Strange e-mail

**Grant** · 08-13-2008, 06:56 PM

I received the following e-mail. Very strange. Sounds like a hoax. I have cut and pasted it verbatim, with typo's, just as I received it. I haven't, and will not be responding to it. I tried to google this guy without success. I tried to 411.com him as well in Brownwood, TX but he doesn't seem to exist. Anyone else hear from him?

Grant
Jackson, MO

***********************

Hi,

My name is Peter and I want to know if you carry or ca order 50 pails of honey to be picked up from your location.

Please find my details below :

Floral : Any
Type : Any
Weight : 60 Lb Buckets
Quantity : 50 Pails

Please let me know the total cost for all 50 pails so I will forward my credit card information to you for full payment processing prior to pick-up.

Hope to read from you soon.

Peter Churchill.
2001 Brady Ave
Brownwood,Tx,76801
Tel : Hearing Impaired.

**John Smith** · 08-13-2008, 08:21 PM

If it were mine, I would respond with a quote, limiting the price factor to 14 days.

As I read the man, he is having trouble (Possibly from age?) keeping up to his local sales and wants to buy in some honey to keep his customers.

I wish I could receive twenty emails like it every day from people in my area.

Cheers,

John

This came up on Google, but the link is not responding.
ATSSB Membership DirectoryJones, Peter T. RM, 06665, C.H. Yoe High School, AAA, 8, Central ...... 2001 Brady Avenue, #210, Brownwood, Texas 76801, (325) 643-8148, clarinet, saxophone ...
www.atssb.org/execsec/Directory.06.htm - 768k - Cached - Similar pages

**Swobee** · 08-13-2008, 08:25 PM

My brother got one recently asking for 20 & 25 kilogram pails. We figured he just plain "ain't from around here" and ignored it. Yours at least has what appears to be a legit address.

**Hambone** · 08-13-2008, 08:44 PM

I looked the address up on the Brownwood Tax Rolls. And it is an apartment complex. So John Smith's search sounds right. If you wanted to research him you could contact the apartment's office and ask about him. Below is the tax roll link.

http://propaccess.brown-cad.org/clie...address&page=4

http://www.brown-cad.org/index.html

**Walt McBride** · 08-13-2008, 08:48 PM

Yes, I received an E-mail from Peter Churchill asking for my price on 100, 25 KG buckets of crystallized Alfalfa honey.
I explaned that I do not operate in alfalfa. Also that all my honey is spoken for.
I thought that the inquiry was a little weird.
Walt

**Barry Digman** · 08-13-2008, 08:58 PM

I would assume that it's a phishing scheme. Someone looking to defraud you. There's a name for this type of scheme but I can't remember what it is, nor the exact details. You have to ask why someone in Texas is trying to buy quantities of honey all over the place via email rather than just contacting one of the folks in the classified sections of the bee magazines. I could be mistaken, but it doesn't smell right.

**iddee** · 08-13-2008, 09:16 PM

Hey, I live three states from you. Let me use your credit card and I'll buy 100 pails of honey. They will process the card and I'll pick up the honey. When you get your bill, call the card company and report a strange transaction and they will take you money back from the vendor. Then we'll split the honey.

It's an old trick, but it still works.

**Eaglerock** · 08-13-2008, 09:23 PM

I would reply by mail. If there is no one by that name, they will return the letter. You could send it cerified, and he would have to sign for it and you would get a green card back with his signature. Then you would know he is real or not.

**Michael Palmer** · 08-14-2008, 04:44 AM

Yep...I received that one too. Told him I was sold out. Who would take a credit card for 100 pails of honey??

Hi,
My name is Peter and I want to know if you carry or ca order 100 pails of honey to be picked up from your location.
Please find my details below :
Floral : Alfalfa
Type : natural crystallized honey
Weight : 25 Kg Buckets
Quantity : 100 Pails

Please let me know the total cost for all 100 pails so I will forward my credit card information to you for full payment processing prior to pick-up.
Hope to read from you soon.

Peter Churchill.

**Hobie** · 08-14-2008, 04:53 AM

That iddee's one sharp guy.

Suckers like me never even think of that stuff.

**newbee 101** · 08-14-2008, 04:55 AM

Its a scam....

**Budster** · 08-14-2008, 05:26 AM

Its a scam. Most likely, a stolen credit card. You'll process the card, and ship the honey, than, you will get notified the credit card is stolen and get debited... The honey will already be gone.. The "hearing impaired" service (telephone) is used frequently for the crooks in Nigeria, who use the stolen credit cards.

I used to be a parts department manager in a GM dealership... This used to be a common scam pulled in that business. I'm guessing that the automotive industry is getting wise, so they are looking to other avenues to "cash-in" on these stolen credit cards...

I also saw a editorial about this scam on 20 20, or a similar show...

**WG Bee Farm** · 08-14-2008, 07:09 AM

Hey Iddee,
how did you learn that trick? :-)
Frank

**Fishdude123** · 08-14-2008, 07:15 AM

I had something very similiar to that for a puppy I was selling, told him to go pound sand unless he wanted to come by and pay cash. Never heard from him again.

**alpha6** · 08-14-2008, 07:51 AM

If you are in business and your info is out there you should visit these sites and check out the latest scams to prevent getting ripped off.

http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/scamsdesc.htm

http://www.hoax-slayer.com/

http://www.hoax-slayer.com/nigerian-scams.html (Most scams are either Nigerian or Ghanaian in origin. This a a good site.)

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/scam_...cam_alerts.htm

These should be enough to get you aware of just how much is out there.

Watch your honey...lots of robbers out there.

**iddee** · 08-14-2008, 07:57 AM

Frank, education is expensive. I paid 5,000 for that particular lesson.

PS. Sent you a PM.

**PCM** · 08-14-2008, 08:27 AM

I believe I would contact the Prosecuting attorney of your county, tell him what you have received, also that some people across the country say they have also received variations of the same e-mail, all from the same individual.
State you have not advertised honey for sale nationaly.

Ask him/her if you are being set up for a scam, could they contact the Brownwood police in regards to this matter.

If it is a scam, I'll bet { sorry Rev. } it's not his first, or only one.

PCM

**Brandy** · 08-14-2008, 09:27 AM

Yes, I received an email. Also our Association. No one "bit" as far as I know. I thought the Hearing Impaired was a nice touch. Thought the guy was trying to help himself make some cash.