Spoofing the Hoodwinker

You might think that con-artists generally tend to be less naive than the people they try to con. I also thought this, but a recent experience has made me rethink that assumption.

Whilst searching for an apartment in Berlin I've been e-mailed a few times by scamsters who want me to send them money via Western Union. For some reason the back story they always use involves their mother living in London and their father having just recently died. I decided to go along with this guy to see how stupid he thinks people are.

[The parts in these brackets are my comments, they weren't in the e-mails]

 Hello Ken Walsh,

Thanks for your reply about my One Bedroom Room .  

My name is Simon Scholz ,23years of ages and my professions is civil engineering and my mother is working with an organization in London united kingdom as computer operators which my father just dead recent in 7 months ago.i was originally from Germany,I was brought up in Berlin,Germany before get back to my country last year when my father died in motor accident.

The exact address is : Potsdamer Straße 14 D-10785 Berlin, Germany

The is lease is 350Euros/One Bedroom Room/Month including the utilities,fridge-freezer, oven, washing machine, dryer, gas cooker,micro-wave, dishwasher,electricity bill, Internet charges and others.and 450Euros for the security deposit which is refundable during the departure time from the Apartment .

in Centre Berlin and Near to the university of berlin. [There isn't a University in Berlin called the University of Berlin] The room is 29 square meters, plus a walk-in wardrobe with 4-5 square meters. The room is fully furnished and as new with 3 sofa-bed, 2-seater sofa, table, chairs, chest of drawers, shelving, TV, table lamp. [Ooh table lamp]
The apartment is 89 sqm. It is located on the ground in a very quiet location . there are five minutes from the park, the tram is 2 minutes 27.

[I'm not sure what the 27 here refers to. Is he trying to say it takes 2 minutes and 27 seconds to get to the tram?]

The rental fee is a flat rate € 350 per month and Security deposits 450Euros . The price for all utilities are included: Wireless Internet flatrate, cable TV, heating, electricity, water. Own phone and underground parking are optional.

One month deposit should I ask for the furniture, unfortunately.

included,Deeper discounts for longer stays.

This is a private arrangement without any help from agencies.

Therefore much is based on mutual trust and respect. [Hah!}

Please let back to me directly via my email

I will like to know where you are from and when you will be coming to the Apartment ?Am confidently assuring you that you will be more than satisfied when you come into the flat while you will have your private bathroom.You can see the attached pictures of the Apartment bellow.......

Let me hear from you asap if you really have interest in renting the Apartment .

Best of Regards,

Simon Scholz 

He included pictures of a really, really nice apartment. I was supposed to think "Wow, this seems too good to be true - and yet it is true!" This was my reply:

Dearest Simon,

I am very sorry to hear about your father, it makes me weep to hear of such loss. The fact that you included this very personal, and seemingly unnecessary, piece of information makes me trust and respect you. It is sad to lose someone but remember this - he's not dead, not as long as we remember him. [This is a quote from Star Trek II - The Wrath of Kahn. It was also used in an episode of Seinfeld when he couldn't think of anything to say at a funeral]

I'm looking forward to living together. The flat looks perfect from the pictures and it seems to be in a perfect location as well. I am from Ireland and I will be arriving on the first of September, I hope to see you then.

Warm regards,

Ken

Probably thinking "yeah, I've really got a sucker on my hands here" he replied:

Hello Ken Walsh,

Thanks for you reply about my apartment .I will reserved the apartment for you ..and there is a normal procedure you have to go through before make any payment for the apartment .I will requested some information form you means your traveling information which i will forward to my lawyer to preparing your contract form which is lease agreement form and you can know it better with your understanding when go through it properly .the rules and regulations with terms & conditions of the apartment will be inside the agreement form . [his English isn't the best I'm sure you've gathered]

Moreover have you interest in the apartment if so,you will need to provides this information requested as below

1. YOUR FULL NAME -
2.YOUR EXACT ARRIVAL DATE
3.YOUR DEPARTURE DATE
4.YOUR CURRENT ADDRESS .
5.YOUR PICTURES .
6.YOUR INTERNATIONAL PASSPORT SCANNED COPY

When provide all this information requested from you and i can able to forward it to our family lawyer to start preparing your contract form which is lease agreement form quickly and you can able to see the terms and the conditions of the contract form of the apartment before making any payment.

