# (Reminder) Don't get scammed this Spring...



## Tech Dawg (Dec 13, 2010)

Got a lead today but it was not through a contact form... Basically an email from from a woman named Kim Bauer who claimed to be in the hospital and hearing impaired. Wanted to know if I accept credit card:whistling

I googled the email address and her story shows up in multiple complaints with painters etc... One guy in the reports lost $3,500

Anyway, just a shout out on Kim Bauer who apparently lives in Philadelphia, Pa but with a Kansas phone number of 785-380-7932. All the rest of the info is in the link below. 

I could tell something was up by the writing in her email but if someone was stupid enough to get ripped on 3k, I figured I'd put the info out as a precautionary effort to remind folks to check out their leads. 

http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-785-380-7932


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## dsconstructs (Jul 20, 2010)

Thanks for the reminder Todd, sucks to hear that someone fell for that stuff. It's not only that name/phone number....they are all over. I've gotten a couple of them here as well. Say they're in the hospital, getting surgery or lung cancer/can't talk well so email is best etc. It's been a vacant house/listed for sale and they will have their friend meet at the house. They're trying to get the work done before they get released from the hospital. They owe the owner a little that got missed in closing/escrow didn't cover so they can get the keys. One of mine even said it would be the previous owner meeting me with the keys.

Again, sorry to hear someone actually fell for that bologna.....and that's why these scammers keep on trying. I'd have to imagine their success rate percentage is quite low but a payday is a payday it seems.


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## EthanB (Sep 28, 2011)

I get 2-3 of these a year. I had a funny one last month because the address he was sending me was from a Trulia listing that actually had it in the wrong town. I knew the area and the town it was in but he was saying he'd just purchased the house and kept saying it was in the next town over.

On the other hand, don't assume all inquiries by deaf people are false. I've worked for three deaf people over the years and we spoke via email, text and tty. I built a nice $20k deck last year for a couple that were both deaf.


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## 480sparky (Feb 1, 2009)

ALL unsolicited email, texts, phone calls, letters etc. should be treated with suspect by default.

All of them.


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## JBM (Mar 31, 2011)

If someone wants to mail me a deposit check that doesnt need work done, by all means go ahead.


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## Tech Dawg (Dec 13, 2010)

JBM said:


> If someone wants to mail me a deposit check that doesnt need work done, by all means go ahead.


I'm down for that:laughing:


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## BamBamm5144 (Jul 12, 2008)

Anyone who still falls for these deserves it.

Just today my great aunt from some foreign country had her husband die and the day he died she was diagnosed with only 6 months to live. Luckily for me, she wants to give me 6.5 million dollars I'd I promise to do good things with it.


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## JBM (Mar 31, 2011)

I was selling a piece of furniture and twice someone emailed me that he wanted to buy it but was in a wheelchair and would mail me a check and arrange for his courier to pick it up. 

I email him back and said sure thing, send me a bank check from a bank I recognize and sent him a fake name and PO box. 

Twice we went round on that one. 

Why go through the effort...


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## 480sparky (Feb 1, 2009)

I had a neighbor get wrapped up in a fake check for a Craiglist ad scam. Received a check for $800 more than what she was asking for. The $800 was her alleged 'bonus' for holding the item for a week after depositing the check. After the week, a 'friend of the buyer' was to pick up the item.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight!



A week after receiving the check, the 'friend' showed up. But we had a little 'bonus' for him as well. I saw the scam from a mile away, so she never deposited the check. Instead, we contacted the local constabulary, and had a sherrif's deputy sitting up the street waiting for my text message. I had the message all ready to send.

As soon as the scammer knocked on my neighbor's door, I sent the text. Deputy came down the street and blocked it. See..... we live in a cul-de-sac. So instead of picking up the item for sale, he picked up a felony charge of forgery and was given a complimentary pair of nice, sturdy bracelets connected with a heavy-duty chain between them.



It was fun as all fooking he11 watching him get cuffed and stuffed.


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## JBM (Mar 31, 2011)

Nice I would have found a book and thrown it at him and told the cop , bookem danno


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## Tech Dawg (Dec 13, 2010)

Just for the heck of it, I spoke with the local police here today to see if they wanted to try and pursue anything. They said that they don’t have time for it… so after a few more emails from Kim Bauer, I decided to have a little fun with her, just to let her know that I’m not scammable. 

Here is the full conversation from our emails which get a little more comical towards the bottom after she would not respond back.

Enjoy:


*Kim Bauer*: How are you doing this Mrs Kim Bauer i would like to know if you do bathroom remodeling ,do you accept credit card for the payment?

*Me*: For information on credit cards and estimates, please call ***-***-****

*Kim Bauer*: Thanks for the respond and i am hearing pairing someone so i prefer will communicate via email for now and i want you to do the job on bathroom remodeling in the house i just bought a 4 Bedroom in the city so i need the bathroom remodeling i want you to removing old vanity and building and installing new vanity, i want to replace Sinks,Tubs, Showers, Flooring Lighting, Faucets, so you have to go to the house first and do the estimate and let me know how much everything going to cost me i will like you to do me a favor due to my sickness in the hospital for my surgery due to my lung cancer and i will be very glad if you can handle everything for me, but i will love to come back to reside at the new home so i will like it to be fix before i arrive,I will be paying for the inspection of the property for proper handling and estimation Please do provide me with the total cost for of the bathroom remodeling, i will like to make a deposit of $250 for the inspection and estimation of the property

*Me*: Where is the property located?


