Internet Scams – emotive marketing
My cousin in Hungary has renovated an old home in a small town north of Budapest called Göd. He did a fantastic job
modernizing the home with a new kitchen to a 2 car garage with opener. It is a home that has a small moment in history as the last place that Admiral Horthy the leader of Hungary during the interwar period stayed before his exile to Portugal.
My cousin is selling the home because the kids are all grown up and they are downsizing. He asked me to post it on some Real Estate sites here to attract Hungarians that may want to move back. After all, since Hungary is no longer a communist country, there is an attraction for some to go back home.
What has happened? I have had some legitimate inquiries into the home from people I am trying to attract. Hungarians that are looking for a nice home back in Hungary.
However, I have also attracted the most bizarre scams. I like this one from a gentlemen professing to be a Colonel Glen Parent of NATO forces in Iraq. There is a real person name Glen Parent who is in NATO, but this guy is just too funny. He obviously has taken on the persona. HIs English is a lot to be desired.
Here is his message to me:
“Hello ,
| I have received the information about your house and i want to assure you that i will surely buy the House.However,i must say that I’m confident and comfortable dealing with you.I have a confidential proposal for you.I hope i can trust you to partner with me to achieve this.
Before i continue, let me introduce myself to you, I am Capt.Glen Parent of the US-NATO COALITION troops in Iraq,on war against terrorism. I have now in my possession the sum of $10.5 million which was recovered from one of our raids on terrorists camps here in Iraq,because they keep most of their money at home for evil activities which they normally get through illegal deals on crude oil. Based on the suffering we undergo here some of us do meet such luck. It happened that in our last raid last week we raided one of the terrorist strong base here in Iraq and we recovered this huge sum. This box of money have been deposited with the RED CROSS OFFICE here in Baghdad for its safe keeping pending on the availability of the rightful owner.As the commander of the units,it is under my power to approve whoever comes forth for this funds. So i need someone i can deal with on trust and that is why i contacted you. so If you accept, I will put you forward as the beneficiary/owner of the funds and then move the money to you in Europe. As a military personnel i cannot parade or claim such an amount,so i need to present someone as the beneficiary with my military hierarchy of command.I just need your acceptance and all is done.I have a 100% authentic means of transferring the money through diplomatic courier service to you in Europe. Once i confirm your interest to my proposal and your positive reply i will proceed to register your name as the beneficiary. If you are interested, then let me know so i can proceed to register the consignment in your name as time is very important to me. I am doing this on trust, you should understand that as a trained military expert I will always be carefully in my dealings so everything is intact. This money is my life and i am willing to give you 30% of the total sum when the money is delivered to you.All perfect logistics/intelligence for the success of this transaction has already been put together. I wait for your response so we can proceed immediately. In less than 7days the money should be in your safe custody. The only telephone access we have is radio message which is for our general use and is being monitored,therefore all communication will be via email till i finish my assignment here and fly straight to your country to meet you. I sincerely seek your indulgence to give this proposal a positive thought. Regards My response to him was the following: “Dear Glen, I hope this message finds you well. Blessings from the USA. I think you sent your email to me by mistake. You should probably write to a book publisher. Your story would make great fiction for airport book stores. As we say in Magyar, ”mennye a picsaba“ Regards” The emotive part is that these guys are all ready to part with their money quickly. He has the money and this transaction can happen quickly. The next one is similar, but a little more sophisticated. He has two email addresses and a partner in Toronto. They have even gone so far as to create a fake website to make themselves look legitimate. Now, I am not going to reveal what I found to tip me off. I am going to leave that to you to figure out. But there are some things you should always check to see if someone is legitimate. I will give you a hint, the site is 3 years old and there is no way to contact them. Here is what I wrote: A Chinese guy wants to buy a house in Hungary? Why? Paul Lorinczi His reponse: Dear Paul Thanks for your urgent mail, I am intrested in the property, my stock broker and I will be in your location in 4 weeks time and will update you, I love hungary and I would like to spend my whole life in hungary. I would like my stock broker to forward your lawyer or you a down payment of the property before coming and view the property. I want the funds to be available before my arrival, the home will be a cash buy, I would my stock broker to send your lawyer the funds, information below for a check to be drawn, forward me your lawyer or your complete. Contact Name: Regards, His from email is different than his respond to email. His website address does not match either address. The emotive part is the “I am going to give you cash money and it is going to happen based on this exchange of emails.” What they do is give you a check for a higher amount than the agreed purchase, then they want you to give them the difference by opening up your checking account. It is a scam. I went online and these guys have shown up on other sites. You can see it here: http://www.consumercourt.in/beware/11369-request-company-sales-representative.html So, the final example comes from a guy name Anye Elvis. He lives in South Africa. He does not want his home country to know what he is doing and wants to keep things quiet. His nameless son will be the go between guy.
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