SCAM Part 17

You know the drill...

My reply to T the G.

T the G,

Thanks for the mail. I'm sorry for the confusion, I sent the money to the wrong place! Silly me! I'm so ditzy at times. Sometimes I even forget to get out of the tub when taking a bath for hours and hours and hours. It kind of reminds me of Arnie in What's Eating Gilbert Grape. He forgets to get out of the tub sometimes and likes to climb water towers. I'm afraid of heights, so I wouldn't ever do that, but sometimes I don't get out of the tub like him.
I went back to the moneygram at my local grocery store and asked the representative about it. He said that I dindeet sent it to the wrong country! i asked him if I could redirect the money to Nigeria. He said that I could for $100 fee that I had to pay to him directly in cash. I wonder why they wouldn't take a check like they did the first time. sometimes I think the moneygram agents arent very honest. I had to go spend a couple hours on State street to get the money for the moneygram agent. I got that to him. He said it would take up to another 2-4 business days to get the money to you. You should go to the bank and see if you can get the money so you can send me the keys via FedEx courier.
How is the AIDS epidemic in Africa? Have you saved any babies lives? You haven't ever answered me about this. Are you ashamed of your work working with the AIDS babies? I would be so proud of my work there. Just like I'm proud of helping out these crack babies that my homosexual uncles adopted. I try to tell everyone that I meet that I've saved their lives so they know that I'm one of God's chosen ones. You should tell everyone about your work there too! I hope that this mail finds you in good health and prosperity.
You are a great man, St. Toher the Gopher. God bless you.
Trisha Fielding

Scam Part 16

You know the drill..

From Topher the Gopher:

Trisha..
Thanks for the mail,i want to ask you this did you send the money through NIGERIA OR NIGER?because from the message you send to me you mention LAGOS NIGER and did you make sure weather you send the money to LAGOS NIGERIA because the is the right destination that you will used to send the money not NIGER and maybe you can go and cross check from the moneygram.

Looking to hear from you soon.

Chris...

Scam Part 15

My response:

Dearest Topher,

I'm not sure why you haven't received the payment yet. Sorry for the delay in this. I went and spoke to the Moneygram representative and asked him why you hadn't received the payment. I gave him the reference number to make sure that it was right. He said when sending money to such a far destination such as Lagos, Niger, the payments can take up to 2-4 business days to be transferred. I think that maybe it wasn't sent yesterday because in the United States it was Thanksgiving day, which ias a national holiday. I don't think that it counts as a business day. The representative said that it would be there either Monday or Tuesday at the latest. My husband left the receipt at the club which is closed for the holiday, so he can't send you the receipt until tomorrow. I hope that's ok.
Because today is a business day, you may want to go try to get the payment again today. He said there was a chance that it would be there today. If it's there, then maybe you can send me the keys? That would be great. We're excited to move into the house. We set up a tent and are camping out in front of the house just so we can move in as soon as we get the keys.
How is Africa? Have you seen any lions recently? I just watched a movie called Lion King which is about Lions. It's a great movie. You should rent it from blockbuster and watch it when you get a chance. It is probably my favorite movie. It takes place in Afrika. I wonder if it's based on a true story. Maybe you know a lion named Simba.. Do you? Is he a king of lioins, or a Lion King? That would be cool.

Thanks, Topher the Gopher. You are a saint among men.
Good bless you and your efforts to save africa from aids and starvation.
Trisha Fielding

SCAM Part 14

Read all the others first.

Another email from dearest Topher:


Hello Trisha,
Thanks alot for all your mails, i hope all is well with you, your kids and the twins. I will want you to know that i went to the bank today hoping to receive the money from Money Gram, but the guy told me that the refrence number is invalid, i don't know why this has happen, am thinking if you might have made a mistake in typing the numbers, or something else, i will want you to go back to the grocery store and let them know that the money refernce number is invalid, and also is it possible for you to send me the Money gram tranfer slip giving to you at the grocery store, just to verify if the numbers are correct.

I will be expecting your mail as soon as possible.

Thanks and God bless.

Topher...

Let it die?

It has been suggested that I put this scammer out of his misery and tell him the truth. I say we put it up to a vote. The highest vote totals at the end of the week will win.

We're moving? What? Wait. No we're not. SCAM Part 13

In order to ensure you know what's going on, read all of the previous entries related to this topic before diving into this one.

Another email from Saint Topher:

Trisha...
Thanks for the mail,and i will like to tell you that am very happy to hear from you back.and i will be expecting your message concrening the payment that you said by thursday you will make the payment,how is every body over there?.


Looking to hear from you soon.

God bless you.

Chris...

My response:

