Dear Paul:

I operate a B&B in southwest France from April to October, and I received several of these requests last summer. Now, here in California for the winter, I continue to receive emails in French, from scammers whom I presume have gleaned our email address from the tourism bureau in our local village (in France). Therefore, the letters are in French, and usually, the letters are from people with Nigerian (or African)-sounding names. Here are the two latest letters, nearly identical. No use worrying about these aliases for your web alert, 'cuz I doubt they'll be sending letters to American B&Bs, but who knows? Each letter was sent just one week in advance of the proposed reservation, obviously not enough time for the "check to clear," but just enough time for an inn operator to make a foolish mistake.

#1. From: arthuradou@yahoo.fr
Subject: Reservation ChambresDate:
November 7, 2005 5:30:26 AM PST

Bonjour,Je voudrais effectuer une reservation de chambre chez vous Je voudraisreserver 2 chambres doubles pour un sejour limite de deux semaines à compter du 14 Novembre .Veuillez nous indiquez vos differents tarifs afin que Nous puissions confirmer notre demande et vous faire parvenir les numeros de nos cartes de credit pour le solde de la facture a l'avance.

#2. From: akajanvier@yahoo.fr
Subject: contactDate:
November 28, 2005 2:04:43 AM PST

Bonjour,Je voudrais effectuer une reservation de chambre chez vous, dont; 2 chambres doubles pour un sejour limite de deux semaines à compter du 02 Decembre 2005 .Veuillez nous indiquez vos differents tarifs afin que Nous puissions confirmernotre demande et vous faire parvenir les numeros de nos cartes de credit pour le solde de la facture a l'avance.

These letters, basically, ask to reserve two double rooms for a stay of two weeks. They want me to bill them in advance, and they promise to send me their credit card numbers to bill them. I know the next step for them would be to either send me a check, or a bogus cc# in an excess amount, and ask for a cash or check reimbursement.

I responded to both of them, in French, with a simple "NON 419" (no 419) and a brief note telling them I'd forwarded their email to the gendarmes. Of course I didn't actually bother to do that, but just want them to stop sending me these annoying emails.

The funniest one I've ever received was from a fellow who wanted to book all our rooms for three weeks, and actually elaborated his whole scam in the first email (unusual). He proposed that I tell him the total amount; then send him 25 cellphones of a certain brand and model, along with a bill for the total amount (rooms plus cellphones) and he would pay the entire amount with a bank draft. I simply responded with "ha ha ha ha."

I guess, sadly, that there's a scammer born every minute, and perhaps a sucker born every minute too! Someone must be falling for these ploys, just enough for the scammers to continue.

I've now started a folder in my email to start collecting all the scam letters I've received, some quite amusing and ludicrous. Maybe there's a book in this ?!

Good luck with your efforts!
Caitlin Woodbury
La Tour de Cause
www.latourdecause.com

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