Scammers and rip off artists are everywhere.  You post something on Craigslist for sale you will probably get someone trying to send you a check by courier or mail to rip you off.  Here is an example from yesterday that just happened to us.  I did edit out the personal information of the innocent party.

The phone number used is (914) 586-8660.  The name used was Kurt Metin.  The email used was kurt.financial001@gmail.com .  I did a quick check for the name Kurt Metin and the only thing I could find was a 75 year old from New York.  So that does checkout with the phone number since it is a New York area code.  The IP address from the sending email showed me it was from Google so that didn’t help.  The other research I did was a google search for the name Kurt Metin scam and it looks like this guy uses another email address that is very similar financial.broker001@gmail.com as well as financial.broker003@gmail.com .  Financial and 001 and a gmail… hmmm…

Here are the initial texts:

As you can see from the initial text he says he’s hearing impaired.  It’s possible.  Especially after my other research that showed it could be someone that is 75 years old.

I sent him my email:

Once I sent him my email I got this email from him:

From: kurt metin [mailto:kurt.financial001@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, May 6, 2015 12:13 PM
To: David – Custom Request
Subject: web service

 

Thanks for your swift response

Here is the job details

l have small scale business which i want to turn into large scale business now it located in OR and the company  is based on importing and exporting of Agriculture products such as Kola Nut, Gacillia Nut and Cocoa so i need a best of the best layout design for it. Can you handle that for me ?. so i need you to check out this site but i need something more perfect than this if its possible .http://www.agroamerica.com.… the site would only be informational, so i need you to give me an estimate based on the site i gave you to check out, the estimate should include hosting and i want the same page as the site i gave you to check out and i have a private project consultant, he has the text content and the logos for the site.

Note:
1. I want the same number of pages with the example site i gave you to check excluding videos and blogs.
2. I want only English language
3. I don’t have a domain yet but i want the domain name as bestfarmproducing.com
4. you will be updating the site for me.
5. i will be proving the images, logos and content for the site.
6. i want the site up and running before ending of next month.
7. My budget is $3000 to 6000

Kindly get back to me with:
(1) an estimate
(2) your cell phone number
(3) And will like to know if you are the owner ??

Thank you
Kurt metin

My response back:

From: David – Custom Request
Sent: Wednesday, May 6, 2015 12:40 PM
To: ‘kurt metin’
Subject: RE: web service

 

Hello Kurt:

 

Yes we can create a similar site to agroamerica.com .  The domain bestfarmproducing.com is still available for registration.  As long as you have the content we can create this site for $2200 which includes up to 20 pages of content.  For content updates, hosting and search engine optimization it will be $325 per month.  If you would like a Spanish version or other languages please let me know and we can also work in other languages.

 

I am the owner of Custom Request.  My cell phone number is (732) 948-4953.

 

Thank you.

 

David Uriarte

Custom Request

(866) 910-2684

From him:

From: kurt metin [mailto:kurt.financial001@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, May 6, 2015 12:47 PM
To: David – Custom Request
Subject: Re: web service

Thanks for your response, i am okay with the estimate and i wanna proceed so i will be depositing $1500 using credit card so work can commence ASAP, i understand the content for this site would be needed so as for the job to commence so regarding the content i will need a Little favor from you and the reason i need this favor from you is because the consultant does not have the facility to charge credit cards and i also am presently in the hospital for surgery so i will be glad if you can help me out with this favor,The favor i need from you is. i would give you my card info’s to charge for $4000. so $1500 would be a deposit payment for my website design and the remaining $2300 you would help me send it to the project consultant that has the text content and the logo for my website so once he has the $2300 he would send the text content and logo needed for my website to you also the funds would be sent to him via cash deposit into his account, sending of funds would be after funds clears into your account and also $200 tip for your stress. So i will be looking forward to read back from you.

Thanks
kurt metin

This is where I knew he was full of shit and started my research. 

It’s one of the most frequently used scams.  We overpay you, the funds clear, you send us back some money, three weeks later there is a chargeback and you’re out of pocket for the full amount plus whatever you sent back to them and of course you are suspected of fraud on your part.

My response back:

From: David – Custom Request
Sent: Wednesday, May 6, 2015 1:26 PM
To: ‘kurt metin’
Subject: RE: web service

 

Hello Kurt:

 

Ok no problem.  Give me his details and whatever other information I am missing.  The rest of the balance will be due upon completion which should be approximately 2 – 3 weeks.

 

Thanks.

 

David Uriarte

Custom Request

866-910-2684

After this we were back to texts.  The second picture above that shows my email address was the continuation.  Then:

Not only was he fishy from our other exchanges, now he sends me a credit card with someone elses name on it.

I called Visa customer service.  Here is their number in case you run into a similar situation Visa Global Customer Care Services at 1-800-847-2911.  I recorded the call but probably won’t post it since it would take a while to edit it.  It was a 12 minute call, getting transferred from Visa to Chase Bank, then to the fraud department.

I’m going to string the guy along as far as I can.  I figure he’s wasting merchants time and hard earned money with this scam.  Hopefully this will open up your eyes to this common scam.

This can happen to anyone, at any company, selling any product.  The only difference is they change out the product or service.  Be careful who you trust with your credit card or checking account information.  If someone mails you a check or gives you credit card info for more than your product or service costs and you don’t know them; that’s a big red flag.