Dearest St. Topher of Nigeria,

Thank heaven and Allah above that I have finally been able to make this payment. It was an ordeal to say the least. The crack baby twins have been a real handful over the past few days, but I was able to get help from an elderly gentleman in our neighborhood, M. Lester Childs. He loves to watch children, and has helped me out this morning watching little Ngabe and Shaniqua. Those poor little babies. They just cry all day long and give me a headache. I don't know why my uncle and his partner adopted them in the first place. They both work full time and travel around the world selling shower curtain rings. I guess I'm just a little mad because of the extra burden on me and my husband, Xantar.
Well, like I said before, St. Topher, I was able to get down to the Moneygram at my local grocery store and make the payment. I was finally able to drop off the kids to Mr. Childs, the elderly gentleman that lives in our neighborhood that loves to watch little kids. When I finally got to the moneygram at my local grocery store after dropping the kids of to Lester, I was able to make the payment. Sorry that it took so long, cuz Lester Childs was busy watching some other kids before he would watch the kids that I'm babysitting. The man at the moneygram at my local grocery store wouldn't let me make the payment with a personal check, so I had to go back to my bank to withdraw the funds and to give to the man at the moneygram at my local grocery store. I tried to withdraw the $2600 to send you through moneygram at my local grocery store, but it seems that I still haven't received a refund from western union (I hate them!). So, I had to go to another business that is in between my house and the local grocery store where moneygram is. The store does pay day loans for people who need to pay bills before their paycheck gets here. You should really open one of these stores in Africa. It is a great way to help the people there get money so they can buy food so they are not starving and so they can buy AIDS vaccines so they don't have to die. Plus, I bet you'd like getting all the extra money in interest from those people over there.
I got the $2600 (finally) at the pay day loan center so that I could take it back to the man at the moneygram at my local grocery store. When I got back to the local grocery store to make the payment to you at the money gram at the local grocery store, the man took my money and asked for where I was going to send it. I gave him the information that we talked about before but I couldn't remember your dogs name again, so I told him the answer was Fido. Fido is a popular dogs name here in America. Maybe you should change your dogs name to Fido. The reference number that he gave me was 24678694. The man at moneygram in my local grocery store said that you could pick that up at the closest moneygram to where you are with the question what is my dogs name and the answer Fido and the reference number.
Well, I better go get Ngabe and Shaniqua from M. Lester Childs before he gets tired of them and won't watch them again. I'll probably need his help after I get the keys from you while we move into your beautiful house. We keep driving past it and think that it is so great. I can't wait until I can live there and take care of it for you while you're doing God's work in Africa.
God Bless you, Dearest St. Topher of Nigeria.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Trisha Fielding.

We're moving? What? Wait. No we're not. SCAM Part 12

READ PARTS 1-11 BEFORE READING THIS POST!

My response to dearest Saint Topher.

Hello Topher...
Is it ok if I call you Topher? I have a cousin-in-law twice removed who we call Christopher who is also selling a house in Herriman. I wouldn't want to confuse the two of you in my mind and send the deposit to the wrong person, so, if it's ok, I'll call you Topher...Topher.. Did you know about the American actor named Toher Grace? He's great. He's been in a couple movies and even on a TV show called "That 70's show." Since i'm catholic and all, I never watched the show. It glorified premarital sexual relations and casual drug use. I could not condone such a show. I stick to shows like Leave it to Beaver and Happy Days. Those certainly were the happy days. I wish I could live in the 1950's back with The Fonz and the rest of the crew. Life was much simpler then.
Thanks for continuing to be patient with me regarding the deposit. I've been so busy with my babysitting job since my 2nd uncle and his gay partner adopted the crack baby twins that I haven't had much time to venture out of the house. I did do some more research on Moneygram on the internets and found a website: http://www.moneygram.com/. What a novel idea, naming your website after your business. Anyhow, I attempted to make the payment to you on their website, but ran into some problems because their website says they don't sent payments to Niggeria or Niggers. I'm not entirely sure why. I'm not computer savy enough to figure that sort of thing out. I guess I'll have to go to the money gram location at my local grocery store like you suggested to find make the payment. Hopefully I'll be able to make it before this Thursday. Again, sorry for the delay. I hope that you haven't rented the house to anyone else while I've been trying to get this figured out.
You still haven't told me about your work in the motherland (Africa). How are the people there? Do they all have aids and are starving? I wish that I was a good enough person to go to africa and give my time and service to the poor people that need help. But I'm kind of selfish in that respect. I'd rather try to get rich by finding really good deals over the internets. I know that I've found this one, and I don't want to let it out of my sight.
Thank you again, Saint Topher, for your kindness and patience. I promise with every fiber of my being that I'm working on getting the payment to you as soon as possible. Those baby's just need a lot of milk, and I can only produce so much at a time, y'know?
Anyway. God Bless you Dearest Saint Topher of Nigeria (Just in case there is another Saint Topher.) I'm going to tell the archdioces of your good work. Perhaps one day you will really become a catholic church recognized saint and be translated into heaven in the twinkle of an eye during the 2nd coming of Christ.
Good day.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Trisha Fielding

We're moving? What? Wait. No we're not. SCAM Part 11

READ PARTS 1-10 BEFORE READING THIS POST!

Another email from dearest "Christopher."

Hello Trisha...
Thanks for the responds, it's nice hearing back from you. Have been wondering why i haven't heard back from you for some days now, I thought you were not interested in renting my home anymore since you didn't reply my message since last week, But i know you still going to say something.i read you messsage believe me i am very sorry for what happen between you and the person you meet at the western union, i think she is wrong for saying that you have been duped, it seems western union cancel the transaction, i think your suggestion is right using Money gram, and also supposing you have send the deposit through western union from either a grocery or a wallmart store, all this might not happen. So sending the deposit through money gram won't be a problem, i will want you to send it from either a grocery or a wallmart store for better convinience. Due what you said about your number being block really got me worried, can i have a cell phone # to call you.

Awaits your mail as soon as possible.

Thanks and God bless.

Christopher....

Hampster Nights

I feel compelled to tell everyone about my ongoing sleepign problem I've had in the past few weeks. I'm constantly woken up by cute lil' Ming Ming running in her wheel, or drinking from her water bottle, or scratching the inside of her food container to get the last seed of whatever is stuck in there.
For HEAVEN'S SAKE MING MING! Why do you have to be nocturnal? Why do you have to run for hours on end (no exaggeration)?
The reason that the wheel makes so much noise is because Ming Ming is quickly becoming a fatty. She's nearly quadrupled in size. Her wheel bounces when she runs, so it bangs into the rest of the cage. Ugh. In fact, she is so big that we had to tape the wheel onto the hole it's connected to because she'd run and bounce it until the wheel fell off.
In fact, that's how she escaped the other night! After getting out of the wheel, she took a 4 foot dive from the dresser (brave little thing, she is). I found her in the closet on my shoes. She was just sitting there looking at me. Then she realized she was in trouble, so she dashed for somewhere to hide. Thankfully I found her quickly.
Anyway, we keep saying that we're going to put you in the other room, but with her recent escape, is that really such a good idea? If she escapes again, it could become a problem. But this lack of sleep has GOT to come to an end.
I guess I gotta finish cleaning out that room and get a table set up for her. We have to make sure that the room isn't too hot or too cold as well.
Ugh.. Ming Ming.. Why can't you just sleep when we do? Grr..

