The Cameroon pet scam motif has evolved with a couple new twists:
They're marketing high-dollar collectible tarantulas and they claim to reside in the United States.
The scammers have gotten much craftier since the days of posting ads with common photos and exceptionally poor English. They troll photobucket and flicker, and acquire pictures with correct species to use in ads that feature almost passable English.
The most significant trick is that they hide the fact that they're in Cameroon and use a real United States address when asked.
Currently, the most frequent address used has been
56717 County Road 13
Elkhart
IN 46516
Of course, the IP of the emails originate in Cameroon, mostly:
41.202.194.75
41.202.194.146
41.202.197.130
41.202.198.33
41.202.198.35
41.204.71.210
41.204.93.230 VERY ACTIVE
41.205.25.60 VERY ACTIVE
The purchaser is asked to send payment via Western Union or Moneygram, and the tarantulas (often sold in excess of $200 apiece) will be sent overnight express. Of course, no tarantulas are ever sent.
The scammers most often request that the Western Union or Moneygram payment is made out to the following names:
Mary Flicker, Allison Flicker, Sue Shaer, Shawna Wagers, Karol Johnson, Veronica Rodriguez
The scammers possess a reasonably realistic scan of a fake Indiana driver's license that is supposed to be "Mary Flicker".
Email addresses most often used are:
allisonflicker@live.fr
mflicker44@blumail.org
flicker44@rediffmail.com
karoljohnson@hushmail.com
flicker44@blumail.org
m.flicker44@blumail.org
v_rodriguez5@myway.com
invertebrates@collector.org
z.slanina@rediffmail.com
mflicker_72@rediffmail.com
They're marketing high-dollar collectible tarantulas and they claim to reside in the United States.
The scammers have gotten much craftier since the days of posting ads with common photos and exceptionally poor English. They troll photobucket and flicker, and acquire pictures with correct species to use in ads that feature almost passable English.
The most significant trick is that they hide the fact that they're in Cameroon and use a real United States address when asked.
Currently, the most frequent address used has been
56717 County Road 13
Elkhart
IN 46516
Of course, the IP of the emails originate in Cameroon, mostly:
41.202.194.75
41.202.194.146
41.202.197.130
41.202.198.33
41.202.198.35
41.204.71.210
41.204.93.230 VERY ACTIVE
41.205.25.60 VERY ACTIVE
The purchaser is asked to send payment via Western Union or Moneygram, and the tarantulas (often sold in excess of $200 apiece) will be sent overnight express. Of course, no tarantulas are ever sent.
The scammers most often request that the Western Union or Moneygram payment is made out to the following names:
Mary Flicker, Allison Flicker, Sue Shaer, Shawna Wagers, Karol Johnson, Veronica Rodriguez
The scammers possess a reasonably realistic scan of a fake Indiana driver's license that is supposed to be "Mary Flicker".
Email addresses most often used are:
allisonflicker@live.fr
mflicker44@blumail.org
flicker44@rediffmail.com
karoljohnson@hushmail.com
flicker44@blumail.org
m.flicker44@blumail.org
v_rodriguez5@myway.com
invertebrates@collector.org
z.slanina@rediffmail.com
mflicker_72@rediffmail.com