to bank. Wa a ploy to get away from them

Back at home a second group of scamer phoned this time from vereninging with the same excuses - pleae be on the lookout .This time a joseph with the same story

Please be on the lookout not to be scamed or pulled into shady deals. best place to sell a vehicle is infront of a police station and no where else

# January 11, 2008 9:53 AM

sim said:

hey guys , as much as u can beware of these thievis.they re much smarter than u even wen u think u re . They want ur car ot wat ever u re selling they want it . they ll take it one way or another . The guy above me says , the best place to sell ur vehicle is at the police station . So can u please explain to me this .Hw did a police station den got robbed. Gosh wat to do . guys wen u re selling ur vehicle its simply . wen u get a call and if he a smooth caller ,to good to be true jus stay away. let me tell u abt this hw a freind got robbed . He sold his at the dbn drive in ,to a black guy . the guy made payment. he got all the details .everything went normal. wen he got home dat wen he got a surprise . 4 Black guys was waiting for him to take thier money away from him . so hw did they know he is cumming wit money . can u see the link . U see it does matter where u stay ,they jus buy a map check ur address on the map .bam take ur money wen ur vechile in an all legal way .

# January 30, 2008 5:05 AM

Drietjie said:

This is the first time I've heard of this type of scam where they lure you through wanting to buy your car than using you as their transport for diamond selling. Very ingenious!

Criminals are always a step ahead and we should all be so cautious.

My Husband, being in the IT business and having sold computers, was the perfect target for such scams. A bloke phoned him saying he needed about 5 Computers and all the get-up along with that. He would pay the amount into the bank acount and we would then drop off the Goods. When the money was in the bank, we also said that we'd wait for it to clear first and then drop off the Computers. And, surprise, surprise, it had never cleared.

# January 30, 2008 1:37 PM

Sarah said:

We advertised a 42" Plasma. Got a call the next morning from a guy saying he wants the tv. As we were going out that day I asked when will he be coming to look at it. He replied that he does not need to see it and will deposit the money where after he will send his wife to come and collect the tv. Later that day we received a fax (stamped and signed deposit slip from standard bank in central jhb)showing that the money has been deposited. We called the bank to confirm but there was nothing. We called him saying that the money was not available and he came with many excuses. One of them being you have the prove and my wife has to pick up the tv tonight as she is leaving tomorrow. By now we knew what was happening and thought that we would entertain it a bit. We left it for a while and told him that he must come fetch the tv, we are sure the money will only be available tomorrow as it was cash and the banks could not process it because it was past five already. He said that he would make the arrangements and meet us a bit later. We were ready for him/her/it or should I say prepared. If you know what I mean. He called later making an excuse as to why he was late and just never pitched. I hope he and all of the other same one track minded STUPID good for nothing oxygen wasters get a big fat twice the size poo (sorry could't swear) with razors in. P.S WE WILL CATCH YOU NEXT TIME

# March 7, 2008 8:59 PM

John said:

I asked for 5000 second hand roof tiles at R1.00 each... was called by anb afrikaans gentleman in Potchefstroom??? said he had the tiles on his lorry, was on his way to Zimbabwe and would drop them off for me enroute...WOW!!what a luck... otherwise I could go and collect them myself in Potch...WHAT WOULD YOU CHOOSE?... BUT...he needed R1000 deposit paid into his account...we phoned back and forth a number of times...and I eventually ran off to pay the R500... I'm a difficult customer!!... Of course the cell phone number became immediately unanswerable...the tiles never arrived and to institute legal action was just not worth R500...

Once burnt...second time shy... PLEASE LEARN FROM MY STORY AND ALL THE ABOVE ONES... SELL YOUR CAR TO FRIENDS OR FAMILY BY WORD OF MOUTH...

# March 19, 2008 10:37 AM

francois malan said:

klerksdorp car buy scamers noked me this morning. involved me in diamands. one place after the other. then the police arrests me for all this. george hour is the croeks name. his no 0763523448

# May 5, 2008 3:15 PM

Return fire said:

I have been scamd by these nigerians too. False chq or deposit or even swapping your phone for a dummy model when you not looking. Problem is they keep getting people and scam new people everyday and nobody does anything! The only way EVIL PROSPERS is WHEN GOOD MEN DO NOTHING. Fight back! Set them up! Mess them around! Make them drive across country for nothing! Fight back!

# June 5, 2008 1:51 PM

Round wheel said:

The police do nothing! Dear junkmail

Could you please forward this message to the relevant person at junk mail.

I have been a satisfied user of junkmail since its birth and im sure you are aware of the fraud happening using your newspaper. Is there nothing we can do to stop these people? Its the same guys everytime. Im sure we could set a trap or something!? I know for a fact the following are involved.(probly not real names and probly temp numbers but..

+27712741202 elliot

+27790988125 paul

+27793432994 grant

+27720277459 raymond

+27827993824 desmond

+27790988131 and of all names. . Mr brown!

who knows how many others. . .

their messages usually go something like this

Hie regarding the phone can you manage to deliver it to an eastgate shopping mall.Plz confirm so we can make payment arrangements.Kind regards Desmond.

