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Wow, months after the African Puppy Scam I get another one over the weekend.

Started off with a simple email requesting a quote in print price…

Hello Sir/Madam,

My name is Rev James Hopper and i want to make an order of SOME FLYERS .I will like you to get back to me as soon as you with the pick up price of the following models and sizes;

1. measures 8.5′ x 11′
2. 80# Gloss Text or
3. 0.25 – White boarder
4. One sided

Please provide a quote on 98,500 copies

l want you to write of the flyer (Love One Another).I want you to go ahead and quote me the total pick up prices plus tax without shipping and will also like you to get back to me with information on the major credit card you accept for payment and how soon can you get that ready for pick up as i have a shipping company that will come for the pick up as soon as they are ready. also get back to me with your contact phone number and full name so we can proceed.

James Hopper.

So, I responded with a few questions and here is the response…


i will like to inform you that this will be black only and will like you to get back to me with the total cost and will also like to know if you accept credit card for payment and how soon can you get that ready for pick up.

so I gave a quote for the job and this is the hook response I got.

Thanks for the quote..
But it is unfortunate to inform you that I have a family emergency,(my wife just had an accident)and I will be on the next available flight to Germany but I won't be back till further notice.Meanwhile this order is to be delivered to a church in Ghana,West-Africa.
So I would like you to contact the Freight Company with the approximate weight of the order and your address and get me the freight charges for delivering the order to the address below:

Rev. Matthew Banson
( World Miracle Church )
352 Lemon St.
Accra, Ghana,00233
West-Africa.

Freight Company Contact Details:
COMPANY NAME:Melcome Shipping Company.
EMAIL ADDRESS:Bulkshippers@hotmail.com

i will like you to go ahead and contact them and get back to me as soon as you can so i can provide you with my credit card information for you to go ahead and run that for the Grand total of the order plus shipping so we can proceed.. also let me know as soon.

May God Bless You
JAMES HOPPER

How great, using religious titles like Rev. makes scamming people all that much better.

Now, a couple of things really got me interested, first the quick swerve on the emergency, can’t pick the job up, have to ship it to Ghana, West Africa.

Then I did a lookup on where the email originated from, after all its a yahoo.com email address right? Email came from an internet cafe in West Africa… Interesting, considering the person is supposedly able to pick up the printing.

I still don’t know what the angle was here? Credit card fraud? Free printing? A staged scam to get the printer to pay to clear customs on the promise the client would pay us back?

Anyway, don’t know, but a simple reply saying we don’t ship internationally seemed to qwell the scammer.

Net of it all is beware online, do your homework and don’t get scammed. Also, use google, and you will find links like this http://bizcardpro.com/PrintingScam.htm

Hopefully no body gets dupped by this scam.