We're moving? What? Wait. No we're not. SCAM Part 10

READ PARTS 1-9 BEFORE READING THIS POST!

Another email that d.bag "Chris" sent me. Apparently he's getting pretty antsy about recieving his much-earned deposit.

Trisha..

How are you hope everything is fine,and i want to ask you maybe you get my last message concerning on the MTCN you gave me?and i was expecting your call since all this day's why?

Looking to hear from you soon.

God bless you.

Chris..

--------
My Response:

"Christopher,

Dearest kind sir, I do so appreciate the patience that thou hast shown on my behalf during this ordeal. I sincerely apologize for the extended period of thyme that has elapsed since the last electronic mail that I initiated.
Following your previous email, I returned post-haste to the place of business of the so-called Western Union. It seems that there has been some sort of error in the transferring of the deposit to you. When I presented the courteous hostess with the MTCN number that I had provided toist thou, a small smirk appeared henceforth upon her face. She told me that perhaps I had been duped. She called me various names such as, "idiot," "stupid face," and "douch bag." The latter, likely, because I called her the whore of the earth.
I refuse the refuse that is Western Union, and I vow with God as my witness that I will ne'er do business with them again.
I hope to sendist thou the payment in question via Moneygram. Receivest thou payments via Moneygram, good sir? Thouest post-haste reply to this electronic mail would be most appreciated.
Thou hasn't responded to my question regarding the work of God in fair Africa. How goest the work? Hast thou decifered the AIDS virus into a cure? Hast thou saved children from the brink of starvation? Hast thou been translated from on high and caught up with the only true God?
Your reply is much anticipated, good sir.

God bless you and your family as you attempt to save the world from thine transgressions.
Repent all ye ends of the earth!
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Trisha Fielding"

We're moving? What? Wait. No we're not. SCAM Part 9

READ PARTS 1-8 BEFORE READING THIS POST!

Sorry for the delay in getting these posts up.. I was busy with work on friday, and lazy over the weekend. Here's the email I recieved back from "Chris."

Hello Trisha,
Thanks for the mail,i am confortable as you comfirm this yourself . That show the trust you have in me.And i will advice you may be you should send the money through Wall Mart, Gocery Store or Through Western Union .I think that is much more easier and faster.and let me now when you are going to send the money.I mean i want you to give me a call as soon as you send the money.Because as i said in my last message i always call your number every now and then.That is why i want you to give me a call as soon as you send the payment.
And i am sorry to hear that about what happen between you and your ex-husband.really meant that.I hope you two can can work thing out so he would understand two of you have his or her own life to life..Once again i am really sorry what happen about you are your husband.

Looking to hear from you soon.

God bless you.

Chris...

We're moving? What? Wait. No we're not. SCAM Part 8

READ PARTS 1-7 BEFORE READING THIS POST!

Another email from the good samaritan "Chris."

"Hello Trisha, thanks for your mails.And i also recieve your mail this morning And i saw the payment information i now decided to track it online on western union website the answer that it was given is that there is no money found.I think may be you made a mistake with the numbers(3819684492),maybe you should cross check again or you should go back to the western union station that you use in sending the money.And i was trying to call your number yesterday you dont seems to pick up the phone.So when you recieve my massege i want you to give me a call or get back to my mail as soon as possible.

hope to hear soon

God bless
chris"

My response:

Chris,

Thank you for the fastness in which you have replied to my emails. I have tried to track the payment information the westtern unions website to, and I couldn't find it either. I'm so confused! That gentleman out in front of the western union store said that even though I didn't ever go into the western union store that I could track the payment on westernunion.com with the number he gave me. I think I'm going to have to go down to the western union and see if they can straighten this whole thing out.
Sorry that I did not receive your phone call. I unfortunately can't receive phone calls from blocked numbers because of an escalating situation with my ex-husband, Adalpho Heetleer. He calls me from his cell phone when I am at home and leaves threatening messages saying that he wants to put me in an oven! I don't get it! I'm Catholic!
Anyway..
I'll head down to the western union this afternoon.
God bless you for your hard work with the starving children in Africa? How is the work going there? Have you cured anyone with AIDS yet?
Please let me know that you're still interested in renting this house to us. It's very important to me to think that someone of yoru moral caliber still has trust in me. In fact, I'm afrad that my very life depends on it.
Good bless,
Trisha

We're moving? What? Wait. No we're not. SCAM Part 7

READ PARTS 1-6 BEFORE READING THIS POST!
A little while after the phone call, "Chris" sent me the following email:

"



Hello,
Thanks for the mail,so here is the payment information..

Below are the information..

Name: Chris Scott
Address: 2 Gongoaso Street
City: Ikeja
State: Lagos
Country: Nigeria
Zipcode:23401
Question: what is my dog name?
Answer: Kiki."


At first I was confused. Very confused. But after doing some research on Western Union's website, they ask for a name, question and answer in order to send money, so that someone doesn't inadvertantly pick up the wrong money for the wrong overly-obvious-American-named scammer in Nigeria.

I also wanted to see just how populated Ikeja, Nigeria is. I was surprised. Here is a link.
There are 23 banks nearby that will receive his money transfer.

Here is my response to him.

