Almost Got Scammed

11-06-2009 Friday

A couple of days ago, I received an email inquiry from someone named Deborah Honey, telling me that she's interested in the 5130 Nokia cellphone that I'm selling online. She said she wanted to give it as a birthday gift to her father in the Lord who is a missionary in Nigeria and she's offering me P8,000 for the cellphone plus she wanted me to calculate the shipping charge so she can pay for it as well. I didn't take it seriously since a couple of things seemed to not make sense to me at that time: For one, it sounded impossible for someone to offer that much for a used cellphone. Two, I doubt if the phone will work in Nigeria. Three, I wonder why a Canadian would buy a phone from another foreign place rather than getting it directly from Nigeria where her father is located.

Even though I have some misgivings about this suspiscious email, I played along with it and told her that I'll check the shipping rate on the DHL website. I used the online rate calculator and the shipping fee came up to $69.98 which is equal to around Php 3,200. I immediately emailed the cost to her and gave her a total of Php 11,000 for everything. She said that's fine and she asked for my bank account number so that she can transfer the money to my bank account.

I asked to a couple of friends, even my manager if it's safe for me to give out my account number to Deborah and they said there's nothing she can do with it anyway other than transfer funds to the account so without any hesitations, I gave my account number to her, hoping that this playing around will turn out to be a real transaction. After sending her my informations, she replied to my email the following day and told me that she has transferred the amount of Php 11,000 in my bank account and I can already proceed with getting the phone shipped out.

I seriously thought that I'm dealing with the real thing when I checked my email and lo, there's a confirmation email from Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) that a sum of Php 11,000 was transferred to my bank account #: xxxxxxxx and so and so. I was excited to check my account balance but when I read the whole thing, my doubts started to resurface again.

To make sure I'm reading it right, I read it more than three times, making sure I have my glasses on and I also forwarded it to a friend of mine who's more knowleadgeable about stuff like this. The email says to complete the money transfer, I have to send them the tracking number of the package, that way, they'll verify that the item will be sent out and to protect the buyer and the seller from possible fraud. Fraud, huh? My friend insists that the whole thing is a scam and he said he's heard a lot about Nigerian scam.

I was just thinking, what if this transaction is legit? That means I just blew my chance in getting a good amount of money. I just don't like having what if's in my head and yeah, I like good money, shame on me. I still want to find out how things will turn out if I at least try.

I was already considering of sending the phone out just so I can get my money but I don't know if I'm willing to spend the P3,200 out of pocket cost for the shipping. I had a plan also to check with DHL if there's a way for them to hold the package for me but still be able to give out a tracking number, that way I can make sure that I get my money first before the beloved cellphone leaves this country for good. I was so confused, a part of me wanted to go ahead and proceed with the transacton, and a very little part of me is telling me to cancel everything.

In a last attempt to protect myself, I replied to the email confirmation and asked what assurance I have that the money will be transferred over. I also googled RBC and found the legit website of the bank. I clicked Contact Us and sent an inquiry about the email confirmation I have received. I waited the entire day for any replies. The first email I have received is from the so called RBC wireless transfer department, giving me assurance that the transaction is valid and 100% legit and they reminded me that the money cannot be refunded back to the buyer's account so I need to proceed with sending the phone out.

I thought that's the department I contacted thru the bank's website so I was relieved to know that the transaction is legit afterall. With that in mind, I went to the office, brought the phone with me so I can send it when I get off from work in the morning.

Good thing I decided to check my email again while I was at work, (and good thing I was able to check it before IT blocked the connections to Gmail). There's a new email waiting for me. This one is from the real website of RBC, a customer care representative replied to my online inquiry and she warned me that it's a fraudulent transaction. RBC doesn't accept Shipping/Tracking numbers to complete money transfers, moreover, they don't act as intermediary on online sales.

Lord hammercy on me! I almost got scammed! To even think that I have the box of the phone and everything, it was like giving it all away to a fraudster! Deborah also emailed me, telling me to ship the phone out and I wasn't mad, I was more afraid because I knew I was dealing with a fraudster so I didn't bother replying to her anymore. For sure, her name is not Deborah, she could be a he, she could be some black nigger from that damned place Nigeria, she could be anyone pretending to be some Deborah Honey who has some nice words to say about father, lord, missionary and other religion lies hoping that some innocent people will take the bait.

I know I'm the one to blame for being so greedy. I was blinded by the amount of money she offered and I hated myself for that. I don't want to lose something and let some fraudster win before I learn my lesson. I have learned from it now and I'll be more cautious and careful next time. The most important thing that I know now is the best advice I got directly from the RBC website that says; if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Labels: 5130, Email scam, Money transfer, Nigerian Scam, pink crimson, Scammer

posted by Monica-Lynne @ 5:32 PM