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Fakes & FraudsWarning: mineral email scam
12th Sep 2009 20:21 UTCStuart Mills Manager
Hi There,
I got your contact from the internet in the process of searching for sellers of
Minerals. Unfortunately i may not be able to make it down to the show but would have
loved if you could pass on my request to other sellers on the list of available
minerals they have for sales. Perhaps if you have any for sale, kindly e-mail me the
list,the cost estimate,types or perhaps make a random selections of rear minerals
you have and let's take it from there. Hoping to hear from you, thank you.
Kind Regards
I got your contact from the internet in the process of searching for sellers of
Minerals. Unfortunately i may not be able to make it down to the show but would have
loved if you could pass on my request to other sellers on the list of available
minerals they have for sales. Perhaps if you have any for sale, kindly e-mail me the
list,the cost estimate,types or perhaps make a random selections of rear minerals
you have and let's take it from there. Hoping to hear from you, thank you.
Kind Regards
"Raymond Winston Grey"
Several others have also recieved this message.
12th Sep 2009 20:55 UTCSteve Hardinger 🌟 Expert
12th Sep 2009 21:04 UTCDavid Von Bargen Manager
I got your contact from the internet in the process of searching for sellers of
Minerals
Minerals
Stuart doesn't sell minerals - there are hundreds of dealers on the net.
Unfortunately i may not be able to make it down to the show but would have
loved if you could pass on my request to other sellers on the list of available
minerals they have for sales.
loved if you could pass on my request to other sellers on the list of available
minerals they have for sales.
What show? Does Stuart sell at shows (no)?
perhaps make a random selections of rear minerals
you have and let's take it from there.
you have and let's take it from there.
Spelling is bad.
"Raymond Winston Grey"
So why does Raymond go by leroy?
12th Sep 2009 21:05 UTCDavid DeCourcey
Maybe someone getting our email address' off Mindat.
The only other mineral website's I belong to is a Thumbnail collectors group, and a Google group also specializing in thumnbails.
12th Sep 2009 21:24 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder
If you get this message, or one like it, just bin it.
Jolyon
12th Sep 2009 21:32 UTCAlfredo Petrov Manager
12th Sep 2009 22:18 UTCStuart Mills Manager
Steve, David is correct in his answers. I work as a mineralogist so I don't sell nor do I travelled to shows (with the exception of Tuscon 2 years ago). I was in Denver last year but didn't go to that show.
12th Sep 2009 22:28 UTCJasun D. McAvoy Expert
12th Sep 2009 23:02 UTCMaurizio Dini Expert
I have matched this infos with Marco Macchieraldo's thread on "italian language link; please see:
http://www.mindat.org/mesg-21-151420.html
it is out of question that is the same email address, and it's very likely a fraud.....
Maurizio Dini
12th Sep 2009 23:04 UTCBen Kirchner
"Hi my name is zahir bouday
i am a mineral dealer from pakistan.i carry only pakistani and afghani minerals.i am on east coast.
i just start going to shows.i am not sure if you intersted in pakistani and afghani minerals or not.but i am intested in minerals which has color to it.
best reguard
zahir 302-6901002"
Seems like the same kind of thing to me. Zahir may or may not be legit, but I don't know him and don't really appreciate unsolicited e-mails. Besides, if anyone who knows me is gong to contact me about minerals, they better have some Tiger rocks! (Or Tombstone!)
I assumed it was spam and junked it. Although I do wonder what would happen if I called that number? Anyone else get this e-mail? Mineral spam... how lame. I don't want any spammite in my collection.
12th Sep 2009 23:42 UTCAlfredo Petrov Manager
13th Sep 2009 00:02 UTCAnonymous User
13th Sep 2009 00:08 UTCMichael J. Bainbridge Expert
He's asked for advice about mineral cleaning on this forum under the name pakafghan. I gave him some advice which he was very appreciative of. I can't say I actually know him per se, but if he's a scammer, he's not very good. He's never asked for any inappropriate info, nor been pushy. I could be wrong, but just for the record, that's been my experience with Zahir.
Michael
13th Sep 2009 00:39 UTCBen Kirchner
13th Sep 2009 01:07 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder
See: http://www.data-wales.co.uk/ni_yahoo_victims.htm
and see
http://www.artnewsblog.com/2008/04/interested-in-your-artwork.htm
13th Sep 2009 10:37 UTCJaco Smith
You can look at the full message details (Ctrl+F3 in Outlook Express).
Use the first from IP address from the "FROM" field and do a IP trace with:
http://www.whatsmyip.org/iplocation/
Sometimes you can see it originate from Nigeria/Uganda. Make sure
is is not the IP address of the email sever.