I decided to have a little fun with him, I sent him this fake paid invoice:

I sent him a paid invoice for $40,000 instead of $4000.  I was hoping he would get greedier and try to get it sent back.  I also made a mistake.  I forgot to change MasterCard to Visa on the Fake invoice.

I sent him this.  This time I didn’t forget to change it to Visa:

I’ll see how this plays out.

Update got back into it with him today.

I’m trying to milk him for more credit card numbers.  I’m hoping he has to pay for these or work very hard to get them.

During this time I call Visa.  They gave me the number to Wells Fargo and I reported the suspicious card to Wells Fargo.  They said they are aware of there being an issue with this card.

Now he says he’s going to contact his bank.  I’m wondering if it’s over.

This is actually being drawn out a little more than I like, but I figure it makes for entertaining content and it shows you how these dirt bags work.

Just when I thought it was done…it continues.

Reported to American Express.  Here is their number in case you need it (800) 528-4800.

Update 5/8/15.  The saga continues.

Here’s the receipt I sent him.

Now let’s see what other information I can get out of him…

Nice.  Time to contact Bank of America.

So I called them up.  Chatted with the lady for a few and she then transferred me to a guy in the bank account fraud department.  During our talk he told me they were going to close the account and there would be some type of investigation.  I’d imagine they would freeze it and then if the person was innocent they would re-open it under a new account number.  No one knew what they were doing and they said they didn’t really have any experience in this type of situation.

That means if something like this happens to you REPORT IT.  It could save the next person/business.

Now to see if I can get them to show up to the bank.  That would make my day.  Time to escalate this.

I sent him this email:

From: David – Custom Request
Sent: Friday, May 8, 2015 1:47 PM
To: ‘kurt metin’
Subject: RE: web service

 

Good news Kurt.  I used my Bank of America online account to do an instant wire transfer.  I didn’t even know that was possible, but because the account was within the same bank they do it instantly.

 

I’ve attached a receipt for your records.  I did edit out my personal details in the receipt.

 

Thanks again.

 

David Uriarte

Custom Request

(866) 910-2684

This was the receipt I attached without the bank account number blacked out:

The funny thing is I don’t even have a Bank of America bank account.  I have a credit card from them and modified the page for my needs.

Update 5/12/15:

This has been going back and forth for a few days.  I have tons of other pictures but I won’t post them for now since I don’t want it to take an hour for the page to load and don’t want to lower the image quality at the moment.

He said his “consultant” went to the bank and that the bank told him the funds weren’t there.  I told him to have the bank manager call me.  That didn’t happen.  I’m hoping I can get the bank manager to call me on this so I can tell them what they are up to.

I pretended like I went to the bank and they said the funds were in their account.

Because he is impatient he decided to give me another credit card which I reported to Commerce Bank (I didn’t even know they still existed).  This time he wanted to charge $6000 to it.  $5000 to the consultant and $700 to pay off his balance and $300 for my trouble.  I sent him a fake receipt a few minutes ago and that’s the last update for now.

Update 5/14/15:

Yesterday we went back and forth.  I completed another fake wire transfer this time I didn’t send him a receipt.  He was mad.  He wanted me to personally go into the bank with cash and wire the money.  I kept telling him that if the bank manager calls me with them in the bank I can get everything resolved in 5 minutes.  He seemed to get angrier.

He doesn’t seem to want the bank manager to contact me.  He even asked for my personal details to try to confirm, which I declined giving him due to privacy concerns.  Who knows maybe the name on the account is an international account holder or something.

He hasn’t responded back to me since yesterday afternoon.  I think the jig is up and he is moving on to another victim.

Update 5/28/15:

This is the last update.   I got a new phone last week so I don’t have the texts anymore.  The guy responded to me a couple of days after the last update.  I sent him a couple of messages until he responded back.

He was mad because I didn’t follow his instructions and go to the physical bank and do the transfer with cash.  I told him if he’d like I’d cancel  the transfer and re-send.  Then I’m sure there were a couple of other texts in the middle, but he finally said he was, “Playing me.”

I said to him, “Who’s playing who?  I never really sent any transfers.”

Then he made a comment about my mom.  I told him he was a loser and to get a job.  He said he had other people to scam…and that’s the end.

Not the ending I wanted but that’s the end of it on my end.

Update 7/27/15:

Just got an email with the same scam.  This time from Danielle Sussah sussah999@gmail.com .  Basically with the same intro email as above, same website, everything.  Beware.

Update 5/9/18:

Still getting emails like this.  Just got another one today from Carl Amos carlamos0011@gmail.com .  This is the new message:

Thanks for getting back to me, I have business which i want to turn into large scale business now it located in IN and the company is based on importing and exporting of Salon Equipment such as Dryer, haircream, Weavon, Hairdressing, Clippers, i need the best of the best layout design for it. Can you handle that for me ?. so i need you to check out this site but i need something more perfect than this if its possible.  http://xfusiontech.com... I have a private consultant that has the text content and logo for the site. the site would only be informational, so i need you to give me an estimate.

1. I want 15pages with the example site i gave you to check excluding videos and blogs.
2. I want only English language
3. I don’t have a domain yet but i want the domain name as cal.salon
4. you will be updating the site for me twice in a month.
5. i will be providing the images, logos and content for the site.
6. i want the site up and running before ending of 3months.
7. My budget is $6,000 to $12,000
8. Give me your personal cell phone number
9. Are you the Owner