"Chris,

It ws so gracious of you to recieve my telephone call yesterday. Sorry for the delay in getting you your much earned money. Something wonderful happened to me when I got to the Western Union store this morning!
As I approached the store, a well dressed representative of another wire transferring company met me at the door. He told me that he would wire my money to you at HALF the price that western Union would if I payed him in cash! I figured that this ws to good of a deal to pass up (just like the house!)!
So I went to my bank (the guy asked me for a ride to my bank so he could "expidite my order" for NO EXTRA FEE!!! Can you believe it?
Anyways, my bank wouldn't let me withdraw all the money at once, but I withdrew enough for the first 2 months payment. I gave the guy the $2600 dollars and he gave me the following number. He said it was a MTCN number (whatever that is!!).
Here is the number: 3819684492. It is under the name Chris Scott with the question: what is my dog name? The answer I told him is kiikii. Sorry that it's different than you told me. I got there and I hadn't written it down, so I couldn't remember how it was spelled. I'm sure that they'll release the money to such an upstanding individual as yourself.
God bless you, Chris, in everything you do. Please send me the tracking number for the fedex courier as soon as you send the keys! We are getting so excited to move into your beautiful house!
Trisha Fielding"

Well.. Here goes.. I'm hoping he responds saying that he went to the bank and that the answer to his question wasn't right, so I can send him on another leg of this wild goose chase.

We'll see.

We're moving? What? Wait. No we're not. SCAM Part 6

READ PARTS 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 BEFORE READING THIS POST!
In preparation to call the guy, I got my phone callerid to spoof the West Valley City police chief's message as I sent it to him in an email. My good friend, David, suggested that I should record the call. What a brilliant idea. Thanks David!
So I called the guy. It went completely different than I expected. I didn't expect the connection to be as bad as it was. There was a bit of a delay, so it was difficult for either of us to complete a sentance without interrupting each other. On top of that, I couldn't understanded a damned word he said. Towards the end of the conversation I realized that if I just waited for his complete sentance, paused and responded with a yes or no, he would get the picture. It was a 6 minute call. It was obvious that he didn't know which one of his scammees I was because he kept asking for my name and whatnot. Wouldn't it be obvious that if I were calling about the deposit who I would be?
To confirm who I was, he wanted me to send him an email so he knew who I was. He said he would send me the payment information via email and then I should text message him the confirmation.

The call was 6 minutes long, and I'm not going to edit out any of the silence or anything. The call cost me about 1 dollar.
We'll see what that says. As far as the audio goes... as far as I can tell, blogger doesn't let you upload audio files. So, below you'll find the message imbedded into a video. This took a lot of work to get this done. Sorry for the delay, and sorry for the crappy quality. It's the best I could do with my limited resources.

We're moving? What? Wait. No we're not. SCAM Part 5

READ PARTS 1, 2, 3 and 4 BEFORE READING THIS POST!

This is my response to our dear friend "Chris," who is being so thoughtful and trusting to let us rent his house while away in Africa.
I thought that since I don't think he's reading or understanding my email, I would respond to his email as closely as he wrote to me.

"Chris,

THanks for your reply, we are veryy willingness in this rent. Thank you for deciding to les us live in your house. I'm glad that you have found our application very setisfactry and accpable by your family. We promise to take good care of the house so that you might be glad when moving to the house at the November 27th 2008. because you find our application accepted. We are ready to rent the house now, and because of your advice to a responsible person like me to be able to afford a Security deposit of a two month upfront rent fee now to secure the property because many people have been comming to you in respect of the house. Will you email me a Lease Agreement form which I will fill and sign and send it back to you? THen I will be glad that you like to send the following document to me via the Fedex courier service to the address I send to you and the tracking number will be sent to me so that we can possible occupy your house.
Please, Chris, you can trust me. I won't dissappoint you, I promise you that I will love the house. The address which you will be sending the keys and the document to is 544 Nt. Real St., West Valley City, Utah, 84119.
My husband Xantar will be calling you shortly so you can forward on how to make the payment and your payment information.

God bless you, kind sir.
Trisha Fielding"

We're moving? What? Wait. No we're not. SCAM Part 4

READ PARTS 1,2 and 3 BEFORE READING THIS POST

"Chris" sent me the following email this morning.

"Trisha...

Thanks very much for your reply and also i can see your willingness in this rent.We have decided to let you live in our house. As we have found your application very setisfactry and acceptable by my family So as we shall be giving you our house,pls again take care of the house so that i might be glad when moving to the house at the November 27th 2008.because we find your application accepted. However if you are ready to rent the house now,then that will not be a problem but we will advice you due to a responsible person like you, to be able to afford a Security Deposit of a two month upfront rent fee now to secure the property ,because many people have been comming to me in respect of the house. And also i will email you a Lease Agreement form which you fill and sign and send it back to me. And also we would like to send the following document to you via the Fedex courier service to the address you send to me and the tracking number will be sent to you, so that you can possible occupy our house,Pls once again,I am giving you this on trust and do not dissapoint me and i promise you that,you will love the house. So i am with the below document here with me. Please send the address which i will be sending the keys and the document to.Please kindly give me a call as soon as you get my email..+2348025932084.let me know when you are ready to make the payment, so i can forward on how to make the payment and my payment information.Here are the contents of the document that i will be shipping to you

1) Entrance and the rooms Keys

2)Paper/Permanent house form(Containing your reference details)

3)The house documetary file.

4)Payment Receipt.

So please do get back to me today so that I will let know the next step to take concerning the payment. I await your reply ASAP.Regard and God bless you!!! You can call us on how to make payment for the shippment of the Keys and Document to the house and kindly forward me your mailing address where you want the document to be sent to? Hope to read from you

Chris"

Do I want to call this joker? Hrmm.. I guess it's nice that I work with a VoIP company where I can spoof my callerID if needs be.

We're moving? What? Wait. No we're not. SCAM Part 3.

READ PARTS 1 and 2 BEFORE READING THIS POST!

