attempted BACKPAGE.com FRAUD

[cnnvoss]

I am a mother,wife, seamstress and Spinal Muscular Atrophy advocate. I was in the market for a new sewing machine, so I set out to learn all I could about the sewing machine I need. I came across backpage.com in my research, and found many under-priced machines available. I was cautious from the start...( if it looks too good to be true, then it probabilly is!), but I went ahead and sent questions to a few advertisements. This is what I received later in the day:
FROM:
Maria Bamford
maria_bamford@live.com

Hello,

The machine is still available for sale.
I'm in Spain and because I couldn't take it with me, I left it in Miami at an escrow company - e WorldMart - so they can manage the sale.
The price includes shipping and insurance and I will give you 10 days of inspection.
If you are still interested and have any questions e-mail me.

Thanks!


Upon asking for more information for the dealer, this is what I received back>

Hello Natasha,
For more info, you can go ahead and visit their website http://www.e-world-mart.us.mn to learn more about how this will work out.
If you decide to but it, you'll have to start the transaction by filling the order form with your contact info and my item number - 9815628.
After that eWorld Mart will contact you with the delivery and payment arrangements.
Please let me know if you have any questions.

Maria


I then replied with the following e-mail:

Maria,
It is sad to think that you focus in on innocent people and scam them to make your money. Get a life and go work for your money. Don't rob others and make life hell for them.
Rest assured you will be exposed for what you are doing.
-Natosha


Most of the advertisements that I was interested in, sent me the same first e-mail. I even got 2 emails from the same lady stating that she left one sewing machine in LA and left another sewing machine in Atlanta. RIDICULOUS! I knew it was a fraud from the beginning, but I wanted to see how far they would go. I tried to get as much info as possible, in order to expose them and stop the madness!


Here is the information that I have. I want to spread it as far as I can, to help stop the situation at hand. Here is the list of names, e-mail address, the FRAUD urls, and an e-mail they sent stating specific numbers. Hope this helps expose something!

#1
Maria Bamford
maria_bamford@live.com
http://miami.backpage.com/AppliancesFor ... d/15580896
Hello Natasha,
For more info, you can go ahead and visit their website http://www.e-world-mart.us.mn to learn more about how this will work out.
If you decide to but it, you'll have to start the transaction by filling the order form with your contact info and my item number - 9815628.
After that eWorld Mart will contact you with the delivery and payment arrangements.
Please let me know if you have any questions.

Maria


#2
victoria digiorgio
victoria_digiorgio1979@hotmail.com
http://phoenix.backpage.com/AppliancesF ... n/16793109
Hi ,

For more info, you can go ahead and visit their website http://www.e-world-mart.us.mn to learn more about how this will work out.
If you decide to but it, you'll have to start the transaction by filling the order form with your contact info and my item number - 9815628.
After that eWorld Mart will contact you with the delivery and payment arrangements.
Please let me know if you have any questions.

#3
jennifer anderson
jennifer.anderson44@hotmail.com

I received 2 emails from her:
http://losangeles.backpage.com/Applianc ... e/20977312
Hello,

The machine is still available for sale.
I'm in Spain and because I couldn't take it with me, I left it in Los Angeles at an escrow company - eWorld Mart - so they can manage the sale.
The price includes shipping and insurance and I will give you 10 days of inspection.
If you are still interested and have any questions e-mail me.

Thanks!


***I could not find the corresponding url on the second email, but regardless, this is the e-mail that was sent.

Hello,

The machine is still available for sale.
I'm in Spain and because I couldn't take it with me, I left it in Atlanta at an escrow company - eWorld Mart - so they can manage the sale.
The price includes shipping and insurance and I will give you 10 days of inspection.
If you are still interested and have any questions e-mail me.

Thanks!



#4
Karl S. Berg
kberg977@yahoo.com
http://losangeles.backpage.com/Applianc ... e/18410057
Hi there,

The machine is still available for sale and in perfect condition. The reason I'm selling it is because me and my wife moved to Italy recently and couldn't take it with us, so we left it in L.A at a specialized company - e-BuySell - to handle the sale for us (shipping, payment, etc).

Shipping is free, the machine will be insured and there's also a 10-day return period just in case it doesn't meet your requirements or if it isn't as I described it.

If you're still interested and have any questions, get back to me and I'll gladly answer them.

Grazie
Karl


I have several other sites like the ones I listed above. These are the sites I received e-mails back from, but there are a lot of other "too good to be true, FRAUD" sites available, if you are interested in learning more, let me know! I would be more than happy to post them if it means catching the bad guys!!

[fmilder]

Thanks for sharing your experience!

I also went looking for sewing machines for my wife, and came across the same listings that you found. I sent off an inquiry about the machines, and the next morning, I had a response in my inbox. On reading that e-mail (it related to the machine in Minnesota), I thought "Wow! I suppose that moving to Spain could cause one to sell off an expensive sewing machine at something of a bargain price."

My joy was short-lived. I scrolled up to my VERY NEXT E-MAIL message, only to find an IDENTICAL message, other than it came from a different e-mail address and told me that the machine was in a different location (Atlanta, for this one).

What a disappointment!