Scamming Season

 Last week I was almost caught by a scammer on email and I thought I would share my experience with you so that you too don't get caught out.

My friend was moving from a large 3 bedroomed house to a small 2 bedroom bungalow and as I sold a few things on a local selling site she asked me if I would list some of her things. This had gone very well up until last week.

All the adverts are maked "PICK UP ONLY" as I can't be doing with working out the postage and it's a local selling site anyway, also listed was my friends phone number and not my email address. I had listed some curtains and accessories for my friend and she had a text message asking to comunicate by email. Well her computer was all packed up so I did it for her. The buyer wanted to buy the curtains for her cousin but couldn't pick them up as she was in a wheelchair and had recently had a heart operation so would it be possible to post them. It was agreed and she would pay through paypal. My friend doesn't have an account (another reason for pick up only) so we used mine.
The payment email came through with £200 more than the asking price. I though this was rather strange. At the same time the buyer sent me another messages saying that she has arranged for a courier to come and pick up the parcel and the extra she had sent had to be paid in cash through instamoney/instacash/instapay or something like that, I can't remeber now. Anyway, I didn't like the sound of that. further down was some more details the name of the person to recieve the package and the country, Nigeria. No way no, no, no, no this sounded so wrong. I phoned my friend and said I didn't like it and felt very suspitious. After our chat I phoned PayPals and explained about the email. The very helpful chap I was speaking to told me, amongst other things, that they only send out emails that are addressed "Dear 1st name and 2nd name" and as mine was addessed "Hi email" I should just delete it and do nothing. Which is what I did.
Later in the day I was checking my emails and I had another from the buyer asking if I'd made made the payment yet and if not could I do it ASAP. My reply was - Nope. You're busted. See ya. And I've not heard anything else.

Scammers really prey on people at this time of year when they are busy working and doing a lot of shopping on line and waiting for parcels. In the past we have had cards put through the door. Looks like they're from the post office and you have to phone to arrange redelivery. It's not, and don't ring the number because as soon as you do you are charged £100's.

If you are aware of any other scams please share them here or on your blog to keep our readers safe.


Carolx

Best Laid Plans.....

I must apologise for being away so long but sometimes things just don't go to plan and there is nothing you can do about it. I planned to return to writing after the Christmas celebrations and now it's nearly the next ones.

The week before last Christmas my father-in-law, Tom, was rushed into hospital with abdominal pains that turned out to be a twisted gut. When the Dr finally made the decision to operate, just into the new year, it was too late his body had started to shut down and was given just a few days. Tom passed away peacefully with Margaret (his wife) and Linda (oldest daughter) at his bed side. He had a lovely funeral and wake afterwards and later in the afternoon the children were playing with paper aeroplanes made by some adults (I'm guilty, I made the first one). I feel Tom would have approved (he was a lovely man and loved all his family very much). At Christmas there is often a paper ball fight back and forth across the small living room and at their 60th wedding anniversary celebrations (at the same hotel as the wake) there were paper aeroplanes going up and down the table. The in-laws are a fun family and I'm very happy to be part of it.

Just a few week later my dad was having tests done. He'd not been feeling well for a while and although he had been seeing the Dr was not getting any better. About 2 weeks later after spending some time in hospital they finally diagnosed him with terminal stomach cancer. This was too much of a shock, for me, and hard to come to terms with although dad appeared to be ok with it.. Dad decided he wanted to come home so arrangements were made with care services, McMillan's (who were wonderfully supportive) and the district nurses (again very supportive). I was granted time off work (here's another story for later) and I looked after dad with the help of my sister-in-law, Sue. Long story short, 19 days after being diagnosed dad passed away. He knew he was slowly fading but was still determined to get better. He said he didn't have time to die he had too much to do and one thing he had to do was finish a clock he was making (Laura want's to finish the wooden clock in his honour) He kept his sense of humour right up to his last day. I have thanked Sue so many times for her support and help because without her I don't know how I'd have coped. She was my rock. Before I'd had time to process the news of his illness he was gone. Dad passed way after having seen all his family except my no2 brother, who was stationed in the Falkland's at the time, but we spoke over skype at his bedside.

Afterwards we had dad's bungalow to sort out. Both mum and dad were hoarders (nothing quite like what you see on the tv).When mum passed away, 2 years prior to dad, he hadn't done anything with her things. It took us months to sort everything and clear the house. We came across many childhood items, somethings from mum's mum and a few from dad's dad. (another story here too) and a few surprise discoveries. The bungalow finally sold 3 weeks ago and all funds distributed. Next I have the tax forms to fill in and arrange the scattering of the ashes of both mum and dad.

There have been some fun times in-between all the sadness. Laura wanted to arrange something special for Mothers Day, and with her dad's help she got some tickets to see the show "Bat Out Of Hell" in Manchester. It was absolutely brilliant and we all thorley enjoyed it.  It took our minds away from our current situation for a few hours. We had a late celebration for Martin's 60th birthday and we managed a few days away in the lakes. Recently we celebrated Laura's 18th birthday.

I will not leave it so long before my next post as now I'm starting to feel a bit stronger and able to cope with thing a bit better.

Carolx

P.S I'm not sure I like this new look I've picked. I feel it's a bit in your face. I think I'll look for something more gentle.