So from time to time, I tutor kids. I usually work through a tutoring agency, but sometimes I freelance. I saw on one of the tutoring boards that someone needed a tutor to teach his son English, so I sent an email asking some basic questions.
This was the response:
quote:Thank you for your quick response,i want my son (Jason) for the tutorial. A boy of 7 yrs, more so for accepting the offer and its okay by me,I have made contacts with my son concerning the arrangement of the tutoring which he told me is ok by him and i want you to know that i am going to pay for 1 month,which should be $52.00/hr(which i have in mind) And am planning that you will be teaching him 3 times a week, which is 1hr per day, so get back to me with the total fee for the subject which is English and when you will be available to teach him during the week So my son will be coming down for summer by early of October 2008 and i want him to study more about what he need to know while he is in the states and he speaks a little bit english you only need to work on Spelling, writing, Speaking and pronouciation of lil words.... We live in Denmark...So i want you to know that i will be sending you the payment inform of check for the tutorial while i will also pay the Nanny that will be taking care of him and the nanny would bring him down to whereever you believe it will be comfortable for you to have the tutorial, so as soon as you get the money cash you will deduct cost of tutoring of the lesson and send the remaining balance to my nanny that will be taking care of the kid which the information will be giving to you later. Regarding this, kindly send your full information to receive the payment so it can be made out on-time. So hope i can trust you that you will teach my son good academics and some moral respects so that they can be good to their self in the future, i hope i can count on you for the tutorial and the money to be sent to the Guardian my son would be coming down to stay with the nanny that would bring him down anytime you have a class with him and the tutor would start by ending of October.....my son (Jason) speaks a little bit english and he is in grade one....i would await the information... so i can proceed on the payment asap. FULL NAME: MAILING ADDRESS (no P.O.Box please): CITY: STATE: ZIP CODE: CELL PHONE: HOME PHONE: GENDER: D.O.B: MARITAL STATUS: PRESENT JOB: BEST TIME TO CALL: EMAIL:
Will be waiting to read your mail soon.
Regards
Rowe.
Weird, huh?
Anyone else run across some European scammers? Or hey, pretty much any amusing scam story will do.
-pH
Posted by Nighthawk (Member # 4176) on :
Think of the children!
And I'm apparently the luckiest person on Earth; I win a lottery in a foreign country at least once every four days. I'm *THAT* good!
Posted by scifibum (Member # 7625) on :
A pretty common version of this scam is for the scammer to agree to purchase an item advertised on eBay or Craigslist, then explain that they will be sending a money order for considerably more than the purchase price (with a barely-plausible explanation for why this is necessary), and request the recipient to send or wire back most of the difference - keeping a hefty commission for the trouble.
e.g. I sell a DVD player for $100, then they offer to send me a money order for $3000, and they want me to send back $2500. If I'm greedy and dumb enough, I'll think this is a way I can make a quick $400 for the trouble of cashing a money order.
Of course the money order is fraudulent, but it might take a week or two for this to come to light after it's deposited...by which time I've already wired them $2500 I'm now responsible to repay to the bank.
The key to most of these scams is playing on people's greed. The tutoring version appears to leave this out; perhaps they think that their story is plausible enough that they don't need the greed factor. Not in your case, sadly for them.
Posted by Eaquae Legit (Member # 3063) on :
quote:The key to most of these scams is playing on people's greed. The tutoring version appears to leave this out; perhaps they think that their story is plausible enough that they don't need the greed factor. Not in your case, sadly for them.
Well $52/hr is a pretty generous rate for tutoring a 7 year old 3 hours a week so greed could be a factor.
Posted by pH (Member # 1350) on :
I generally tutor around $30/hour, depending on subject.
But there are plenty of parents who pay much more than that to tutoring agencies.
-pH
Posted by The Rabbit (Member # 671) on :
That's the beauty of it. It's a generous rate of pay but not so outrageously generous as to arouse suspicion. I think quite a few tutors would look at the $156/week paid upfront they could earn at this job and be excited enough not to ask questions about the unusual payment scheme. If the offer was for $520/hr, they think it was too good to be true.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
Would you like to work online from home/temporarily and earn constant payment? We are glad to offer you a job position in our company, Zhejiang Co., Ltd. We permanently/Temporarily need new people to occupy the position of Financial supervision officer, able to receive and send payments between our partner’s clients and our company. This part-time job does not require special skills. You do not have to spend much time to earn sufficient money as extra; this is in view of our not having an office presently in the USA/UK/Canada. You do not need to have an Office and this certainly will not disturb any form of work you have at present.
*** REQUIREMENTS *** - Honesty, Responsibility and Promptness in operations; - PC with Internet and e-mail access; - We do not work with persons under 18 - Postal/Mailing address. (Office or home)
YOUR ROLES ARE: 1. Receiving payment from our Customers 2. Cash Payments at your Bank 3. Deduct 10%, which will be your percentage 4. Forward balance after deduction of percentage/pay to any of the offices you will be instructed to send payment.