*Kim Bauer*: **** Altoona Ave, Enola, PA 17025
4 beds 1 bath 1,800 sqft
i will be making payment as soon as possible because i have less time but the most important thing here now is that the keys you will use in entering the house and do some checking are still with the initial owner and i have text-ed him and he got back to me that they will send the keys to the contractors that will handle the bathroom which will be you and you will meet my representative at the house as soon as you recive the key so they can tell you what to do ok ? i m,i mean someone you will meet there to work with you on the estimate and i will like you to do me a little favor so you will get the key soon ?

*Me*: Who is the property owner?


*Kim Bauer*: i was told that i still need to balance up with $3400.00 before my keys can be asked to drop with you for estimate and this is happening because there were some changes in the house that cost the agent more fee okay, so you will be filling up the space of handling everything for me and take the keys for me so that you can proceed with the bathroom estimate and i will be paying for the total expenses so it can be easy for you okay. so what you will do for me now is that i will give you my credit card to charge for sum of $4700.00 plus 5% of the credit card company and you will deduct $1000 as a deposit to prepare you ahead for my contract and assistant to help me and you will be sending $3400 to the initial owner and after they have got the balance then they can have the keys sent to your location for you to start your work and you also deduct $300 for your self for helping me with request,....letting me know that you understand.

*Me*: I will have a fee of $263.18 to run a credit card for $4,700.00 so you would have to send me a check for that amount that I can cash at a local bank before I can run your credit card.

*Kim Bauer*: You will run everything together from my card 



The Next series of emails from me were sent individually within 9 minutes-




*Me*: Yeah but I have to collect the fee up front in a check before I can run the card. 

*Me*: Are you ready to get the ball rolling with this remodeling project? We have a tight schedule but can maybe fit your project in. We'd have to get this check sent to me for $263.18 and then can get going with the credit cards and estimates.

*Me*: Next week I have a job at **** S 17th St, Philadelphia, PA where I'm doing a bathroom for $26,474.29 and should be done by Wednesday so if you send the check immediately, we can get this process started on Thursday.

*Me*: Does that sound good to you??


*Me*: I just heard back from your father, Jack Bauer from the hit TV show called, 24 and he said everything will be good to go for Thursday... He said that you will send the check for $263.18 immediately. OK?!


*Me*: Your dad also said that he will get you on Thursday and we all can meet there at the house at **** Altoona Street, Enola Pa and we can all go over the job together. I'm headed there soon to get an initial look at it. On Thursday we can sign the legal contract for the job and take care of the down payment on your credit card


*Me*: I also forgot to mention that when we meet on Thursday, to sign the legal contract for the remodeling project... our company lawyer will be present to provide the contract and witness the endorsement.



Once again, here is Kim Bauer’s information:

[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
785-380-7932
234-228-0128


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## Tech Dawg (Dec 13, 2010)

The address that I used in Philadelphia was the one she used in previous scam emails so I thought I'd throw that back at em too :laughing:


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## JBM (Mar 31, 2011)

So she wants to scam you for a job she doesn't own?


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## Tech Dawg (Dec 13, 2010)

JBM said:


> So she wants to scam you for a job she doesn't own?


She doesn't own either property... they do this credit card thing to try and hack into accounts, same with money orders.


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## JBM (Mar 31, 2011)

Ahh well send her an invoice through PayPal tell her she can pay that with a CC lol


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## JBM (Mar 31, 2011)

My plow customers get PayPal invoices, flawless.


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## 480sparky (Feb 1, 2009)

Tech Dawg said:


> ... I decided to have a little fun with her, just to let her know that I’m not scammable. ......


Here's a good read for you:

http://www.electriciantalk.com/f15/strange-email-74237/


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## tonyc56 (Nov 9, 2008)

I received this scam the other day...

"Hello Friend,
I am in the military unit here in Afghanistan,I have business proposal for you regarding some huge amount of funds that we discovered here in Afghanistan and we need to move it out of the Country and your assistance is needed, Kindly get back to me for more details if you are interested.
Best regards."


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## 480sparky (Feb 1, 2009)

tonyc56 said:


> I received this scam the other day...
> 
> "Hello Friend,
> I am in the military unit here in Afghanistan,I have business proposal for you regarding some huge amount of funds that we discovered here in Afghanistan and we need to move it out of the Country and your assistance is needed, Kindly get back to me for more details if you are interested.
> Best regards."


Rest assured... funds_ will _be moved out of the country! :whistling


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## cleveman (Dec 28, 2007)

I think I had an ad on Craigslist for a place to rent, and a gal contacted me and wanted to run some sort of scam. She was moving here from Montana or something like that, and sent a photo of herself (gorgeous woman in a marina somewhere) and she even hinted that perhaps we could become friends.

I believe her scam was that she was going to send me a check for the first month and deposit, plus some amount for the shipping truck. Then I was to send a check to the shipping company.

I think I ended up asking her to send nude photos and she never did. Bummer.


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