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How to Spot a Scam

Friday, December 5, 2008

Rev. James Russell - Con Man

Thanks guys for sending this info.

Name: Rev. James Russell
AKA: Dr. James Russell
Email:revjames8@tnen.zzn.com, jamesrussell@yahoo.com, revjames16@godsfamily.zzn.com

A Cl user wrote:
He just mailed me as Dr. James Russell, using these emails:revjames8@tnen.zzn.comrev.jamesrussell@yahoo.com "Hi, I am Rev. James, I am interested in the item on subject listed by you on Craigslist. Please let me know if it is still available for sale??? I have difficulty talking on the phone. Please send me more pictures if possible."

*I find the email address with the suffix of godsfamily completely offensive.

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

I got this exact e-mail today.. same as others have... "Hi, I am Rev. James, I am interested in the item on subject listed by you on Craigslist. Please let me know if it is still available for sale??? I have difficulty talking on the phone. Please send me more pictures if possible." This time his e-amil was revjames1@555.zzn.com

Anonymous said...

Yep, got the same e-mail yesterday soon after my post. Unfortunately, I already responded (crap) so I hope I don't get bombarded with spam. But just what exactly is this scam after. Read some similar reports and these things aren't asking for any information that would be risking something like identidy theft or nonpayment. So what's the deal. Well, I'll update this blog with any results that come my way. Peace.

Anonymous said...

And I also got a similar email from this "Rev" with a follow up of some cockeyed story about a check being sent for more than the actual price, etc......watch out.

Anonymous said...

I just received an email from Rev. James Russell on Craigslist. The e-mail was suspicious, so I used Google and found this site. He wrote the same email asking if item was available and the difficulty talking on the phone line. I knew something wasn't right with the email. Thanks for your information.

Anonymous said...

I also got this exact e-mail today! thank god for this web site! my family who is already strugling would have been out 700 dollars and a washer and dryer!here are the two email addresses he used: revjamesrussell@yahoo.com and revjames@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

I got this exact e-mail yeaterday.. same as others have... "Hi, I am Rev. James, I am interested in the item on subject listed by you on Craigslist. Please let me know if it is still available for sale??? I have difficulty talking on the phone. Please send me more pictures if possible." This time his e-amil was rev.james18@555.zzn.com. I replied and the email address was then "rev.james0@ymail.com". He then emailed me back today asking for my full name and such... "Thanks for your swift response on this purchase.I'll send you a check from my bank to cover the cost as I'm happy with your early response.anyway, I'll not be available for the pick-up of the item because of the nature of my job so i got the services of a mover whom will come for the pick up of the item on my behalf. I'll like you to provide me with the following information so as to expedite the payment for the item.

1.Your full name to be on the check
2.Home or work address (Ups doesn't deliver to P.O Boxes)
3.Your phone number
4 The final price

As soon as you have cashed the check I'll make arrangement with my mover to come over for the pick-up. Pls do me a favor of removing the Ad from CL as I'm committed to buying it. Have a nice day. God Bless James."

I went to hit reply and the return address came up with a 3rd email address. i thought something was fishy before, but now I really think there is something wrong. So I replied to one of his older email addresses(rev.james0@ymail.com) and said that I may be willing to drop of the item a his location. I havent got a response yet...

Anonymous said...

I also recieved this exact e-mail for an item I had on craiglist - I am soo glad I checked out this name through google & this site. When you get a weird feeling - check it out!

Anonymous said...

This person is a menace, I too received the same emails from the "Rev. James Russell", from a Craigslist posting I had. I was suspicious as well from his first email and then deffinitely convinced he/she was a scam by the second email. And it is soo sad he/she has to hide behind religion LOOOOOSER!

Anonymous said...

Same story here, folks, in response to my Craigslist advert. in North Carolina, on Dec 4th. I received the exact same emails as Anonymous (December 9, 2008 11:04 AM) described, word-for-word. "The good Reverend" is not just a scammer, but a lazy one, too.

He was using rev.jamesrussell@gmail.com at that time, and I alerted gmail. Seems he's moved on to some new throwaway addresses.

Why not tell him he can send his courier to pick up the goods, but give the address of the local sheriff's department, the FBI office, a biker bar, or the office at a welfare housing project in a really bad part of town? Waste his time and he'll stop.