Bad spelling and if they ask to pay by credit card are good indications.
Jaco
13th Sep 2009 11:26 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder
Inconvenient for some legitimate purchasers, but you can always make exceptions for people you know personally.
Jolyon
13th Sep 2009 13:46 UTCRonald John Gyllenhammer Expert
Michael is correct about Zahir, this I can confirm. I've met him and his family and have also seen his wares. He seems to be a decent sort and as Michael suggests, he is relatively new to the mineral business here in the States. He is probably just trying hard to move some inventory that has been sent to him as well as trying to establish some business contacts. Like Michael, this statement is based on my personal experience with Zahir and not necessarily a business endorsement.
Ron
13th Sep 2009 15:34 UTCGail Spann Manager
13th Sep 2009 16:39 UTCEugene & Sharon Cisneros Expert
"Hello ,
I need a quote for these items below including overnight delivery cost and i Will be paying with VISA or MASTER CARD.
{ AMK412-C200 Portable imaging system..........6units }
Ship To# Annie Kurt
11635 Gamel Cemetery Road
Festus, 63028 Missouri
United State
Company Information:
Abek Medical Inc
5655 Bweetbriar Road
Pfafftown NC 27040
United State
Tel:--{+1} 919.850.2854
Fax:--{888} 869.9122
E-Mail:- abekmedicalinc@gmail.com
Get back to me with total estimate for order including overnight delivery cost.
Thanks
Smith"
The tip offs are:
1. Over night shipping
2. High dollar amount -$6K in this case
3. Ship to and bill to are different
4. Shipping it to a residential address
Upon checking, the ship to address is a vacant house that is for sale. The company doesn't exist and using 800notes.com to check the phone numbers reveals at least 30 complaints regarding the same scam.
Gene
13th Sep 2009 17:04 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder
Obviously don't process any transaction on the card and certainly don't send anything out!
Jolyon
15th Sep 2009 02:16 UTCBen Kirchner
I believe you about Zahir being legitimate, if you both say so. I wasn't so much doubting his legitimacy, to me that wasn't the issue. I was just saying that it was unsolicited e-mail, from someone I had never had any contact with, so I thought it was similar to these cases here; which Alfredo pointed out, it isn't really relevant at all!
So by no means do I mean to disparage this individual, and I hope I didn't cause any harm!
Back to the topic at hand!
15th Sep 2009 11:20 UTCAdrián Pesudo
I have recived exactly the same e-mail from the leroy3k@yahoo.com four days ago. I am not seller, but I have sold sometimes when some collectors don´t have any interesting in swap. I have e-mailed with him four times and finaly I have given him some information about me; only adress and phone number. He wanted to send me a $1600 check for buying minerals. He never had said me his adress, matrix sizes and other characteristics information in changes, so finally I have investigated in Google and I have found his e-mail in Interfraud Page and here, in our Mindat. Thanks to you, now I know he is a scammer. I only hope he don´t use the information I given him!
Adrián
15th Sep 2009 14:20 UTCGeoff Krasnov
As far as Zahir goes, I know him from several shows and spect sociallizing time with him at Cartersville. He is a very decent fellow, who is trying to feel his way into the business of mineral dealing. He has direct connections and good intentions.
See ya'll in Denver!
15th Sep 2009 16:12 UTCDavid Weiss
They say at least it keeps them pre-occupied and spend less time trying to cheat others.
15th Sep 2009 16:48 UTCMichaelV
Michael
16th Sep 2009 21:39 UTCUwe Kolitsch Manager
http://www.mindat.org/mesg-21-151420.html
17th Sep 2009 16:11 UTCJeffrey Shallit
They work in two ways: EITHER they provide a fraudulent payment and get you to ship them good stuff which they later resell;
OR they claim they want some items, ask for a quote, and then OVERPAY you with a bogus check and then ask you to refund the difference with your own good check. This "overpayment" scam is very common and someone tried it on me recently with a house I was renting out.
The tip-off is a complete lack of familiarity of the material you are selling, and a generic inquiry that does not specifically mention any particular item.
