Oh no these have shown up in my D-mail.

HELLO SELLER
I'M AN AGENT PARTICULARLY,AND MY CLIENT IS INTERESTED IN BUYING YOUR ITEM .AND HE WILL BE PAYING YOU WITH A CASHIER CHECK ,I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW IF YOU WOULD BE ACCEPTING THIS MODE OF PAYMENT AS A PAYMENT METHOD.IF SO,PLS CONTACT ME WITH YOUR FULL NAME AND ADDRESS,PHONE NUMBER AND EMAIL ADDRESS IN ORDER TO FORWARD IT TO MY CLIENT SO THAT HE CAN GET THE CHECK ISSUED IN YOUR NAME.AND I'LL LIKE YOU TO UNDERSTAND THAT THE CHECK THAT WILL BE SENT TO YOU WILL INCLUDE THE SHIPPING COST TO AFRICA,SO AFTER CASHING THE MONEY,YOU'LL HAVE TO DEDUCT THE MONEY FOR THE ITEM AND AFTER YOU MIGHT HAVE DONE THAT I'LL LIKE YOU TO TRANSFER THE EXCESS FUNDS TO ME VIA WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER . TO MY CLIENT IN UNITED KINDGOM SO HE CAN ARRANGE FOR THE PICK UP OF THE ITEM
QUESTION FOR YOU
1)ARE YOU THE REAL OWNER OF THE ITEM.
2) SO CAN WE TRUST YOU ON THE EXCESS FUNDS WHICH IS TO
BE WIRED.
2) ARE YOU A MAN OF YOUR WORDS.PLEASE EMAIL ME WITH THIS MAIL [e-mail:SEGESQUARE080@YAHOO.COM]



Sender is segesquare080.

I really hate the junk emailers.

Thanks!

I deleted it, and the other one he/she was able to send before our system blocked them. (Because of spammers, we limit non-subscribing members to initiating only two new dmails in a 24-hour period.)

I also terminated their DG account, so they won't be able to come back tomorrow and try again - at least not under that username.

Anytime you receive an unsolicited "spam" message like this via dmail, you can use the "Contact Us" link for help. As in this case, we'll delete the dmails and block their account, (which hopefully thwarts them sufficiently that they decide to stop altogether - or at least move on to another website where it's easier to run through a memberlist without hitting so many obstacles.)

Thanks Terry!!! That is another plus for DG!!! Yall are like guardian angels protecting us.

Jeri

You're welcome!

Bravo Terry! As usual you are on the mark with the needed quick response and action - Thank You.

Aw, shucks. Those are the easy decisions in a day's work: new, non-subscribed member signs up to spam our members? That's a no-brainer...a few clicks and they (and their spammy messages) are history.

It's other stuff that gets dodgy ;o)

But you're very welcome, all around - we do want to keep DG free from spam (we don't like getting it, and we don't want our site misused to send it, either.)

Thank you.

Oh my, why would they even bother here on a garden forum?

So whatcha sellin' thats so tempting to someone in Africa?? Rare seeds? LOL

They only want personal information .... not seeds of any type from any source.

This scam has been on the internet for years. End result is you'll lose your money. People do fall for this. He sends you a bogus check you deposit and a few days later you think it clear. You send him back the extra money. Problem is that check will not clear but you won't find that out for 2 weeks. You already sent the money so your out of luck and lost your money.

yeah, my son was selling a bike on Craigslist, got the same type of email, I got one too for a dining set. But I thought posting here is odd.

It's been all over UK also, friend of mine who has a holiday cottage for summer rental has the same thing happen to him, they wanted to rent the cottage, so would send the deposit cheque for an amount way over the asking cost, but my friend had to send the extra amount by his personal cheque to the renter who said he would use this as spending money when he arrived in UK and save him having to change money from one currency to another, however, my friends bank said he would loose his money as this was a world wide scam and believe it or not, thousands of people are loosing money this way, news papers said a guy lost thousands because while selling a car, he was duped this same way. some folks have no scruples or consciences, WeeNel.

Now that is scary...you would have lost yer patudy on that one for sure.

"eyes"

Here we are seeing public service messages on TV warning of this type of scam; good thing.

And there are all sorts of variations on the scam. As a music teacher, there is one that circulates indicating that someone from out of town (country, etc) is looking for music lessons and would like to study with us. They ask our rates and then send a cheque much larger, indicating that they need a partial refund and that was the easiest way for them to get the local currency ... Really glad to see that DG is able to control them quickly.

Of course, some of us subscribers wonder why non-paying members have the right to D-mail at all.

Ann

Many people have very valid reasons for participating in the free features at DG, but aren't able or willing to subscribe ;o)

Here are some legitimate reasons why non-subscribers need access to dmail:

1) They contribute to PlantFiles, and may need to ask someone a question, or respond to a question from our helpdesk editors or a fellow member.