[What a sentence!]

if you are satisfied with the terms and conditions abide the contract form and you can then proceed to make the first month payment deposit to my parent in London,united kingdom via western union /money gram money transfer ,as soon she got the payment from you ,then the room will be yours and secured for you and your family.

[I never mentioned anything about a family]

there many people have interest on the apartment but who make payment first will got the apartment . [I think he's hoping here that I'll go "oh god there's many people have interest on the apartment - I must make payment first"]

conclusion,The signed agreement form will be send after signed it through email address along with my copy of my international passport scanned.after you proceed the payment before you arrival period ,i will now send the original copy through a registered courier to your contact address for you to signed it and bring it along with you when coming to the apartment or you can print it out from you computer after i send the last page signed of the agreement form which i send through the attachment to you .Hope to read from you

[Hope to read from me? Is he expecting me to have writing all over my body or something?]

Regards

Simons   [His name had now become pluralised]

He attached a poorly scanned passport picture that he'd probably hoodwinked some poor soul into sending him - probably the real Simon Scholz. He also attached a black and white photograph of the same person. I wrote back:
 

Dear Simons,

Thank you for everything. You are obviously a very honest and good person. I know it's risky making such agreements with people you don't know. But friendship must dare to risk, or it's not friendship. [this is also a quote from Star Trek - thank you Jean Luc Picard]

You are my best friend. 

I can see from your pixelated passport picture and other pictures that you are completely genuine so I have no problem with meeting all of your requests.

My full name, as you may have gathered from my e-mail address is Ken Mark Walsh. My exact arrival date, as previously mentioned is the first of September. My departure date is about ten months after that. My current address is in Galway Ireland, this is where I live.

Attached are some of my pictures, including my passport, of course.

The first picture is one of a horse I made, he is eating grass, and he is a good horse.

The second picture is a picture of an engine.

The third picture is a picture of Worf.

The forth picture is a picture of me. It's a self portrait!

And the fifth picture, of course, is my passport as requested.

I hope you like these pictures as much as I do.

With friendly greetings,

Ken

I thought that would have put an end to it but amazingly he wrote back.


Here's what he said:

Hello Ken Mark Walsh,
Thanks for the information requested from you and i bale to forward it [?] to our family lawyer to prepared your lease agreement form but i will need the information requested in correct way to avoid any mistake to occur .give me the information once again as below

1. YOUR FULL NAME
2.YOUR EXACT ARRIVAL DATE
3.YOUR DEPARTURE DATE
4.YOUR CURRENT ADDRESS .
5.YOUR PICTURES .
6.YOUR INTERNATIONAL PASSPORT SCANNED COPY (BOTH INSIDE OF THE PASSPORT NOT THE BACK ALONE)

Hope to read from you [presumably still thinking I'm covered in writing]

Regards

Simons

I really didn't expect him to write back that time. At this stage I thought I should give him a pleasant surprise.

Hello Simon Herbert Scholz,  [The name on the passport]

good news friend! I'm coming to Berlin much earlier than I expected. I'm in the Airport now waiting to board the plane.

I can come and meet you today. We'll have so much fun together friend.

We can go on a donkey ride. I'm so excited, it's all coming together now. Legends are the spice of the universe, Mr. Data, because they have a way of sometimes coming true. [Unsurprisingly this is also a quote from Star Trek]

I can't wait to meet you today. I should be there in a couple of hours. I was going to surprise you by just turning up at your house but I thought it would be more polite to give you a heads up.

I love you.

Ken

That was the last message. I haven't heard from him since. I don't really expect him to reply now. But then again he is unbelievably thick.