22nd Sep 2009 19:41 UTCNancy
Thanks,
Nancy
23rd Sep 2009 00:48 UTCAnonymous User
i am realy sorry if i couse any problem.. yes i am new to mindat.i am lerning and dont know alot about the rules.
i answewred some mindators theirs question and did not attemt to call or e mail from myslf in order to sell minerals.
so like i said i am sorry. if it coused any truble.what i belive went wrong.i answered their question indirectly.form now on i will answer questions directly from mindat.
hopfully this will clear me. i am also open to hear from you in order to correct myself.
thanks Ron and all of you who take time to understand the problem and not rush to think bad abot me.
best reguard
zahir bouday
23rd Sep 2009 01:39 UTCRonald John Gyllenhammer Expert
Nice to see your post. I hope you and your family are well. Thank you for the gracious hospitality you extended to us during our visit with you, I am happy to have met you and your family. You have some very nice material and I hope you are doing well with it. Best of luck with your new business venture, as you pursue success as a mineral dealer. BTW, here's an image from our visit.
Best Regards,
Ron
23rd Sep 2009 03:41 UTCGail Spann Manager
But I knew that already!
23rd Sep 2009 13:24 UTCAnonymous User
BUT YOU MAKE ME FEEL SO GOOD.I KNEW,BUT, NOW I EXPERIANCED THAT MINDAT IS A PLACE OF VERY VERY SPEACIAL PEOPLES.
RON , I LOVE MY PHOTO.THAT MEAN TO ME ALOT.SAY , HI TO YOUR G F. I CANT WAIT TO SEE YOU.
THANKS Geoff Krasnov .I HAS A WONDERFULL TIME WITH YOU AND KEN.ON MY VISIT TO KEN. I WILL CALL YOU .WE CAN HAVE SOME COOKOUT IN KER YARD.I CAN MAKE GOOD INDIAN KABAB.
THANKS GAIL AND EVERY ONE ELSE ON MINDAT.
BEST REGUARD
ZAHIR BOUDAY
25th Sep 2009 01:56 UTCPamela Simpson Lussier
I just received a painting order from the same sketchy character. thanks for the warning, it didn't look legitimate.
Best Regards,
Pam
6th Oct 2009 15:50 UTCTerry Bostwick
wooden Furniture Needed
Sent By:
"Raymond Winston Grey" On: Oct 10/06/09 5:37 AM
Reply to: petitebelinda@yahoo.com
Hi There,
My name is Raymond Grey, came about your contact while trying to surf for a desirable wooden cabinet, wooden Chair and any other decorative wooden materials which i could display in my office. Is this something that you can help with?, Any idea of images you may recommend?, Any idea of where to view your several works?. I have a budget between $1,500 to $2,200 for all these, is this something that you can help.
Many Thanks
Ray
(busy guy.)
1st Dec 2009 15:39 UTCJon McLeod
If you have a chance, get in touch with me. My email is jon@mobile-exposure.biz
FROM BILLERICA!
Jon McLeod
1st Dec 2009 16:50 UTCJoseph Polityka Expert
I got the same email from Raymond Winston Grey several months ago. The person claimed they were new to mineral collecting and wanted to buy specimens. I was cautious, so I invited the person to meet up with me at a local mineral club meeting (the email had a Philadelphia area zip code listed). He never showed up or contacted me after my email response.
In this case it could be someone looking to find out my address so they can pop in and do a "midnight requistion", as we used to say in the military. The bottom line is to be cautious, as we all know, and never release personal information, such as home address, to anyone.
I checked that Festus, Mo address on Google Earth, nice subdivision! Yeah.
Best,
Joe
1st Dec 2009 18:03 UTCTony Nikischer 🌟 Manager
His "order" used a very good (but very fake) corporate check drawn on a ficticious account at a bank in Denver. Prior incarnations of the same scheme have used very good (and also very fake) Wells Fargo money orders allegedly purchased at WalMart. I have a nice collection of these, taking great delight in receiving them! Caveat Sellers!
23rd Aug 2010 11:22 UTCSolaris
Raymond Winston Grey
Hey There,
Good morning to you. My name is Raymond Grey, I need a website for my programme support in west africa. The programme is geared towards assisting the 3rd world countries in preventing and controlling the spread of the malaria diseases. The team and I have come up with a name for the intending website which shall be called " Prevent it Instantly ".
Mosquitoes bites which results in Malaria Parasite attacks and causes death if not treated. From statistics, figures showed that 9.25% of lives in the year 2007 were claimed as a result of this deadly diseases, 11.2% of lives in the year 2008 which had risen to 15.6% of death even among young children in african in the year 2009. These geometrical increase in mortality calls for urgent attention in combating and erradicating Malaria Parasite.
I need a website which would be accessible world wide called Prevent IT Instantly or Preventitinstantly as the case may be and i want some pictures and images uploaded to the website together with some informative materials. For this project, i have budgeted between $800-$1,000. I will appreciate if you could get back to me as soon as possible on this issue in other to know the way forward. I sincerely hope to hear from you soonest.
