Warning

Sylvia · Post by **Sylvia** » Wed May 23, 2007 9:07 am

Sorry folks, I know it isn't June 9th but I want to prevent anyone else getting into the same disappointing situation as I did yesterday.

I had an e-mail from a Dr David Barton (situated in Ireland)offering to buy all the cows I have for sale and asking for details and pics. It wasn't that literate but I am aware that it is quite possible to get a doctorate these days with only a passing knowledge of the English language, who am I to criticise?

(However it just seemed a bit fishy and I did ask a couple of other dexter owners if they'd heard of him.)

I told him the situation and told him I'd need details of where these animals were going and why he wanted them.

I had an e-mail back saying he needed a firm price immediately.

I gave him one and repeated my request

I then got back instructions for a complicated payment situation. I would be sent almost twice the amount of money, I would then have to pay his shipping agent who would collect the 'item'. By this time it was quite obvious that this was some kind of scam.

So Beware.

I am totally immune to pleas from people in Nigeria or elsewhere who want help with salvaging a dead relatives millions, but this was a less obvious (more devious) situation.

There is an inate sense of politeness which most of us old things have and one doesn't want to offend a genuine buyer so it isn't possible to just dismiss the enquiry out of hand.

Anyway, no harm done except the waste of time involved in dealing with this and the uneasy feeling that my name and e-mail address are known to this criminal.

Broomcroft · Post by **Broomcroft** » Wed May 23, 2007 1:00 pm

This is the third or fourth potential scam I have heard of in a few months. My advice to anyone would be to be very, very wary of any approaches made by email from anyone you do not know, and also any that offer to take stock without looking at them. I think that if you've got a gut feeling that something may be amiss, then it is.

It is possible on some computers to BOUNCE emails back to the sender, so the sender gets the message returned, saying that the email address they sent it to doesn't exist. That's what I do.

Sylvia · Post by **Sylvia** » Wed May 23, 2007 3:24 pm

Just in case there is an innocent Dr D Barton in Ireland, this is the e-mail address to watch out for:

david barton [dibanjad@yahoo.com]

although I doubt they'd use the same one twice, would they?