If you remember from the last post, we had just established that I really wanted to screw around with this guy that is trying to scam me. Below is the email that I sent to him.

I added some spelling and grammatical errors to make it sound as innocent as possible. The phone number I sent him is for the police chief in West Valley City, just in case he calls.

Now, we wait.

"Chris,

Thank you for your quick response to me mail in getting me the rental application. It is much simpler than many previous landlords have had me fill out before. I appreciate it very much. I hate filling out complex forms asking silly questions about my job history and rental history. It goes a lnog way for you to show that much trust in me. I trust you just as much!

Here isthe answers to the rental application:
1) Your Full Name : Trisha Fielding

2) Your Full Address & Phone Number : 544 Nt. Real St., West Valley City, Utah, 84119. Phone: 801-963-3255

3) Are you married Yes

4) How many people will be living in the house 6

5) Do you have a pet Yes. 6) Do you have a car Yes.

7) Occupation Day Care. My husband is a bouncer at a club.

8) What is your religion Catholic, although, you can't legally ask me that. Check the fair housing act of 1974. I don't really care though.

9) When are you planning to move in : November 27th would work great for us.

10) How many years lease will you be signing : 2 year lease.

I'm guessing that you'll want 2 mnoths rent sent to you for each year of lease that we're signing plus the pet deposit. If I did my math right, I'll need to send you $5400. Is that right? THis is such a goood deal that ki want to jump on it as soon as i possbly can.
i can mail a check to you in the mail today away if you send me an address.. Hrmm.. I"m not sure that it will get to africa soon enough for us to move into the house by the 27th. Maybe there's a way that we can send you the money faster. Ha ha ha! I just did a google search for fast ways to send money. There's a company that will send money to you directly. There's a place called western union that will do it for a fee. There's a location right by me. I haven't ever heard of it before... must have just sprung up overnight!
Can I subtract the fee from my deposit to you? I know it's a lot to ask, but, with the economy how it is, money will be a little tight if I have to pay more than $5400. The fee for that is $85. So, I'll send you $5315 if that's ok. Can you find out what info I need to send you the money from the western union company. Since this is such a good deal, I want to do it as quickly as I can before someone else beats me to it!
Trisha Fielding

We're moving? What? Wait. No we're not. SCAM Part 2.

READ PART 1 (BELOW) BEFORE READING THIS POST!

If you remember from the last post about me not yet knowing that Trisha had written to the scam artist asking for more information and letting him know we were interested. Let's pick up the story from there...

So last night, I deleted the email thinking that everything was done and done with Mr. Scammy. I had posted some video games for sale on craigslist last night under Trisha's email address, so I wanted to check her email this morning to see if anyone was interested. When I checked her email, I saw an email from "Chris Scott." Interesting...

"Hello , Thanks for the response back to my mail, its really nice hearing from you that you shall be promising us that our house will be well taken care of and i really think you are the right person to rent my house and i will like to let you know that the house has been available since we were out of the house.. The programme will be running for 5yrs but as for me and my family, we will be staying up to 4yrs and half months and i think with this it's possible for you and your family to stay up to 3yrs or 4yrs or as you decide and also all the furniture are already moved out so the house is empty as at now and you are to movein with your own furniture. I will like to let you know that I traveled down to Africa with the keys so am really sorry for not being able to show you the inside of the house, please let me know if this is okay with you and also that the house is ready anytime as from now if you will like moving in this month. And the below is the final question that you must answer to qualify for this the rent of my house...

RENT APPLICATION FORM
1) Your Full Name :
2) Your Full Address & Phone Number :
3) Are you married
4) How many people will be living in the house
5) Do you have a pet
6) Do you have a car
7) Occupation
8) What is your religion
9) When are you planning to move in
10) How many years lease will you be signing

Looking forward to hear from you with all this details so that I can have it in my file incase of issuing the receipt for you and contacting you.

Await your urgent reply so that we can discuss on how to get the document and the key to you, please am giving you all this base on trust and again I will want you to stick to your words, you know that, we do not see yet and only putting everything into Gods hand, so please do not let us down in this our property and God bless you more as you do this. Await your swift response

Thanks and God bless..

Regards..

Chris"

Oh, "Chris," you scalleywag. What a clever and insightful email you have sent me. Your "Rent Application Form" is so easy to fill out! I'm so thankful for that. Idiot.
I especially love the part when he asks what Religion I am. Good old Fair Housing Act of 1974. (It makes it illegal to discriminate in the sale, lease, or rental of housing, or to make housing unavailable-because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin.)
I guess he wouldn't know that, being from Africa and all.

So, now is the debate. I know it's a scam. He thinks I'm an innocent, willing participant. How far should I take this?

The answer? As far as he'll let me.

To be continued...

We're moving? What? Wait. No we're not. SCAM Part 1.

Let me start by saying that I hate people.

Trisha was browsing craigslist last week and stumbled across an incredible rental opportunity. I wish I still had the link, but i'm pretty sure that it was removed (you'll see why). The rental was for a 4600 square foot, 6 bedroom, 5 bathroom house in Herriman for $1300 per month. Incredible, I thought, but didn't really think about how good of a deal that would be, simply because we cannot afford $1300 bucks a month.
Trisha, being resourceful, reached out to some family members that are also looking to move into a place and thought that perhaps we could split the cost. I'm not going to get into the thousand other reasons that I didn't want to do this deal (moving in with family, etc.).
So Trisha emailed the guy back to get more information. No harm in that. This was the email he responded with:

"Hello,

Thanks for the email. I Chris Scott owns the house and also it is situated and also want you to know that it was due to my transfer that makes me and my Family to leave the house and also want to give it out for rent and looking for a responsible person that can take a very good care of it as we are not after the money for the rent but want it to be clean all the time and the possible tenant will see the house as his or her own.

