Unaware of our little scheme, our scammer emailed me again:
From: Gianluca [mailto:scont06@yahoo.com]
Sent: Tuesday, April 27
To: MyNameIsJeff
Subject: Re: One question before I ship!
OK What configuration have the apple?
Please send me today the package becouse I need soon.
Please email me the track number.
It seems he was so excited his scam was going to work, he couldn't even type correctly!
Eventually I received an email from eBay regarding the account the scammer used to contact me:
Hello Jeff
Thank you for writing with your concern. The recent bids placed with this account were the result of an unauthorized account takeover. Unfortunately, we were not aware of this activity until some time after the bids were placed. Once we became aware of this activity, immediate action was taken. We are now in the process of restoring the account to its owner. I have reported the escrow site to the appropriate department to have it looked at. Since the account holder did not initiate this sale, you may consider the transaction null and void if you have not already shipped the item.
We are concerned about violations on the site and have taken the liberty of investigating this member's account. Please be assured that we have taken appropriate action in accordance with our site policies. As you may know, we are unable to provide specific information regarding the result of our investigation to third party members. Please understand that this is for the protection of all eBay users. However, we can tell you that our records indicate that the user you are reporting is currently not a registered eBay user.
I appreciate your interest in the well being of our site. It is assuring to know that we have members who are concerned about the safety of our other users. I encourage you to continue to report all questionable behavior to eBay. This will give us the chance to look into the situation and take action where warranted.
Thanks again for writing, and thank you for being part of the eBay community.
Regards,
Cyan Fraud Prevention Group
The next step was to send the fake Powerbook. As much as I wanted to send off my prank package, I couldn't afford it on my own. I posted a message to the Something Awful message board, asking for donations.
MyNameIsJeff
Joined: Dec 05, 2003
P-P-P-Powerbook.com!
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Ok, I just got back from the "Pack Man." For those of you interested, It's going into a 18x18x5 inch flat panel box wrapped in brown paper. This trip to london will be accompanied by a broken cdrom drive and an informative excel 97 book. (And yes, I taped the fuck out of it.)
FedEx Priority $80.41 2-3 Days
Global Express $63.44 Week or so
Some other service $40-something 2 weeks *ugh*
Ok guys, I'd like to go priority if possible. If we get close enough I will eat the rest. So if at least 70 people give a dollar we are in business!
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The donations came flooding in. Shortly after this post, I came home from work to find just over $100 in donations! I couldn't believe it! Thanks to all of you who donated.
It wasn't long before I received another email from our scammer, who was growing more and more inpatient.
From: Gianluca [mailto:scont06@yahoo.com]
Sent: Wednesday, April 28
To: MyNameIsJeff
Subject: RE: One question before I ship!
Please email me with all infoo soon
Someone was getting a little pushy! I replied with this:
Hello! I am sorry for the delay! I was not able to send your new G4 Powerbook to you yesterday! But I am able to send it today! I am going to be taking it down the the united states post office to fedex it to you. I am told it will take 2-3 days. I apologize, but that is the fastest I can send!
I will send another email with your tracking number when I get back!!!
chao! Jeff
Off to the post office I went. I have to admit that this is where I started to get very nervous. Would he look me up through the return address? Would customs come bring the smackdown for the over-pricing? What if? What if? What if?
I managed to choke down my fear, though I'm sure I looked very nervous. As I filled out the form, I could feel my face turning red and my body temperature rising. When the lady at the counter asked me the value of the package, I replied, "Um, $2000 will do." (I was trying to hold it, but I was smiling from ear to ear.)
She looked at me, confused. "You know they will have to pay a lot for tax on customs."
My smile grew even wider. "I know."
Roadblock: It turns out, when you send something to London from the U.S. through FedEx, they want a phone number. No big deal. I said I would go email him, and call them to ship it off.
From: MyNameIsJeff [mailto:mynameisjeff@bootsix.net]
Sent: Wednesday, April 28
To: 'Gianluca'
Subject: Problem with shipping
Hello, I took the package to the post office, but FedEx requires a phone number for the recipient if the package is being sent internationally. As soon as you reply with that I will call them and tell them so they can send it.
Thanks! Jeff
 I began to wonder. Obviously, this guy wasn't going to give me a legitimate number. I got my receipt and they told me it would be sent after I called with his phone number.
In the meantime, a member named Pipski makes history. Pipski becomes our first undercover agent in London, and makes the first recon mission into the address the scammer gave me, which turned out to be a combination barbershop/Internet cafe. (The James Bond picture and title were later given to him for his spectacular stealth photography and intel gathering.)
