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This blog is about the crazyness-turned-laughing about living in USA and surviving to it.
Hey, better laugh about than cry about, right?

I write from Ohio, where I am doing my Ph.D. at Kent State University. Tough science, rough parties and global roomates...

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Fighting Evil: I received a Nigerian Letter right today!!

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This entry was posted on 5/6/2007 9:15 AM and is filed under uncategorized.

Hey guys, you won't believe it, but while advertising in roommates.com searching for a roomate, someone called "Paris Morgan" sent me an email telling me she was interested in moving in. All of this is fresh as a perk coming from the lake 5 mintues ago. It's going on while you read this guys (5-6-07 11.24am)!!! Ever wondered how an Internet scam looks like???? They look like this:

"Paris" first email:

Hello David,
Thanks for your response and i do appreciate your email.I am Paris Morgan.29 years of age,i am british born and grew up in eastern London,UK. I do research work and a microbiologist as a profession.I presently work for Le Grange Organisation under the inspect of the W.H.O, as a microbiologist/Researcher.I will rather say i do more of humanitarian work that is out of my real profession and i just finished a project here in africa for the treatments of drinking water and to educate most villagers, to have a good standard of living health wisely. The project was initiated by W.H.O in conjuction with Le Grange and i lead the troop to actualise the conclusion of the project yesterday.My next appointment is the united states and will have to move in mid May.I had to surf the web and get a room urgently so that i can be able to move in.I have some things to bring in such as my laptop computer, plasma tv, bedroom furnitures and my Jetta Car, i wouldnt know if there will be space for this things and some of my antiques which i cherish alot.
People say i am friendly, i love kids, laid back, dont go out at nights, love reading novels and listening to the CNN news.I will be spending over 12 months there and my supervisor will come in to visit once in a while to ask about my duties there to me. A letter of appointment will be sent to me on where i will start working over there by my supervisor when i get over and will probably be working in hospitals or school.I will appreciate if you can please tell me more about you and if you can provide a scan picture of the room. Thanks and waiting to hear back from you, i will email you with my picture in my next email.


Thanks

Paris Morgan


Then I answered this:

Hi Paris. I send yo a picture from one of the rooms. The other is a
little bigger but pretty similar. I am from Barcelona and have been
living in US for some 3 years doing my PhD in Biomedical Sciences (I
am a biochemist and biologist). I had roommates from nearly all over
the world, so I have good experience about living with people. I'm not
a clean freak but I need 8 hours of sleep every day, so I am strict
about silence during night hours. what else do you want to know?

Hope to hear from you
David

and "she" answered this:

Hello David,

Thanks for the mail and i do appreciate that... i am so much contented with the room and will appreciate if you can just remove the ad. from the website and rent the room to me. I contacted my supervisor and informed him on the payment and i was told that there is a cheque of $4500 ready for me to move in and will be needing the name, address and phone number to which the payment will be sent to by the courier service. I want to pay for the deposit of the room and will want you to deduct that from the payment that will be sent to you and keep the remaining for me until my arrival.I wait to hear back from you with the details so that i can proceed in getting a shipping agent to get my things picked up. This is my picture below:


((Of course, the gorgeous woman picture is fundamental to lure dumbasses))


At this point, some of the rebels's deflectors shields were already being activated...General Solo suspected something fishy going on...possible an AT-AT surprise attack... But I still answered this:


Hi Paris, thanks for your email. I understand you might need to move in ASAP, but before that, I have the habit to have a kind of an interview so you can see the apartment first hand and ask any more question you might have... When do you have time to meet? Do you have any number to which I can call? My cellphone is 330-554-0488.

hope to hear from you
David.

To what she answered:

Hello David,

Here is my office line +2348029516793.Call me monday to friday 10:30am your time over there.Pls i want you to email me the information i asked for just for my supervisor to go on with the payment.

Thanks

Paris Morgan


To what turns out, +234 is the international phone code for...NIGERIA!! Ole!! Bingo   Rotte alarm! Schnelle, schnelle, am then Cannonen!!!

 

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    • 5/7/2007 2:40 AM Ottok wrote:
      hey boy
      check this out
      http://forum.419eater.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=829850
      by the way, le grange organisation is a big fake, but they mean no harm...
      best regards
      Reply to this
    • 7/11/2007 8:02 AM Oriana wrote:
      Hey my name is Oriana, AND I LIVE IN MIAMI, FLORIDA. A week ago a recived an e-mail from a girl that wanted to be my roomate....
      THIS IS THE FIRST E-MAIL I RECIEVED:
      Thanks for your response and i do appreciate your email.I am Rubie Ashley,27 years of age,i am british born and grew up in eastern London,UK. I do research work and a microbiologist as a profession.I presently work for Le Grange Organisation under the inspect of the W.H.O, as a microbiologist/Researcher.I will rather say i do more of humanitarian work that is out of my real profession and i just finished a project here in africa for the treatments of drinking water and to educate most villagers, to have a good standard of living health wisely. The project was initiated by W.H.O in conjuction with Le Grange and i lead the troop to actualise the conclusion of the project yesterday.My next appointment is the united states and will like to move in 15th of July.I had to surf the web and get a room urgently so that i can be able to move in.I have some things to bring in such as my laptop computer, plasma tv, bedroom furnitures and my Jetta Car, i wouldnt know if there will be space for this things and some of my antiques which i cherish alot.
      People say i am friendly, i love kids, laid back, dont go out at nights, love reading novels and listening to the CNN news.I will be spending over 12 months there and my supervisor will come in to visit once in a while to ask about my duties there to me. A letter of appointment will be sent to me on where i will start working over there by my supervisor when i get over and will probably be working in hospitals or school.I will appreciate if you can please tell me more about you and if you can provide more pictures of the room. Thanks and waiting to hear back from you, i will email you with my picture in my next email.


