(“. . . . why she walks like a woman and talks like. . . . “)
Wait! That was a different ruse! The one I bring to your attention here occurred over the weekend beginning with the email immediately below which I received on Saturday morning. You may have encountered this scam before, either in person or having seen it discussed on line. The honest, unsuspecting, and forthright are easy prey. I am none of those. But rather than simply delete the request, I thought it only fair to try my new “friend’s” patience, get his hopes up as many times as possible, and make him really work for the money I had no intention of ever sending him. It was the least I could do. His first email begins:
Date: Sat, 21 Jul 2012 13:06:21 -0700 From: adamcjleigh@yahoo.com Subject: Urgent Help Needed !!!………Adam C. Leigh To:
Hello, I really hope you get this fast,I and my family came down here to Real Madrid Spain for a short time vacation ,unfortunately we got mugged at the park of the hotel where we stayed,all wallet,credit card and cell were stolen off us,I only have my passport here with me right now i really need your help to settle the hotel bill and get the next flight back home,I want you to loan me some of $1500 USD I promise I’ll pay you back once I get back home safely. We’re very sorry if we are inconveniencing you, but we have only very few people to run to now. Hope to read back from you soon. Adam I (Vlad of “Vlad the Impaler” renown) reply immediately: From: Bill Woods <bwoodsdressage@hotmail.com> To: adamcjliegh@yahoo.com Sent: Saturday, July 21, 2012 9:28 PM Subject: RE: Urgent Help Needed !!!………Adam C. Leigh Dear Adam, That’s terrible! How can I help you? Is $1500 enough for your whole family? How can I get some money to you? Ferally yours, Vlad And with that, for the next day and a half we become pen pals. Date: Sat, 21 Jul 2012 13:34:06 -0700 From: adamcjliegh@yahoo.com Subject: Re: Urgent Help Needed !!!………Adam C. Leigh To: bwoodsdressage@hotmail.com Glad to read back from you,all we owe is $1500 to settle the bills and get a cab to the Airport including feeding,but I’ll appreciate whatsoever you can afford to loan me right now.You can have it wired to my name via Western union because I’ll have to show my passport as an ID to pick it up here.I promise to pay back hopefully today.Here’s my info below… Name: Adam C. Leigh Location: Avenida de la Hispanidad 2 4, 28036 Madrid,Spain. As soon as you’re done with the transfer kindly get back to me with the confirmation details #MTCN from the western union office.Let me know if you are heading to the western union outlet now? Hope to read back from you soon. Adam From: Bill Woods <bwoodsdressage@hotmail.com> To: adamcjliegh@yahoo.com Sent: Saturday, July 21, 2012 9:44 PM Subject: RE: Urgent Help Needed !!!………Adam C. Leigh Dear Adam, I appreciate your need for haste, but I must do a few errands on my way to Western Union. My twin boys have a Little League game. I’ll just watch a couple of innings. I need to drop off some dry cleaning, and I need to pick up my Labradoodle at the groomers. It’s all one quick circuit so I shouldn’t hold you up too much. If I send a little extra cash, could you pick me up a bottle of Johnny Walker Blue at the duty free? Where are you flying in to? Some shops are way better than others. I’ll run to do that stuff now. You wait for my message at Western Union Madrid, OK? Stay cool. Don’t worry. God will save you. Vlad Date: Sat, 21 Jul 2012 23:53:56 -0700 From: adamcjliegh@yahoo.com Subject: Re: Urgent Help Needed !!!………Adam C. Leigh To: bwoodsdressage@hotmail.com Please let me know what is really going on…. Adam From: Bill Woods <bwoodsdressage@hotmail.com> To: adamcjliegh@yahoo.com Sent: Sunday, July 22, 2012 12:41 PM Subject: RE: Urgent Help Needed !!!………Adam C. Leigh Dear Adam, I am sooo sorry for not getting back to you quicker. I know you had a really bad day yesterday, but listen to this! I got to the game and neither Trevor or Max were even in the starting line up. My stuff wasn’t ready at the cleaners, and when I went to go to Western Union, the dam FDOT had raised the tolls on the Suncoast, they don’t take AMEX, and I couldn’t even get on the highway. I finally got to WU, and they were CLOSED! What’s with that? The sign on the door said something about the sabbath. Now I can’t find the address you gave me. I wrote it down too. If you haven’t gotten enough funds together, let me know and I’ll try again. May the Lord bless you and keep you. Vladimir Date: Sun, 22 Jul 2012 10:48:48 -0700 From: adamcjliegh@yahoo.com Subject: Re: Urgent Help Needed !!!………Adam C. Leigh To: bwoodsdressage@hotmail.com Here’s my info you need below… Name: Adam C. Leigh Location: Avenida de la Hispanidad 2 4, 28036 Madrid,Spain. As soon as you’re done with the transfer kindly get back to me with the confirmation details #MTCN from the western union office.Let me know if you are heading to the western union outlet now? Hope to read back from you soon. Adam From: Bill Woods <bwoodsdressage@hotmail.com> To: adamcjliegh@yahoo.com Sent: Sunday, July 22, 2012 11:43 PM Subject: RE: Urgent Help Needed !!!