Periodically, Jon and I are contacted, via the web form, with a message somewhat similar to the following:

First Contact Initiated by: richard johnson
Name: richard johnson
Email: lashproduct@yahoo.com
Contact Date/Time: 04/16/04 19:28:23
Subject: international urgent response
-------------------------------------------------
Question:
-------------------------------------------------
Dear sales,
my name is mr richard johnson,am an english man base in nigeria.
i will like to place an order in your store to my store which i will like the order items to be ship to nigeria to my business address in nigeria.
I will also want to know the methode of your payment to nigeria cos we use credit card in our company.
This are ther order am willin to order from your store to my store,
##super-advance t-shirt killer robot
##republicans for voldemort
##cold war supervillain
##zip-up hoodie bob (or neil)
##zip-up hoodie neil (or bob)
I will like this items to be 20 each in all,
Beast Regard,
Richard Johnson
-------------------------------------------------

Out of curiosity, I posting it here to ask: WTF?

These are obviously scams, but it seems like a somewhat fruitless one. They say they use credit cards, but in our attempts to lead them on, they never reply to anything we write, whether it's that credit card number, or a shipping address to "calculate shipping". With the implication that then we can send them this stuff. If they don't reply to anything, they can't steal the goods from us.

Also, since it is via the web form, and they always include some items from the store, it's more sophisticated than just email spam. What are the odds they're manually filling this stuff out?

What are your thoughts on how this scam is supposed to progress? Is the entire point to make me want to sign all my letters to relatives with "Beast Regard"?

I posting it here

mmm... pedant bait... after reading through the email, this must have seemed like correct english.

In Response to phillip (#16141):

after reading through the email, this must have seemed like correct english.

Looks correct me.

It sounds to me like its the typical Nigerian money laundering scam. But since you aren't replying to them in the way they expected, they're just ignoring you.

In Response to Dynedain (#16144):

I always like getting the Nigerian scam emails.

You *know* they have to have a valid reply address.

I'm confused, he wants to place an order but then he wants to know your method of payment to Nigeria? Shouldn't it be his method of payment?

And if he's "English" and old enough to own a business, shouldn't he be able to type a business order correctly? When did England start using "cos" instead of "because?"

How did he expect to steal the goods if he wasn't willing to supply a shipping address? Pick up?

I did a search on Google for my last name a few weeks ago and found that some asshole in Brazil had a webpage with about 200 stolen credit card numbers, and my dad's was one of them. He included all the information, CCV number on the back, billing address, phone number, you name it. I contacted the Secret Service's Internet Crimes Division and Google seems to have taken the website down since. Just a good idea to do a search of your name or address on Google to see if anyone is posting your information every once and a while =/

And what the hell is a "man base?"

Beast Regard,
Richard Johnson

Sounds dirty to me.

You can go here [goats.com] for a lengthier discussion of this topic. A discussion all of two months old.

I liked Robonun's link to the guy who messed with the perp.

In Response to deerboy (#16158):

I think this scam is a little different.

This is a somewhat related scam, but different in purpose:

I help run a website for online conference registration, and every so often we receive scam Nigerian registrations. It's pretty easy to spot them: it's from Nigeria, the card holder's name is never the same as the person registering, and they usually enter the whole thing in lower case. Their goal isn't to steal any money though (although they are probably using a stolen credit card). Their goal is to get a registration receipt which they can use as proof of an official invitation to the US. This allows them to get past immigration control, and then they conveniently don't go to the conference and just hang out in the US indefinitely. So the scam is they use you to get in the country.

That isn't what's going on here, but I doubt that we're dealing with the traditional 419 scheme [snopes.com].

When I worked for a while in a order fulfillment warehouse, occasionally we would be filling out an order -- always Next Day or 2nd Day Delivery -- and suddenly I would notice that the person was ordering something on the order of 20 of each product. The first time I was filling out the order I was perplexed, but everytime afterwards I would go to the supervisor and, sure enough, it was a scam order. That sounds closer to what might be going on here, although I don't know where the people placing the orders were from.

In Response to Rich (#16156):

well, he is an english man base in nigeria.

In Response to Deathalicious (#16163):

Still kind of confused, not at your post, but more as to what the scammer is getting at... perhaps he wants to use stolen CC info to order a shit load of Goats merchandise? Must be a pretty devout fan =/ Maybe he just wants to resell it in Nigeria?

I went to that website from the other thread and read through a few of the incidents. I have to say, setting up a hidden camera at a meeting place is pretty damn awesome, but I wish they had rented a higher quality camera and hid somewhere with it so we'd have actual photographs of the scammers instead of blurred images.