      Thanks
      Rubie.

      THIS WAS THE SECOND:

      Thanks for the mail and i do appreciate that... i am so much contented with the room and will appreciate if you can just remove the ad. from the website and rent the room to me. I contacted my supervisor and informed him on the payment and i was told that there is a cheque of $4800 ready for me to move in and will be needing the name, address and phone number to which the payment will be sent to by the courier service. I want to pay for the deposit of the room and will want you to deduct that from the payment that will be sent to you and keep the remaining for me until my arrival.I wait to hear back from you with the details so that i can proceed in getting a shipping agent to get my things picked up. This is my picture below:

      -THE PICTURE IS OF A DIFFERENT GIRL....
      BUT I CANNOT PASTE IT. SORRY-

      Thanks
      Rubie Ashley.

      YEP, FAKE ASS BITCHES!!
      TAKE CARE DAVID, PEACE!
      Reply to this
      1. 9/17/2007 5:11 AM Anonymous wrote:
        The same letter was sending to me signed with other name. Who is behind this? why they do it?
        Reply to this
    • 8/22/2007 10:52 AM Joshua wrote:
      Thanks, for posting this. I had my doubts, but i held out hope that it wasn't a scam, until I ran across your article. Thanks for saving me.

      Joshua
      Reply to this
      1. 11/10/2007 7:15 AM p wrote:
        I had the same email just sent out to me last last night...

        Thanks for your response and i do really appreciate your email.I am 29 years old, i am british born and grew up in eastern London,UK. I do research work and a microbiologist as a profession.I presently work for Le Grange Organisation under the inspect of the W.H.O, as a microbiologist/Researcher.I will rather say i do more of humanitarian work that is out of my real profession and i just finished a project here in africa for the treatments of drinking water and to educate most villagers, to have a good standard of living health wisely. The project was initiated by W.H.O in conjuction with Le Grange and i lead the troop to actualise the conclusion of the project yesterday.My next appointment is the united states and will have to move in by 1st of Dec 2007, i had to surf the web and get a room urgently so that i can be able to move in.I have some things to bring in such as my laptop computer, plasma tv, bedroom furnitures and my Jetta Car, i wouldnt know if there will be space for this things and some of my antiques which i cherish alot. People say i am friendly, i love kids, laid back, dont go out at nights, love reading novels and listening to the CNN news.I will be spending over 12 months there and my supervisor will come in to visit once in a while to ask about my duties there to me. A letter of appointment will be sent to me on where i will start working over there by my supervisor when i get over and will probably be working in hospitals or school.Pls email me the move in cost of the room and i will appreciate if you can please tell me more about you and if you can provide a scan picture of the room. Thanks and waiting to hear back from you, i will email you with my picture in my next email.
        Thanks
        Carole Wagner
        Reply to this
    • 11/10/2007 7:27 AM p wrote:
      Looks like the notes have worked as I recently saw on roommates.com that they have a separate scam alert section. This outlines the scam for those interested.

      ____________________________________

      Fraud Warning:
      It has come to our attention that a scam is being perpetrated on many rental websites, most commonly directed towards those with a room available for rent. The scammers are typically foreign (many state they are from Nigeria or the UK). They will send an overpayment for a rent deposit in the form of a cashier's check. The scammer will then ask for a partial refund (their overpayment minus the deposit). After the money has been refunded, the victim finds that the cashier's check was counterfeit.

      Victims have lost thousands of dollars as a result of this scam. Please be cautious when receiving deposits. If someone writes you a check and later asks for a refund, call your bank to make sure the funds are securely in your account before returning payment.

      While the majority of our members have honest intentions, there are always a few "bad apples". If you believe you are being scammed by a Roommates.com member, please contact scamalert@roommates.com with the nickname and/or email address of the potential scammer. We will do our best to stop them in their tracks.

      Thank you,

      Roommates.com Customer Care
      Reply to this
    • 2/20/2008 4:37 AM Camille wrote:
      Damn it! I thought the whole thing sounded suspicious but I couldn't see the scam part, I still can't.

      I put an ad on shareaccommodation.com.au for my sister and Sandra Smith replied. Same email as above and our last contact is her telling me her supervisor is sending the $3500 cheque in the mail. Thanks for saving me, I am going to wait for her next reply to see exactly what I am getting saved from.
      Reply to this
    • 3/15/2008 9:01 AM Claire wrote:
      Of the same to me. Thanks for posting this useful information. Just wrote a beautiful email to send back, but think her back ground is little too impressive for a roommate blog. Glad I did this seach!
      Reply to this
    • 4/16/2008 3:48 PM Vivien wrote:
      I have just received a request for a room in Dunedin NZ. It mentioned that the prospective new flatmate worked for Le Grange Organisation. I Googled this and turned up, surprise, surprise, an identical letter with a different name. Very interesting.
      Reply to this
    • 7/15/2008 11:15 PM Tom wrote:
      Yep, I had exactly the same email from some SOB several times now. I used to send a really profane email in reply, but now I string these guys along as much as I can. I get them to call me, provide references send cheques, "lose them" and get them to re-send, get them to waste their time and resources fruitlessly, all the while compiling as much information I can for scamwatch.com. Then when they finally get wise to the fact I'm onto them I allow myself the pleasure of abusing the hell out of them. I just wish had the $ to visit Nigeria and find some of these assholes.
      Reply to this
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