Instructions on how to remit the company's balance 90%, after you have deducted your 10% will be given to you. We understand it is an unusual and incredible job position. This job takes couple of hours per week. You will have a lot of free time doing your permanent job, but this job is very challenging and you should understand it. We are looking only for the worker who satisfies our requirements and will be a Co-operative assistant. We are glad to offer this job position to you if you are capable and fit to carry out the tasks stated above, and you want to work for Zhejiang Co., Ltd.
Amazing that anyone would fall for this at this point, isn't it?
Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
I just don't know about people, Kwea. I just don't know.
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
quote:Originally posted by The Rabbit:
quote:The key to most of these scams is playing on people's greed. The tutoring version appears to leave this out; perhaps they think that their story is plausible enough that they don't need the greed factor. Not in your case, sadly for them.
Well $52/hr is a pretty generous rate for tutoring a 7 year old 3 hours a week so greed could be a factor.
It's actually not *that* outrageous, believe it or not. My university paid $100 an hour for my guitar lessons. They were only half hour lessons most of the time. Granted, my teacher was worth $100, but still, this was a public university footing the bill.
Posted by twinky (Member # 693) on :
quote:Dear American:
I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with a transfer of funds of great magnitude.
I am Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic of America. My country has had crisis that has caused the need for large transfer of funds of 800 billion dollars US. If you would assist me in this transfer, it would be most profitable to you.
I am working with Mr. Phil Gram, lobbyist for UBS, who will be my replacement as Ministry of the Treasury in January. As a Senator, you may know him as the leader of the American banking deregulation movement in the 1990s. This transactin is 100% safe.
This is a matter of great urgency. We need a blank check. We need the funds as quickly as possible. We cannot directly transfer these funds in the names of our close friends because we are constantly under surveillance. My family lawyer advised me that I should look for a reliable and trustworthy person who will act as a next of kin so the funds can be transferred.
Please reply with all of your bank account, IRA and college fund account numbers and those of your children and grandchildren to wallstreetbailout@treasury.gov so that we may transfer your commission for this transaction. After I receive that information, I will respond with detailed information about safeguards that will be used to protect the funds.
Yours Faithfully, Minister of Treasury Paulson
Posted by The Rabbit (Member # 671) on :
quote:Originally posted by Orincoro:
quote:Originally posted by The Rabbit:
quote:The key to most of these scams is playing on people's greed. The tutoring version appears to leave this out; perhaps they think that their story is plausible enough that they don't need the greed factor. Not in your case, sadly for them.
Well $52/hr is a pretty generous rate for tutoring a 7 year old 3 hours a week so greed could be a factor.
It's actually not *that* outrageous, believe it or not. My university paid $100 an hour for my guitar lessons. They were only half hour lessons most of the time. Granted, my teacher was worth $100, but still, this was a public university footing the bill.
I never said it was outrageous, I said it was generous. In fact if you check my second post you'll note that I said that's part of the beauty of the scam. The offer of $52/hour for 3 hours a week is generous enough to be tempting to someone who normally tutors for $30/hour but not so outrageous that its likely to set off the warning bells.
I also think its rather absurd compare to rates for university level music tutors to rates for ESL tutoring for a 7 year old. I know people who pay alot more than $100/hour for private music lessons at the advanced levels. This just isn't the same thing as hiring a reading or math tutor for an elementary school kid.
quote:Originally posted by pH: I generally tutor around $30/hour, depending on subject.
But there are plenty of parents who pay much more than that to tutoring agencies.
-pH
And I've known people who've worked for those agencies. They are lucky to get paid half of what the agency charges the parents. You are right that there are parents who are willing to pay $50 plus dollars an hour for tutoring, but at the same time most tutors at the elementary level would have a hard time finding a job that pays that much. That's what makes this a good scam. The price is high enough to appeal to the tutors greed but low enough to pass under most peoples scam radar.
Posted by Speed (Member # 5162) on :
quote:Originally posted by The Rabbit: That's the beauty of it.
Furthermore, if you play this offer out to fruition, I think you'll find that it doesn't do anything.
Posted by Speed (Member # 5162) on :
Speaking of email scams, did anyone hear This American Life last week? If you're sick of hearing about these people scamming with impunity, wait'll you get a load of this. Posted by pH (Member # 1350) on :
Did I ever mention the Nigerian scams Rider and I came across while looking for a house to rent?
If not, they are priceless, and I will dig up the emails.
-pH
Posted by Alcon (Member # 6645) on :
quote:Speaking of email scams, did anyone hear This American Life last week? If you're sick of hearing about these people scamming with impunity, wait'll you get a load of this.
Wow... I'm not quite sure what to think of that.
Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
I heard that This American Life, or most of it. I sort of felt bad for the guy before it was over. I didn't hear the end, though. How did it turn out? The last I heard they told him his mother died.
Posted by Speed (Member # 5162) on :
quote:Originally posted by Alcon:
quote:Speaking of email scams, did anyone hear This American Life last week? If you're sick of hearing about these people scamming with impunity, wait'll you get a load of this.