I have to say, I despise scammers of any country, doesn't matter if they're from the US or Nigeria or Switzerland. It's one thing to be a thief, it's a completely other thing to purposefully deceive someone and take advantage of their good nature to further your own prosperity.

Just to clarify. I think my question is two parts:

1. What could his possible motive be, since he doesn't ask for any info from us in this, and neither he, nor the other ones of these we've received have responded to any of the responses we've sent.
2. While Jon prefers violence, I would like to continue one of these exchanges with these people. I've given them costs, asked for shipping info, and asked for payment info in all sorts of combinations, and they don't respond to any of these. Any suggestions on how to get them to respond?

An outright "here's my credit card number, why don't you use that to order from us" may be a little too blatant. So I try to treat them as legitimate, but so far, no luck.

In Response to phillip (#16307):

Their English obviously isn't so good, maybee they think you are looking for suppliers? Or maybee they think you pay people to wear these?

In Response to Dynedain (#16310):

Both noteworthy suggestions.

Perhaps they realised you weren't stupid enough to fall for the scam?

In Response to phillip (#16307):

"Dear Sir -
Please tell me where to ship your merchandise, that we may discuss proper payments later.

-Kindest solicitations and gentle wishes for your heart,
Mr. Phillip"

I should have posted this earlier. It is somewhat related to this whole scam thing.

I did a search on Google for my last name, out of curiosity. It pulled up a webpage from Brazil that listed my dad's full name, billing address, credit card number, and 3-digit security number on the back. It also listed various websites from which orders could be purchased and shipped internationally despite a different billing address.

I would highly suggest that everyonce and a while (if you don't already) you Google your own name (the one on your credit card) or any info which you think could have been stolen to see if it is easily accessable. This doesn't mean it hasn't been stolen if it doesn't pop up, just that it won't be accessable in a few clicks by anyone on the web.

I've already notified Google and the Secret Service Financial Crimes division in hopes of having the site removed, but since it is in Brazil, it will always be there, just not necessarily searcable from Google.

In Response to Phobos (#16803):

You know the only thing that comes up when I Google my full name is freelance and Navy public affairs articles I've written. And my Goats profile. My wifes name didn't come up at all. But someone in England still tried to charge $14,000 to my wife's credit card.

In Response to banzai (#16898):

Apparently, I'm A great border or cottage garden perennial [canningperennials.com].

But please don't steal me, I'm sure I'm available at Home Despot.

In Response to banzai (#16898):

All I find out is that I have an insanely common name. Whether this is good or bad I have yet to ascertain.

In Response to banzai (#16898):

I:

1) was married to Mary Ann Bodine back in the early 19th century.
2) came first at my high school wrestling, 140lb section, but then
3) lost out to Tripp Rogers in the regionals two years later.
4) served as a private in a company in the American army until I died in 1776
5) apparently 'know the importance of covering up everyone's mistakes with the bass drum' and like noise. a lot.
6) had my farm demolished by a cyclone in 1890.

I've been busy.

And decidedly immortal.

Besides when I was in the army.

In Response to unFalln (#16939):

Googlism.com? My whole name is too rare to show up on there unfortunately.

In Response to unFalln (#16939):

I:

1. Am the president of the Arthritis Foundation, earning a salary of $92,196
2. Came 7th in the 1997 World Irish Dance Championships and 8th in 2003.
3. Am a member of abot 17 soccer, gymnastics and swimming teams.
4. Play in the Salvation Army Kilbirnie - YP Band
5. Am a contestant in the Miss South Carolina Teen USA competition (I'd use that photo as my avatar, but she looks too damn wholesome).
6. have 18 more pages of this crap.

I may not be immortal, but apparently I'm extremely busy.

In Response to tynic (#16944):

Speaking of names, it looks like a lot have ships have sailed over an email sent from a Nigerian named 'Dick Johnson'.

Hi, I am Peter Wang, also from Nigeria!

In Response to zamphir (#16901):

I seem to be a baseball player in Japan. But I got traded. Crap.

Just got mine! [baylor.edu]

I'm considering going to some payphones and calling up but telling them I need special help because "I no good english." Or perhaps just repeating "Hello?" a few times until they hang up. It is an 800 number after all.

In Response to Phobos (#16942):

Apparently, I am treasurer.

I think they actually got this from my high school Tripod web page, which I can't delete b/c I long ago forgot the password and have changed email addresses. The first 3 google matches for my name are actually me, and this one mentions my being treasurer of student council.