Mr. Johnson Peterson: fun with scammers

This is a short email thread between myself and a would-be scammer who replied to a Craigslist post. All of the emails are real, and were sent/received exactly as printed below (except for my name/email being edited out, and the colors). This exchange occurred on 5/23/2007 and was very obviously a scammer going for the advance-fee fraud. But since I had already engaged Obinna Monday in email fun, so I wanted to cut this one short. The Obinna thread was much more fun, but this one's good for a laugh, too.


From:    mr.johnson peterson <mr.johnsonpeter@yahoo.com>
Subject: 1.8ghz G5, 1.5gb ram, 320gb hd, SuperDrive
Date:    May 23, 2007 11:17:27 AM CDT
To:      MY EMAIL ADDRESS

Hello,
I'm Mr.johnson, I am from Canada, I came across your advert on craigslist and am highly interested in Purchasing (1.8ghz G5, 1.5gb ram, 320gb hd, SuperDrive)which you offerered for sale. Due to the fact that i have been longing to have it, Please Kindly get back to me as soon as possible with the necessary answers to the question in mind, Are you the first owner? The present condition? Your final asking price?And I will also like you to know that my form of payment is through a certified cashier check..
I await your urgent response so that we can
proceed further..
Regards,
johnson....

Not a half-bad scammer email - he references both the specifics of my post as well as craigslist. He even asks a few questions that a legit buy might ask. Of course most of it makes no sense ("longing to have it", "I am from Canada").

"payment is through a certified cashier check"... so they can rip you off!

From:    MY EMAIL ADDRESS
Subject: Re: 1.8ghz G5, 1.5gb ram, 320gb hd, SuperDrive
Date:    May 23, 2007 11:19:56 AM CDT
To:      mr.johnson peterson <mr.johnsonpeter@yahoo.com>

hi Mr. Johnson,
for you, I make special price of $20,000, cash only. please pay me immediately using $10 bills, delivered on the back of a donkey to my home.
thank you

He's in Canada (supposedly), and I'm in Texas. Of course, scammer doesn't know where I am, but I do, and I enjoyed the thought of a donkey walking 1,500 miles with sacks of cash strapped to his back.

I was pretty sure I wouldn't get a response after I sent this... but I did.


From:    mr.johnson peterson <mr.johnsonpeter@yahoo.com>
Subject: 1.8ghz G5, 1.5gb ram, 320gb hd, SuperDrive
Date:    May 23, 2007 11:34:19 AM CDT
To:      MY EMAIL ADDRESS

Hello Kaan,
Thanks for your mail, I really do appreciate it, Well I guess that the{1.8ghz G5, 1.5gb ram, 320gb hd, SuperDrive} is in excellent condition and i want you to know am okay with the price $1000, i will be willing to give u $1100. So, I would want you to keep all other buyer's off and also delete the advert from the website.Concerning payment my client will issue you a check, since I don't have the funds in your currency. For convenient and easy transaction, I have a liable shipping agent who'd be responsible for the Pick up as soon as you receive payment for the(1.8ghz G5, 1.5gb ram, 320gb hd, SuperDrive) I will therefore need the following information of yours to forward to my client before he sends the check.
NAME IN FULL........
ADDRESS IN FULL....
CITY...
STATE...
COUNTRY..........
ZIPCODE.......
CE LL/OFFICE/HOME PHONE NUMBER.
I await your reply,
Regards,
johnson

From:    MY EMAIL ADDRESS
Subject: Re: 1.8ghz G5, 1.5gb ram, 320gb hd, SuperDrive
Date:    May 23, 2007 11:39:53 AM CDT
To:      mr.johnson peterson

hi Mr. Johnson,

you did not read my email. Here is what I wrote:

"for you, I make special price of $20,000, cash only. please pay me immediately using $10 bills, delivered on the back of a donkey to my home."

the price for you is NOT $1,000, it is $20,000. and you MUST deliver the cash to me on a donkey. I will give you TWO WEEKS to train a donkey to make it down to me in the U.S. from Canada. if you cannot train the donkey in TWO WEEKS, the deal is OFF.


From: 	mr.johnson peterson <mr.johnsonpeter@yahoo.com>
Subject: 	1.8ghz G5, 1.5gb ram, 320gb hd, SuperDrive
Date: 	May 23, 2007 5:36:21 PM CDT
To: 	MY EMAIL ADDRESS

okay bye

Mr. Johnson Peterson: fun with scammers

also see: Obinna Monday: fun with scammers