Pipski
Joined: Apr 18, 2004
Lovely barbershop. Pity I wasn't invited.
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OK, so, the shop itself. Two barber chairs, four or five very cramped terminals downstairs and, I think, some upstairs too. Big window, easy visibility inside from without. Under the window (on the outside) is a mailbox for '9B' but there is no way on Earth our man is going to get a laptop-sized package in it. Were I the delivery guy I would take one look at that and then go into the shop and ask. Oh, the shop also sells toy guns for some inadequately explored reason.
The owner, or at least the guy in charge while I was there, is a black guy in his mid-20s (estimate). Credit where it's due, the haircut he gave me was of a pretty good standard (not a bad barnet, for Barnet). Not the sharpest knife in the box and he has some odd ideas relating to the police.
I am a notoriously bad judge of character but I have my doubts that this is our man. He doesn't strike me as a scammer, for all his other faults. That isn't to say that I couldn't well imagine him taking a cut (no pun intended), but I don't think he's the real culprit.
No-one else turned up there for a haircut. When I arrived (and when I left) a big black guy (who looks just like the cook who has a heart attack in Crimson Tide) was listening to banging choons on one of the PCs and a pasty, ginger sort was on one of the others. While I was there a rather skanky looking Kappa-slapper came down from upstairs - she was clearly a regular btw, a bunch of schoolkids arrived and went straight upstairs - also well known to the owner. In fact, now I come to think about it, everyone there but me seemed to be a regular. Oh, and a dude in a red t-shirt (photo'd - badly) also came d'stairs and left the place.
The street itself is - well, it's the Edgeware Rd. Rub-a-tug shops, takeaways, pool halls, minicab firms and dodgy boozers. There is a Wetherspoons pub right next door to the shop. The scenario that presents itself as plausible - although it is arguably pointless to try and predict these things - is that UPS man (or whomever) will end up going into the barbernet cafe, with his delivery. If I was our scamboy, I would make a point of heading for the place - assuming I didn't own it - when tracking suggests delivery is imminent. That would be ideal for our purposes because a goon watching the front, one watching the back and one inside, all with mobile 'phones, could pretty much sow that location up.
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This was getting better and better. To actually have people there! Pictures of the scammer's shop! Then I received my next email from scamboy:
From: Gianluca [mailto:scont06@yahoo.com]
Sent: Wednesday, April 28
To: MyNameIsJeff
Subject: Re: Problem with shipping
OK no problem, this is my phone number 00447940667511.Please email me soon.Please send the package gift or small value and send EXPRESS SHIPPING.
Regards
I immediately called and had it sent. Then I sent him his tracking number.
Here is your tracking number. 846563452310. The package ID is 17913. The lady at the post office said that FedEx comes at 4:00pm to take shipments. So in about 2 hours it will be scanned in the fedex thing I guess and you can start tracking it. I shipped it express, so it should be there in 2 to 3 days.
Also, the post office lady asked what it was, and I didn't want to lie, so I said laptop computer. When she said how much it is worth, I said, it is a family gift, but she said I couldn't do that. She said I had to tell her how much I paid for it. I don't want to get in trouble for mail fraud, or evading taxes or anything so I told her $2000. I am sorry if that means you have to pay more. Since I screwed up, I will share the cost with you. Please let me know how much it was, and just have the escrow service refund you half of the amount. Can they do that? If not I will gladly send you how ever much you spent on it. You can even have the escrow hold my payment until I send you money for what you pay. I hope this doesn't make you want to cancel. As I'm sure you noticed, no one ever bid on it and it didn't sell. I really need the money, so I am willing to work with you how ever to complete the transaction.
Thank you my friend!
Jeff
The clock was ticking, and we were getting closer and closer to our delivery time. At this point, users Starbucks and Rhig joined the stealth recon with Pipski, traveling to the shop to witness the actual delivery. But as soon as they all posted to let us know their travel plans, we ran into a problem. This was posted by user Anaclisis, who had been diligently following the tracking number online:
Anaclisis
Joined: Apr 17, 2003
ceci n'est pas une grenouille
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trouble
Apr 30, 2004 3:19 am
Regulatory Agency Clearance Delay
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Not knowing what this meant at the time, I began to PANIC.
MyNameIsJeff
Joined: Dec 05, 2003
P-P-P-Powerbook.com!
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Anaclisis came out of the closet to say:
trouble
SHIT
SHIT
SHIT
SHIT
SHIT
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All those things I was worrying about came back tenfold. Begin hyperventilate.
Next: Getting through customs!
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