Booking Arrangement





A few days ago I received this email.  I don’t provide holiday accommodation and the language used made it an obvious scam.  I know how these hotel scams work.  The scammer says they are going to send you more money that you have asked for and asks you to send some of the money to a third party.  If you fall for the scam you will be left out of pocket with no way of recovering the money you have forwarded.

This scammer didn’t disappoint.

First email

Good day

I will be coming for holiday in your place with my wife from United state of America and i will like to know if your property will be available for the month of April,i will want you to get back to me to confirm the availability of the dates below:

Arrival Date: 1 April 20177
Departure Date: 8 April 2017

I hope to read back from you with the availability of the dates and the total price for two adult and we are also flexible with date

Greetings Family Taylor Mathew

Notice that the scammer claims to be coming to “your place”.  They have no idea where you are or what kind of accommodation you provide.

I couldn’t resist – I replied that we had several places and asked which he wanted.

His reply?
It’s Okay.
Am waiting to hear from you with total price for two adult in a week
with any nice one
Thanks



So I sent him a made up list of cottages and prices.  His reply?

Hello,

Thanks for getting back to me, i am very happy that you will be able
to rent your accommodation to us,I have discussed this with my wife
and we have agreed to use your place, so i will want you to block
other people from renting this following date:

Arrival Date: 1 April 2017
Departure Date: 8 April 2017
Guest: 2 adult
Rental Amount: Albury cottage, £450

Here is our company’s name below :
Company Name : Oil & Gas Association Ltd

Below is our Name and address where you can send any document:

Name : Taylor Mathew
Home Address: xxxxxx Magnolia Street Magnolia Springs,
AL 36555 Alabama
United State
Tell : +1 (289) 724-5234

Regarding the payment arrangement,I am assuring you that their won’t
be any problem because our company’s associate in Europe would be
paying for our holiday expenses and they have inform me that they will
be making the payment via Euro Check.

The Euro Check that you will receive will be in excess, has Our trip
expenses which include our B.T.A (Basic Travelers Allowance)fee will
be included with the rental fee base on trust. As soon as you have
receive the Euro Check you would have it deposited into you account
for clearance,

you would deduct the rental fee and i will tell you how to send our
trip expenses which include our B.T.A (Basic Travelers Allowance)fee
to my traveling agent so that he can do all paperwork’s, After the
Euro Check has been cleared in your account.

I will appreciate if you can get back to me with the following
information that will be need by our company business associate to
make the payment out to you, so that you can receive the Euro Check as
soon as possible:

Full Name on Euro Check:
Full address:
City:
Zip code
province:
Country :
Telephone Number :

I would be very glad if you can be of a helping hand, I will be
looking forward to read back from you with the information needed
above.

Thanks
Taylor Mathew

Exactly as I suspected.  He wants me to send money to his travel agent.  I very sweetly replied that we don’t accept cheques but that he is welcome to pay using his credit card via my Paypal account.  I sent him a made up email address to use with Paypal.