HOUSE ADDRESSES 14767 S Tangle Hill Rd Herriman UT, We are renting a beautiful 6 bedroom, 5 bathroom, fully finished basement home in Herriman Utah. It has upgraded kitchen, jetted master tub, fireplace, LR, FR, Den, DR, loft with bathroom and walk in closet. Many more upgrades, 3 car garage. It has great mountain views and in area that offers, tennis courts, club house, community pool, basketball courts that are all INCLUDED! I am flexible regarding the length of the lease. 6 mo., 1 yr., 2.yr, 3yr. etc. are all acceptable. I never increase the rental amount for good tenants..... All credit considered, all types of pet allowed and Additional monthly charge of $50 for pets.....You can drive down there to take a look ate it.We have left the US and we are currently in the West Africa for a program called 'World Conference Against Racism Youth Summit, Empowering youth for combating racism, HIV/AIDS, Poverty and Lack of Education, the program is taking place in three major countries in Africa which is Sudan, Ghana and Nigeria and will last for 5yrs. It as been a very sad and bad moment for me, the present condition that I found myself is very hard for me to explain. If you will be the right tenant to our house, we will get the keys and documents of the house sent to you via courier services as soon as all terms are settled.I will be online through out to get back to you as soon as you are able to get back to me. I would want to know how soon you would want to move in as I will be taking a 2-month upfront payment for the house. I am asking for $2,600 and I believe we should be able to help ourselves. I am accepting $2,600 including utilities because I want you to take a very good care of the house while I am away.
I am looking forward to hear from you ASAP so that i can forward you an application to fill out and discuss on how to get the house for rent over to me so that I can get the keys and papers sent to you via FedEx or ups e.t.c, also are you ready to rent it now or when Await your reply. I will be willing to send the inside view of the building if you demands for it.

I could let you remain in the house till I come back if you are a good tenant and you can reach me on +2348025932084

Thanks and awaits your mail as soon as possible

Chris Scott"

Ok. So, prior to me reading his email, Trisha (unbeknownst to me) responsed back letting him know that we were interested in the place and some other information letting him know our situation. Since Trisha doesn't use the computer very much, she hasn't been exposed to the millions of scams out there. After she had written back to him, she let me know about the email he sent and his situation. As she told me about him moving to Aftica, it started to all come together. 1300 bucks is WAY too cheap for something of that size. And then I read the email.

So, it became immediately clear to me that it was a scam on the 8th word of the email. Literally. There was an extra space after the name "Chris Scott." That gave it away for me. That told me that this was a form letter and he had just pasted in his name. Simple. Stupid. Then after reading the remainder of the paragraph, it just became more and more clear. The horrible grammar and spelling. Obvious? To me, yes, but I can see how this could play on one's heart strings, and with the current economy, a good deal is hard not to jump at. He didn't (to this point) mention anything about wiring him money, so it really isn't *that* obvious.

To prove to Trisha that it was a scam, I did a couple Google searches. This is the first one that I found. So the house was up for sale for $527,000. Yeah.. that confirms that the $1300 a month was just silly. Trisha still wasn't convinced, so I searched for his phone number (as was listed in the email). One result. The result happens to be a Craigslister that found that it was a scam. The person posted the email with the EXACT same response except a different name, address and description (as can be seen on the previous link).

That's what I thought would be the end of the story.. But this is TO BE CONTINUED...

Please welcome, Ming Ming Featherbottom!

As you can see, she's a cute lil' thing. This was taken with my brand new camera that I recieved in the mail yesterday. I'm totally stoked about it.

She's getting tubby! She was so small when we got her. Dunno if she's trying to bulk up for winter, but the hour of treadmill running that she does in the evening times isn't burning all of her calories. She's cute though.








This second picture gives you a better idea as to why her last name is Featherbottom.

Blog Genderanalyzer.com

Oh the things that technology has brought us! Check out http://www.genderanalyzer.com. Put in the URL to your blog, and it will quickly assess your blog and determine whether it was written by a man or a woman.
My results: We think http://www.nixlife.info is written by a man (73%).
I ran this yesterday and it came back with a result of 60% sure that it was written by a man. I guess writing about El Pollo Loco and how many people share a name with me is "manly." Hrmm.

Interesting results:
http://philandgailfamilyblog.blogspot.com (family blog) = written by a woman (84%).
http://fireteeth.blogspot.com/ (David's blog) = written by a man (51%), however it's quite gender neutral. (Yeah, he's pretty femme though, so this isn't that much of a surprise). ;)
http://thecrazycrandalls.blogspot.com (Heather's blog) = written by a woman (66%).
http://randbfielding.blogspot.com (Brandon's blog) = written by a man (77%).
http://themanyadventuresofus.blogspot.com (Heather and Reed's blog) = written by a woman (52%), however it's quite gender neutral.
http://nunleyfam.blogspot.com (Britta and Nun's blog) = written by a woman (78%).

Good Eats...

One of my favorite places to go to lunch while I'm at work is called El Pollo Loco (The crazy chicken). It's a chain fast-food restaurant that's a bizarre mix of KFC and Taco Bell, but higher quality food.
Because I've only been there while dieting, I've only had their chicken and side salads, but that's enough to keep me coming back for more. I hear that their burritos aren't great, but they have some rice bowl type things that are good. Haven't tried them (being packed full of carbs and all).
They also have an awesome selection of salsas that you can put on your stuff. My favorite is the Avacado Salsa. Yum.
I go to the one in American Fork, which is about a 10 minute ride from work to get there, but when going with work peeps, it's not far at all. Not sure if there's another location in Utah. I'll have to check.
Anyway. Give it a try if you're in the neighborhood.

How Many are There of Me?