………Adam C. Leigh Dear Adam, I can’t believe I just wrote you a whole long email and then pushed the delete button by accident when I was trying to send it. I will try again but briefer. I was telling your story to my neighbor Jack. He knows a lot. He drives a long haul all the way from JAX to Phoenix three or 4 times a month as much as the union lets him with their hours rule. Jack has stayed everywhere in the US at some time and he says that if that hotel is making you pay 300 a night, they are cheating you. He says he’s never paid more than 60 or 70 and that was outside El Paso and a woman came with the room! I make him promise to always buy a condom when he goes there or I will tell his sweet wife. He says to me he always does because he dosn’t want to pay 20 extra for a clean one. And who knows anyway? You can get them at the truckstop out of the machine for some quarters and that sure beats 20 $$$$. Anyway either go to a good hotel that dosn’t cost so much or just tell the hotel that you know that they are taking advantage by having high rates and you WON’T PAY it. Jack also said DO NOT TRUST western union. Because one time he gave them a big amount of cash to send to a friend and the money just DISAPPEARED. I mean he says it never got there and they claimed he never sent it in the first place. He never got it back either and so don’t trust them at all. Jack says its a lot better to use the government (which I work for anyway because they maybe dumb but they’re usually too dumb to steal from us excepting taxes. So now I’m supposed to not go to w.u. but to go to the counselit here in Florida and they can send all the money right to the American embassy or counselit in Spain and all you have to do is show them ID and they will give it to you. I’ve only had email for not even a year and the rest of all this computer website lookups and typing in all the blocks is easy for my kids but I don’t like it. If you have a phone number I can have Trevor send you a text when I can have go and move the money to you. I know that should be soon because what are you eating anyway? That must be expensive too? So Jack looked up what to tell the office I’m going to and the place is Calle Serrano 75 28006 Madrid Tel 91 587 2240. The last part is the phone number. Is your hotel near to Serrano? That will be the best and you can get all the money and come home to the USA. Vlad Date: Sun, 22 Jul 2012 17:00:07 -070 From: adamcjliegh@yahoo.com Subject: LET ME KNOW ASAP !!!………Adam C. Leigh To: bwoodsdressage@hotmail.com I really understand your effort over my predicament and also I discuss this with the hotel manager and all what he was still saying is how we could settle the bill. I’ll advise you to get it done through the same western union cos their office is closer to there hotel here…..Please I’m tired of cunning. let me know soon. Adam From: bwoodsdressage@hotmail.com To: adamcjliegh@yahoo.com Subject: RE: LET ME KNOW ASAP !!!………Adam C. Leigh Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2012 12:38:01 -0400 Dear Adam, This morning I went to the bank and withdrew 850 dollars from my account. I need to keep some on a balance so I don’t get a penalty for unsufficient funds. Then I stopped at the credit union and got the rest from my account there, 950. So I have $1800.00 for you to help out a person in need. athen I went to western union which here is really just a counter in the back of the drugstore where they sell stamps too. I was getting the money transferred and telling Mr. Donald your awful story, and the woman in line behind me interrupted and said her mother had gotten an email just like the one I got from you only hers was about someone getting mugged in London. And it was the day before they were supposed to come home and the thieves took their wallets and credit cards and everything. And she sent them one thousand five hundred and you know what? The police told her it was a trick as old as the hills and she was the loser. I don’t think that could be happening to me because you sound like such an honest fellow with a real problem, but they convinced me that the Good Samaritan Never Gets the Early Worm and that I should just pray that another person with more money than I have comes along to get you back on our Great Country’s soil without any further delay. I am very sorry to disappoint you if you were counting on me but between Mr. Donald and that woman who’s name I don’t even know and now my wife who says I’m crazy, I think I just better but out. OK, Adam. Good luck and don’t think any less of me. I tried as much as I can. Vladimir From: postmaster@mail.hotmail.com To: bwoodsdressage@hotmail.com Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2012 10:11:22 -0700 Subject: Delivery Status Notification (Failure) This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification. Delivery to the following recipients failed. adamcjliegh@yahoo.com –Forwarded Message Attachment– From: bwoodsdressage@hotmail.com To: adamcjliegh@yahoo.com Subject: FW: LET ME KNOW ASAP !!!………Adam C. Leigh Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2012 13:10:45 -0400 Resending Oh, my! Two sent emails and no connection. I believe my friend has disappeared! I surely hope his luck doesn’t improve with his next mark. . . .