Anonymous said...

Yes, we've been negotiating with Rev James over the sale of a table.

Today we got an email from him claiming his bank had mistakenly sent us a $1500 check for a $100 table. He wanted us to take $100 for "the cost of our running around", and wire the remaining $1300 to a Western Union account.

This (plus the fact he won't talk on the phone) all looked very suspicious, so we googled him & found this page. Thanks all!

Anonymous said...

Name: Don James
E-mail:donjames0004@gmail.com

Mr. Don James is trying to ring in his new year with the old I'll send you more money than necessary in a cashier's check while using grammar that would make my sixth grade English teacher roll over in her grave. P.S. I hope that wasn't a run on sentence...

"Hello,
Happy new Year andf Merry christmas.Thanks for you quick responce, i am very sorry for my late response
to reply you back. This is to let you know that i am ok with the
condition, i will be paying you $170 because i dont want anyother
person to buy it from you except me, i am really i need of it, and i
will like to tell you that i will be paying with a check (cashier
check) in $USA and as for the shippment, i have contacted the shipping
company that will come for the pickup at your location upon your
confirmation of receiving the payment and i dont want you to look for
any other buyer. I would have love to come down for the pick up, but i
did not have chance to do that now, i am not around now, but amsatisfy
with your discription of the item i will like you to give me the
following so that your payment can be send.......ASAP..........
1....your full name to be on the check
2....your full contact address to send the payment to
3....your zip code
4....your mobile and land nunmber to reach you.i will expecting your
mail. Thanks for the understanding. Stay Blessed
Regards "

Anonymous said...

I recieved the same mee=ssage from a Melissa Gartner. See below...
Hi, I am Melissa, I am interested in the item on subject listed by you on Craigslist. Please let me know if it is still available for sale??? I have difficulty talking on the phone. Please send me more pictures if possible.
This was my response because I too thought it was weird.

Hi MelissaSo I don't know if this is a fluke but you responded to several of my postings, the desk, kitchen table with tile top, the dinning room set 6 chairs, table buffet and hutch, and the 8 day spring clock. Because your interested in basically everything I've got it maybe best for you to bring a truck and come over and check all the stuff out. I'm cool with emailing or texting if the phone isn't a good way to communicate for you. My husband and I have several chores to do today but my email pushes to my phone so Its as quick as calling me. Please only respond if serious though. I must say I'm feeling a little nervous because you responded to almost everything I've posted on craislist. So let me just say we are good people, I'm a nurse and my husband a cop, so please don't try and take advantage of us.Thanks

So my husband is just a cop, he is the chief of Police here and I hope the person responds to me, lol

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know what the scam is? Old James Russell (no longer a Reverend, I'm afraid) sent exactly the same response to me today -- saying he'd pay MORE than my asking price on a bicycle, sight unseen -- but that he would have to send a money order. (Earlier today my wife received an email on the now-famous apartment scam. Some day, huh?) That one I get. But this one? I can only imagine that after a while, James will tell you than he'd like to wire the money to your account -- all I have to do is give him my bank account number. Hmmm...

By the way, email address was jamerussellss16@yahoo.com .

Anonymous said...

I received a similar email but from a Melissa Gartner!!.. Exact same verbage.. Now these people have our Home information.. I should have went with my first instinct that I felt that something was not right!.. Im glad I did not and thought about it. I have the check and emails, wanting to report her.. She also gave another persons name and address where I was to send back the excess cash... This makes me VERY PISSED OFF!!!!

Anonymous said...

I also got the same email from Melissa Gartner. This is another scam that involves wiring money to a Western Union account. Do not fall for it!

Anonymous said...

Bla bla bla. Melissa Gardner. Bla Bla, Oops they sent you too much money. Bla keep an extra fifty for your troubles.
Thank you guys. I waasn't going to fall for it but this site was quite informative. have a great day!

Anonymous said...

Yeppers. We got 4 inquiries from dear ol' Melissa Gartner today, posted in the middle of the night! I hope that EVERYONE who sells on Craig's List somehow is informed about these scammers and do not give them $$! Why does someone always have to try to ruin a good thing? Wish we could lock them all up.

grimmace35 said...