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 8 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

The weekend

This past weekend was (like all weekends) too short. What a cliche to say that, but it's true.
Friday started with work and then off to Duggle's house for a Magic night. Haven't had one of those in a while, and it was good and fun.
David slept over at our house because Cassix was out of town with her family. He slept on the couch.
On Saturday morning, Trisha and I had to wake up at the crack of dawn (9:30 AM) to go return some equipment from the flopped fibromyalgia study. We were told to meet at Valley Fair Mall by the something Bagel Cafe. We drove around the mall for 30 minutes looking for such a place, and never found it. When I spoke to the person that was supposed to meet us (today), she told me that she made a mistake when looking up meeting places. Apparently, there is a Valley Fair Mall in Canada (link). The bagel place she was intending for us to meet at was approximately 980 miles away.
After figuring out that the lady must be smoking crack, we went back home. We watched the BYU game (Go Cougars!) and then went to Jaren and Kellie's to babysit.
We love babysitting Livie. She's so easy to babysit, and even though she's wild and has a free spirit, she's sweet and well behaved. I played Lux DeLux for most of the time (risk type game), while Trisha entertained Livie. She fell asleep eventually and Trisha took a nap with her.
We played Rockband 2 with everyone when Jaren and Kellie returned and ate some good food.
We stayed up WAY to late (2:30 AM) and slept in way too late.
We missed church again :(, so we watched some TV and cleaned the house. At least we got something productive done. I was really sick in the afternoon though. I cooked myself eggs for breakfast and for some reason, eggs have been giving me the most extreme heartburn. It makes me nauseous because the acid builds up so bad. I hate it. I just have to remember to take my heartburn medicine whenever I eat eggs.
Dexter was especially good this week, btw. Gotta love Dexter.

New Camera

That's right folks. I won the auction I was trying for. After 5 days of looking and 3 days of bidding and losing, I finally won an auction for the camera I was looking for. I settled on the Canon Rebel XTI (same as pictured previously in my blog). I got a killer deal on it, and I'm REALLY excited to get it.
When I get it, I'll make sure to post some pictures of Ming Ming for all to see. She's getting chubby. Like father like hapster. ;)

Sports

Congrats Utes! Go Cougars! Go Real Salt Lake!

The results are in!

Our hampster's name is officially Ming Ming! Yay Ming Ming!

Hampster Name

So, the name that won the primary was Hampster face with 5 votes, Little bunny foo foo (or Foo Foo for short) came in a close 2nd with 4 votes.
Trisha chose the incumbant name (Ming Ming) so the winner of the primary is now going up against the incumbant.
For more information on the incumbant, click here. This is a short, but powerful speech made by Ming Ming letting you know just how sewius this election is.

Election time

I'm excited to vote tomorrow, and want to be sure that I vote intelligently, so I am doing some research on each of the candidates for which I can vote for.

Each candidate had the opportunity to write a 200 word synopsis of their "qualifications" for the position they are seeking.

As many of you know, Dell "Superdell" Schanze is running for Governor of Utah. As an informed voter, I read his "qualifications." I have to post them. They are THAT rediculous.

"Qualifications: SUPERDELL is your only choice because YOU didn't file. Huntsman took away your freedoms and raised taxes more than any governor in the history of Utah. Springmeyer has admitted that he doesn't care about the constitution. The definition for the word insane is voting for the same people while expecting change."

"There is no question that Dell Schanze is different. There are only 3 people on the ballot and SUPERDELL is the only one that is NOT socialist. If you are unsure, then fill your heart with love, completely open your mind and pray to God earnestly. You can't afford to get this wrong and will be held accountable for your choice."

WHAT THE EFF?!

For the full kit and caboodle, check out this link: http://elections.utah.gov/racepdf/142740228/Candidate/156975250.pdf

Obama may have just earned my vote...

I was just enjoying my dinner and watching a bit of Monday Night Football when alluvasudden during half-time, a short interview of the Presidential candidates began. When asked about what changes he would like to see happen in sports if he became president, Obama stated that he would love to see a playoff system in college football!
I think he just earned my vote!
(Screw the BCS!)

Biggest loser - Final Weigh in

Over the last 2 weeks, because of my trip to Costa Rica (and the trip to leatherbys upon my return), I gained 8 pounds! Last Monday I was notified that they were going to end the competition early because the majority of the participants had fallen off the wagon. I also found out that there was a sleeper among us. One of the guys who had initially weighed in with us was doing extremely well. He hadn't been weighing in weekly like everyone else, but that wasn't required. I had heard some rumors that he was over 20 pounds. Since he weighed less than half what I started at, his weight loss percentage may have surpassed mine, especially with my recent gain.



David lost 22.1 pounds in the end, a whopping 10.4% of his body weight. When hearing that, I was crushed. "All of this work, and I didn't even win!" I thought.
With my weight loss total at 42 pounds at last weeks weigh in, I was only at 9.7% weight loss. I've worked really hard this week to get back on track. Finally it was time for me to weigh in.
I stepped on the scale...




I had lost 7 pounds this week. A total loss of 49.3 pounds. 11.3%! I won!


Yay!


I got a really nice 4th Generation 8GB iPod Nano. I'm loading it up with music to give to Trisha tonight!
She's going to be very excited!