(learn to spell des)

They always ask for your account details and want to do a transfer or pay by cheque. . They take your goods but the cheque bounces or money never clears!

these people are making a mess of the great service you people offer! ! Something must be done! To the public: Take cash only if you selling. Be sceptical. Be careful. Not everyone is a crook but these dogs make it hard for honest people!

And finally . . To des raymond elliot or watever your real names are:

And i will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and FURIOUS ANGER those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. AND YOU WILL KNOW MY NAME IS THE LORD! WHEN I LAY MY VENGEANCE UPON THEE!

# June 5, 2008 1:52 PM

Jackie said:

So I'm shocked to find out that I was also held for a fool. We try be nice, deliver our "sold" goods that evening because hey he sent me a proof of payment (now I realise it was only after bank times) and its "his son's birthday".

SO yes I was scammed, yes I feel stupid coz I was, but I wanna say thanks to all these people that are posting! There has to be a way to catch these people. Me being a young woman Im grateful now that I didnt end up raped or dead (at least in my niceness I thought of taking my boyfriend along) but I am really annoyed that I got scammed out of an awesome Apple Mac, coz I needed the bucks.. how ironic.

SO I'd like to make a suggestion, I've spent two days with the many diff banks (FNB Paymnt proof, ABSA cheque that'll never clear, and Im with Standard)

SO Ive managed to convince them to show me the bank footage, but I need a cop there with me. And of course SAPS is useless and would rather laugh than do anything. I've also learned about headers in emails and IP addresses and all that, but my Hotmail wont upgrade to see this, so here are my thoughts for all those other nice people:

- We need a cop to help us view the footage so we can get printouts of these @#%^ faces that are doing false deposits

- Dont ever use Hotmail for ads, use Outlook or gmail instead (ironically I have both of these AI), you cant trace from it

- We need a hacker to make sense of all the stuff the computer puts out (Whois is also pretty good, except it also tells you USA or watever, so we need a "Track me" thing, but app you can change ur own IP address so that's pretty useless then)

- We need the same priviledges as the government, the cellular networks will track Mbeki's phone in a heartbeat, why aren't the cops allowing us as citizens the same priviledge

- And what happened to getting a physical address from a landline, are the cops truly this useless

Yeah so those are my thoughts, hope one of you can give me sum advice, coz Im not letting this sleeping dog lie. Should I find a way to bust them, and even if Im 40 I will, I will for sure post it on here so we can all close our dark chapters of having our trust in humanity broken.

ANd hey, suppose with all this scamming going on, places like Cash Converters are probably just getting more business..

# June 20, 2008 1:47 PM

ian said:

ons het ons rekenaar in junkmail geadverteer en die selfde story............klomp mense sms vroeg en stel belang .een bel toe en vra as hy die geld in betaal of ons dit sal bring vir hon in randburg.ek is in brits en se toe vir 250 meer sal ek .dit was nie lank nie toe bel hy en se die geld is in betaal.ek het my vrou gebel en gevra sy moet kyk of dit in is en beskikbaar is........wel wel wel.....dit was beskikbaar so ek het nie vout gesien nie.vrydag aand ry ons deur na randburg.ons wag vir hulle by n k.f.c.ons word 3 keer gebel en gese jammer die kar het gebreek en sal biedjie laat wees.later daag n ou op en se hy kom wag solank hier by die goed en dat ons dit kan aflaai.geen probleem.........

maandag bel die bank so 11 uur en se die tjek was gesteel en ons skuld die bank nou 7500.

nou wil ek weet....in die bank is n groot bord wat se enige tjeks moet 10 dae le.hoe was daai gesteelde tjek dan goedgekeer???

# July 1, 2008 12:32 PM

ian said:

mense..ek het dit reg gekry om weer met die do$@#@# kennis te maak maar dit was die doel.ek wil die goed so graag vastrap soos julle en ek weet hoe....het dit reg gekry maar het meer mense nodig waarmee die selfde gebeur het.

# July 1, 2008 12:38 PM

Christo said:

All i can say is that people should be very awake in these situasions, rather lose a potential deal than lose your belongings. I advertised a cell phone and an indian guy phoned me offering me R5000.00 for a R3500.00 worth of phone and would have deposited it immidiatly for me and then come collect it, I told how stupid do you think I am, its cash or no deal, he said o>k he would come back to me, told him Yeh right, well never heard from him again.

People no matter what, stick with your terms no matter how alluring the offer might sound, its the only way you will feel comfortable and have the controll, if in doubt walk away

# July 28, 2008 12:35 PM

Lanet said:

I advertised my farm in Junkmail. A guy phoned me on my cell from an unknown number and asked me to drop off my Deed of Sale at Absa or FNB for him to apply for a loan.

Only Landbank finance farms. Do not supply documents or key info.