Kind Regards
Raymond
23rd Aug 2010 11:34 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder
Jolyon
5th Sep 2010 13:04 UTCPaul Turner
-------------------------------------------------------
> perhaps make a random selections of rear minerals
> you have and let's take it from there.
> Spelling is bad.
>
I wouldn't say the spelling is bad enough to call this a scam. You have only one word mispelled out of the whole email. Could esily have been a typo that wasn't caught. I would be more concerned with sentence structure in this case than the spelling.
5th Sep 2010 18:01 UTCJason Evans
I inform you that I am interested in exchange rare minerals.
I beg you to send me your list and I will send you my swap list.
I wait your news. Thanks.
Best regards.
I dont think its a scam because it actually said it was a contact from mindat.org
but i dont know how he got my email becuase i think i made it so my email address is not shown. I havn't shown the name becuase it may be a perfectly innocent email and i dont want to be getting people into trouble or giving them a bad name.
5th Sep 2010 22:38 UTCAlfredo Petrov Manager
(I should amend here that my comment applies generically to e-mail scams and not to the specific e-mail Jason got which, dealing with exchange of swap lists, presumably no money or credit cards involved, can't really be in the same category.)
5th Sep 2010 23:19 UTCPaul Brandes 🌟 Manager
7th Sep 2010 20:24 UTCAlfredo Petrov Manager
26th Sep 2010 17:20 UTCTroy
I got the same email from "Raymond." I'm a website developer who he hit up for the malaria website. He sent me 3 money orders for the work "by mistake" and wants me to return the difference by Western Union. I'm assuming that by sending him anything, that I will owe my bank some money soon. It smelled like a scam from the beginning, and now it's confirmed. I just wanted to add to the growing info on the internet about Raymond.
BTW, I had the same issue, his name is Raymond Winston Grey, with an email of leroy3k@yahoo.com and a reply to address of petitebelinda@yahoo.com which doesn't work.
30th Nov 2010 21:05 UTCByron B
weeding makeup
Tuesday, November 30, 2010 5:55 AM
From: This sender is DomainKeys verified"Raymond Winston Grey"
To: leroy3k@yahoo.com
Hi There,
I came across your contact while trying to surf for a comprehensive beauty therapist ( makeup, hair, spa and possibly wedding dress maker) for an upcoming weeding in the nearest weeks ahead.I need to know the kind of services you render for a weeding, the product you are familiar with, the rate, charges and if you are available for travelling with the states. I need a feedback from you ASAP.
Many Thanks
1st Dec 2010 11:03 UTCPeter Nancarrow 🌟 Expert
A bottle of weedkiller perhaps?
Pete N.
5th Jan 2011 22:51 UTCKristopher Dingfield
Thanks for the info Mindat folks.
5th Jan 2011 23:12 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder
It's possible that someone who had your email address in their contact list or browser history has had their computer data stolen by a worm/rogue software, which is enough to add your name to the spammer's list.
It's pretty much impossible to stop your address getting into the hands of spammers eventually, and of course, once they have it they won't stop using it. The only important thing is to make sure your system is capable of rejecting the spam reliably
And I have not found any system better than Google's gmail for reducing the volume of spam. And it's free to use.
Sorry I can't be any more help.
Jolyon
20th Jan 2011 23:11 UTCAlysson Rowan Expert
Full marks for persistance and optimism, leroy3k@ !
On the other hand, there are quite a few other scammers out there who are a bit less blatant. I know they're scammers since they claim to have seen mineral 'x' on my website and want to buy it - or have something similar and want to sell it.
Unless there is some thing to suggest that the e-mail is not a scam (dear beloved as a subject is a dead giveaway), the mail gets zapped unopened.
And yes, I have complained about persistent email scammers/spammers using yahoo addresses, but nothing gets done. I guess they are premium users and the income is too good to lose. Now I just filter whatever I can into the spam folder and purge when I've checked for wanted mails.
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Privacy Policy - Terms & Conditions - Contact Us / DMCA issues - Report a bug/vulnerability Current server date and time: May 3, 2024 02:44:14
Copyright © mindat.org and the Hudson Institute of Mineralogy 1993-2024, except where stated. Most political location boundaries are © OpenStreetMap contributors. Mindat.org relies on the contributions of thousands of members and supporters. Founded in 2000 by Jolyon Ralph.
Privacy Policy - Terms & Conditions - Contact Us / DMCA issues - Report a bug/vulnerability Current server date and time: May 3, 2024 02:44:14