2) They may maintain a tradelist, and need to correspond via dmail with another trader. (DG started out as a seed trading tool..the forums came later.)

3) They provide reviews to the Garden Watchdog, and may need to correspond with a vendor. (Or vice-versa: a vendor may have reason to try to contact a reviewer about their feedback. It's really not fair to require vendors to pay to be able to do that.)

4) They may have a journal or diary, and someone would like to contact them about an entry they added.

5) A subscriber may want to send them a welcome note and invite them to join the subscribers-level forums - how would you do that if they didn't have a dmail account?

Good points, Terry. And I have to admit I used #1 myself as I was a member who contributed pictures for a full year before I was a subscriber.
Ann

It is a sad fact of life, that if there is a way to invent a scam, then there are people who will do it,
it is in all our interest not to reply to any male, IF, we dont know who the sender is, or where they are coming from, but believe me, these scammers are so friendly and cleaver, that even the most careful of people will get drawn in from time to time, thank goodness, the world has more honest people that we very rarely here about them, but we always eventually find out about the cheats, liars and fraudsters, other people are too embarrassed to admit they have been taken in by these crooks, therefore, the bad guy's get away with it to continue there ugly life style, wish there was a branding mark we could put on these scammers forehead to warn folks they are about, but the computer is really the place where they are invisible to us honest, friendly and caring people. stay safe. WeeNel.

As soon as he mention Western Union I knew it was a scam (I knew it before that, too......all caps, etc)..Ebay has/had a warning out asking buyers NOT to buy anything requiring Western Union. Known scam....really a shame they ended up here :(

Cissy

We had a car "buyer" who wanted to transact the deal exactly this way. Sent a check purportedly issued by Chase Bank, for well over the amount of purchase, and asked the extra be used to ship the car and the balance refunded with a personal check. . We thought it smelled bad....and coincidentally, a friend had stopped by who had an actual check from Chase that he had been on the way to cash, and we could see the differences on the bad check clearly. After quite a few nasty emails from the phony buyer, in which he DEMANDED we send his check back, (good luck with that!!) and threats of retaliation, he finally disappeared. It's very good to keep your suspicion meter set on high. The old saying "If it sounds too good to be true...."

Some of these scams are even written in legible English, so you can't count on spotting odd grammer, or bad syntax ....just remember, nobody is going to give you something valuable for a "small contribution" on your part, or overpay you so they can avoid the exchange rate.

Love the new commercial where the guy pulls this, and the
narrator mentions scams like this don't work well in person.

These days, I assume everything in my inbox is a scam, an
ad, a trick or one of those pain in the butt things people forward
to everyone in their address book, including my name!

Ugh.

Yeah, and try to convince those who forward every lame stale unfunny piece of mail they ever get, not to include all the prior recipients names and addys in their forward. Good luck with that. I've suggest copying or using BCC, to no avail. Now I just delete them. (sorry this is a little OT) I'll shut up now.

Oh, trust me, meezers, I'm sharing the chair of misery with you.

Then there are the 'forward a hundred times or you'll be cursed' things.

Groan.

Meezer & Wuvie, I have JUST email for you!!! It is soooo funny. Is a FUNNY response to all those well meaning people who don't take a hint when you tell you don't want the junk mail. It lists a LONG list of all the warnings we have gotten over the last few years ending with some outrageous number "of angels watching over" me line. I nearly died laughing at this MEAN spirited response to junk mail!

LOL, Psy, I think that one has shown up on Dave's a few
times, but I can't find the silly thing now.

:-)

This is from a friend of mine in regards to annoying people who send jokes and forwards:

I have an unlisted phone number AND caller i.d.
Now the same kind of crap is reaching me via the
Internet. it is counter-technology. Perhaps I could
find a 20 second film loop of the new Scram jet that
goes MACH10+, and add only five words ---- "This
is your only warning", and return their email. Do you
think my point would be well-taken?

So what do you think? Does Dusti sum up YOUR feelings about that junk mail?? LOL

Oh my gosh, Psy, that isn't the one I was thinking about, LOL.

Sounds like a point was indeed made. :-)

No, I think I have the one you are talking about. It ends with if you don't send this fleas will infest your arm pits, huge bird with diaherria will poop on your head, yatta, yatta. I know how she HATES them so I sent her the one you are talking about, and what I posted was part of her response.

Ah, then we are thinking of a different one. I'll see if I can find it.

:-)

It's useless to reply to a scam e-mail. They send out millions and I'm sure they get back nasty stuff all the time. Problem is now they know your e-mail is a live one and they sell the e-mail address to another company.