Reservation

This was sent to some friends of mine who run a bed and breakfast establishment.  It sounded plausible so they replied to say that they did have accommodation for the dates requested.  (I realised as soon as I read this that it wasn’t genuine – the phrases “in your facility”  and “your country” were the giveaways – clearly they had no idea who they were writing to, nor did they know which country my friends live in.)

Hello
We require accommodation in your facility for two (2) , we will be
visiting your country for a Seven (7) nights in the month of Jan. 2011
Please check availability and get back to me with the costs forthe
duration of our stay:
Dates: 23rd JAN. -29th JAN. 2011
Duration: 7 nights
Person: 2
We are willing to book immediately and will make deposit
to be secured for the period we requested:
I look forward to hearing from you shortly.
Kind Regards,
Mr&Mrs krone

My friends then received this reply, which (in my eyes) was the giveaway that this was a scam.

Thanks for the updated information.
We are okay with the accommodation and cost . I would also like to
confirm
the reservation on the following information
– Mr& mrs A . Krone   R
(an address which might be real).
Also , due to the unsecured use of credit card online or on the
phone I have arrange for payment inform of check.
Please do forward me the following details for payment
FULL NAME
BILLING ADDRESS
CONTACT TELEPHONE NUMBER
Hope to hear from you soon
Regards

I told my neighbours to issue a Paypal invoice.  They never heard from this scammer again.  I suspect that they were intending to send a fake cheque for more than the requested amount and then ask for the balance to be forwarded to a (fake) third party (car hire, tour guide etc).