I got email from Melissa Gartner the other day through Craigslist. Same old scam, her bank made an error and will send me via UPS a ck. for $1500 instead of $150. I'm supposed to wire the extra money ($1300 after a $50 fee for my time) to her "mover"....If the ck. does appear today, it will be returned to sender....or does anyone know if there's any legal options I can take? The ck. is not good, can old "Melissa" get caught up in it somehow? I'd like to end his/her scam days.......

Anonymous said...

Just received the same email from Joss Yates (jossyates12@catholic.org) for a craigslist item. The reply-to was set to be redirected to jossyates1960@yahoo.com. I've notified the webmail service. The text was:

I am interested in the item on subject listed by you on Craigslist. Please let me know if it is still available for sale??? I have difficulty talking on the phone.

Anonymous said...

He/she is now posing as paul.is.james0@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

Also using:
jamesrussells1@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

also using the email dr.jamespeter12@gmail.com

..same story
he offered to send a cashier's check for $3,800 for an item i was asking $500 for. He then wanted me to wire money via western union to his "shipper" because his shipper was picking up other items for him too in the area that needed to be paid for.

Anonymous said...

This is what I received from him, and I am glad his email didn't make any sense because this is my first time using Craigslist and I may not have noticed there was something funny about this guy......

From: paul james paul.is.james0@gmail.com
Sent: Tuesday, May 12, 2009 12:24:23 AM

Thanks for getting back to me ,am interested in buying it from you.I
will be happy if you can email me a recent picture of it because i may
not be able to come and see it before the payment is issued out.I want
you to remove the advert from craigslist and kindly get back to me
with the following details:
Fullname:
Address :
Phone number:
Once this is done i will notified my financer and the payment and pick
up arrangement can be concluded because i will be paying through
check.
Thanks

--
Hello,

Is your item available?

Anonymous said...

From jamerussellss15@yahoo.com

Hi
Thanks for the response.I am willing to pay your asking price.I will pay by money order as its the only way i can pay you at the moment.I will make arrangement for the pick-up after payment have been received by you. I dont mind adding an extra twenty dollars so you can keep it in my favor.Reply with your full name,cell phone number,and address where payment should be sent.Please take the posting off craigslist today and consider it sold to me.
Expecting to hear from you soon.
Regards
James

What is this Creepy Pockets up to??

Anonymous said...

From jamerussellss15@yahoo.com aka james russells

Hi
Thanks for the response.I am willing to pay your asking price.I will pay by money order as its the only way i can pay you at the moment.I will make arrangement for the pick-up after payment have been received by you. I dont mind adding an extra twenty dollars so you can keep it in my favor.Reply with your full name,cell phone number,and address where payment should be sent.Please take the posting off craigslist today and consider it sold to me.
Expecting to hear from you soon.
Regards
James

What is this creepy pocket up to??

Anonymous said...

Trying to sell a piece of furniture and got this:

from King Mike king_mike@sify.com
sender-time Sent at 02:11 (GMT+01:00). Current time there: 9:56 PM.

That's great, thank you for getting back to me. Though I'll be using the services of a mover who will come for the pick up of the item on my behalf all because I'm currently away for a contracting Job but I will send a Cashier Check through my Bank to cover the cost of the items. The check will be delivered to you by a reliable courier company within 2-3 working days. Please do provide me with your full mailing address, and also indicate your final price, the Name that should be on check and finally a cell phone #. Kindly delete the posting because am serious in buying it, when the funds clears then we can arrange for the pick up asap.

Regards,
Mike.

Man, I'm glad that I searched around online and avoided this.

Anonymous said...

From: Bill Marcus
Date: 11/29/09 23:27:30
Subject: Re: >>Ford F-250 1990 - $1800 (Stevenson, WA)

Thanks for your quick response,I just view the item again and its okay by me and will like to proceed with the payment.
I will be more than happy to issue a certified endorced cashiers check to you today via ovenight delivery and i will need your
NAME,ADDRESS and PHONE NUMBER to write the cashiers check out,and concerning the shipping i will handle the shipping via my shipping company so all i need to do now is to send you a
cashiers check of excess fund to cover the cost of purchase and the shipping cost so you can deduct your money and send
the excess to my shipping who is currently in bay area for the pick at your residence after the cashiers check must have clears your account to my Place.
Please kindly proceed and delete your advert on craigslist if this is okay by you .....