# August 8, 2008 8:43 PM

Gerry said:

Just be carefull if you have a good banking account like me with ABSA, they make the funds available and then the cheque is reversed a couple of days later and I lost my money and my IPOD.

# August 21, 2008 12:26 PM

Heidi said:

I have been scammed too - I advertised an 720L Side by Side fridge/freezer for R4000. The funds were paid into my account and they collected the fridge from my house. 2 x days later the bank contacted me and said that the cheque bounced and I now owe the R4000-. This is not fair and if I should ever could that ....... sitting with my fridge - he will be very sorry. We all work very hard for what we have and we do not need this kind of problems.

# September 26, 2008 9:13 AM

Amanda said:

Hi, We advertised our Bakkie in the junk mail October 2008 and 1 week after the advert my husband received a call from a guy named Moses (African Afrikaans speaking )re the bakkie and are very interested buying from us. After a long chat on the phone with my husband on the cell phone we eventually told him that he must get of the phone.

My husband said that this guy is from Namibia and is in Vereeniging on business regarding the 2010 Soccer with friends and would like to meet with him in Vereeniging as they are leaving Friday and he has got the money with him and would like to pay cash for this vehicle as he is buying it for someone else, we can keep the bakkie as he will come and fetch it in two weeks time when he and the family will be in Durban on holiday. Sounded good and a bit scary due to all the crime/fraud in SA.As we are in the process of immigrating and need to sell this urgently we thought OK we can trust him as we will be meeting at the police station and it will be a cash buy. My husband asked my sons fiance a few questions as how will it work to take the vehicle accross the boarder as her family lives in Namibia, she phoned her father with a few questions and this is when they told us to be careful as this happend to a friend of theirs and he lost his vehicle as it is a syndicate dealing with diamonds and they use u as transport.

My husband phoned Moses back and started asking questions and my husband made arrangements to meet him the next.He then asked him if this is not a scam as how do you buy a vehicle without seeing it and also trust a stranger with R100000. He said that if he had the transport he would have come to fetch it himself.

I could not sleep and went into the internet searching for scams and to the junkmail where my mind was made up that this is a scam. Told my husband that this deal is of we are not going anywhere.

He phoned my husband the next day to found out what time is he leaving Pietermaritzburg my husband told him that they are crooks and he knows that they are dealing with diamonds....... well he denied it and put the phone down.

Be carefull as this can happen to U!!

# October 16, 2008 9:43 AM

bob said:

Advertised a iPhone - guy called - said oh no Im in another city ..(Light went off in my head - scammer)

"yes I will deposit cash into you bank .... blah blah"

whatever you tief!!!!

name Freddie

email micropoint@workmail.co.za

phone 0827646480

says he works at bedford centre.

# October 16, 2008 1:45 PM

Lisa Grantham said:

We were wise by the grace of our LORD we tried to sell a bicycle and same story "meet me at eastgate I transferred the money into your bank account, we said we needed to wait for clearance since the money was paid in with a cheq not cash. He became angry and said there is a race on the next day and we have got the money. We then realized another lie we know of all the races since we race regularly. Never heard from them since the cheque was returned ACCOUNT CLOSED. THE DAY OF THE LORD IS COMING WHEN ALL PROUD AND EVIL PEOPLE WILL B URN LIKE STRAW!!!!ON THAT DAY THEY WILL BURN UP, AND THEREB WILL BE NOTHING LEFT OF THEM!!!!!!!!

# November 11, 2008 8:06 PM

btjezmscl said:

5qVoip didskspdqukv.com/.../a>, [url=http://jjeytispdlnj.com/]jjeytispdlnj[/url], [link=http://fbhccoyddxuq.com/]fbhccoyddxuq[/link], http://qigduibfqpym.com/

# November 15, 2008 12:39 PM

fxhpribf said:

65Jwkq prgzrrgbpfmh.com/.../a>, [url=http://fxzipgsnyglf.com/]fxzipgsnyglf[/url], [link=http://rmjcajmouhtz.com/]rmjcajmouhtz[/link], http://apvcckhkcywh.com/

# November 26, 2008 4:12 PM

bobby said:

This guy called me to buy my _________ and oh by the way he is obviously in another city, so will deposit into my bank account and I send the goods. blah blah . bo

cornerstones@workmail.co.za

Nov 27, 2008

Purchase order

Herewith find attached purchase order.

Regards

Mickey Davids

0768214455

Bedford Centre

Cnr Bedford Rd & Louis Botha Ave

Houghton

Johannesburg

cornerstones@workmail.co.za

CORNERSTONE AGENCY

Bedford Centre

Cnr Bedford Rd & Louis Botha Ave

Houghton

Johannesburg

Phone (011)476 8476 Fax (086) 694 7613

Cell (076) 821 4455

# November 27, 2008 7:57 AM

Fred said:

Just recieved 2 sms's with similar ideas. Luckily I am in the I.T business ans is aware of how to use a PC to find informative sites like these.

www.junkmail.co.za SCAMMERS BEWARE

Thursday, November 27, 2008

POLICE fraud details in SA