The weekend

I had a good weekend this past weekend. It started a little earlier than usual, and I gained an extra hour, so it was especially good.
Halloween was pretty crazy. We had 7 parties/options for the night:
1. Aaron and Jenny's party
2. Nathan and Emily's party
3. Chillaxing with Amandizzle and Duggle
4. Visiting Sandra and Roger's (to see all Trisha's nieces and nephews) (and take the little ones trick-or-treating)
5. Visiting my mom and dad's (to see all my nieces and nephews)
6. An ex-coworker at Mstar invited us to go to a party
7. Heather and Mike were throwing a halloween/Mike's birthday party

Because of the high number of options, and some recent anxiety I've been dealing with, I was extremely indecisive as to what we were going to do. I worked at home on Friday, and at mid-day, still hadn't come up with a plan for the evening.
At around 3:30 I came go a good stopping point with work, so decided to run with it. Trisha and I finally decided that we weren't going to do any parties or anything and that we would go see a movie, and then catch up with Amanda and Duggle after their party was over and play some rockband or something.
We decided to go see Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist which started at 5:05. We packed up all our rockband stuff and left the house. When we were driving, we got a call from Jenny and Aaron inviting us to go to their party. They had invited us earlier, and we really wanted to go, but with so many other parties, especially family parties, going to a drinking party where we didn't know very many people was less tempting.
Aaron and Jenny had shown some interest in purchasing Rockband 1 from us so we could buy the new rockband set with the wireless guitars. When Trisha originally went to the store to get rockband 2, we didn't have a buyer for rockband 1, so we just bought the game (not the entire set with the wireless instruments).
When I was talking to Aaron on the phone he mentioned that they would indeed purchase rockband 1 so we went back to the store and purchased the rockband 2 set. Trisha went in to Toys R' Us by herself to get it (my mistake), and was tempted to buy the extra wireless guitar (so we would have 2 wireless guitars). She gave into the temptation and now we have the entire set.
After the stop at Toys R' Us, we had to stop off at Duggle's house to pick up a piece of the rockband 1 equipment so we could deliver it to Aaron and Jenny's. By this time, we had missed our movie time (we would have missed it anyway because of the horrible traffic), so we decided to go to a 7:15 showing of the same movie. After we left Duggle's, we realized that we didn't have the microphone with us (another component of Rockband 1), so we had to call Jaren and Kellie to see if we had left it at their house. Luckily we had, but now we had to drive to their house to get the microphone before the stop at Aaron and Jenny's. When we got there, we saw Livie in her cute lady bug outfit and Kellie's cute haircut. (Trisha chopped it off last week).
So, finally, we had everything we needed and we headed to Aaron and Jenny's to give them the stuff. We got to their place at 7 or so, but their party had not yet started.
While we were at their house, I did a tiny dry ice bomb. I only put an average ice cube size amount of dry ice in the 2-liter bottle and water. Because of the small amount, the bottle expanded, but did not pop. It was fairly dark by this time, so it was a bit of a trick to get it to go off. If you unscrew the cap wrong, you could set it off, so the preferred method of detonating it is to hit it with something heavy enough or sharp enough to persuade the exposion. We initially tried hitting it with some long sticks. The sticks broke, and the bottle would not pop. So then we found a heavier board with some nails in it. With the weight of the falling board itself, the nails still didn't pop it; they just bounced off. I finally got it to go off with a heavy swing and a direct hit with the nails. Ahh.. The fun of dry ice bombs.
We left Aaron and Jenny's at around 7:30, so we missed our movie time again. We were both pretty hungry at this point, so we stopped for dinner at Chili's. I absolutely love their mushroom jack fajitas with steak. I order the same thing nearly every time. It was really salty this time, so it wasn't great, but good nonetheless. Trisha had some honey BBQ ribs. They looked really yummy.
After Chili's, we decided to make an appearance at Trisha's Mom and Dads house since it was so close and since Douglas and Amanda weren't done with their party yet. We went over there and got to see Madison, Leslie, and Gracie, in their costumes and see pictures from Sandra and Roger's recent trip to Cancun. Looks like somewhere I'd like to be.
Eventually, Duggle and Amandizzle made it to Sandra and Roger's as well. We hung out there for a little bit, then went to Duggle and Amanda's house to play our new Rockband 2. Taunie and Angela came over a little later. We got Rockband 2 all set up and played it until late into the night. We decided to sleep at Amanda and Duggle's and I eventually went to bed at close to 3.
The next morning (7:15 AM) we went to breakfast with Trisha's Grandpa. He goes to breakfast every Saturday and invites all his kids and grandkids to come eat with him. We try to make it, but don't make it often enough due to the whole "crack of dawn" thing.
After breakfast, we headed back to Duggle's house and some friends came over for some Magic. Drew, Mike, David, Douglas, and I played Magic from 10-2:30. Then we played rockband for a little bit and I took a nap. Gotta love naps.
After the nap, we cooked dinner, played a little more rockband, and then Trisha and I went home.
We stayed up a bit and watched TV and whatnot to try and take advantage of the extra hour we were getting. I slept in until 10 (the new 9) and watched some TV. Trisha woke up a bit later and had a sore throat and a stuffy nose. She's still having the same nausea that she's had for 3 weeks now. Ugh.. Wish there was something I could do.
Sunday night I went to our annual family feud. Since Trisha wasn't feeling well, she stayed home to rest. Each year we get together to talk about our plans for the holiday season. We generally set our yearly tradition "in stone," but I never remember what the schedule is for holidays, and there is generally some change in the schedule every year that was a deviation from the "set in stone" plan. All the noise and commotion of having the kids there, plus the confusion and misunderstandings results in a heavy dose of anxiety for me. No one wants to hurt anyone's feelings on purpose, and generally no one wants to back down either, so there's a hint of contention that I hate confronting. It's likely a normal thing that large families deal with as they grow, but I hate the anxiety it causes. I doubt I'm the only one that feels it.
In the end, this year for the holidays is going to be a bit different. We have the opportunity to visit Amie and Damon in Florida over Christmas break. I'm going to take full advantage of the opportunity to escape the hustle and bustle this year. We're going to try to catch a last-minute cruise and visit with Amie and Damon, who are going to be away from family too.
After the meeting, I went home and cooked an amazing (if I may so) alfredo to have with chicken. Trisha made some noodles for herself and some broccoli for both of us. We then watched some TV for a bit before we headed to bed.
And that concludes the recap of my last weekend.