The “Sandra Wilson” Scam

I’d say this is one of the more enticing scams I’ve encountered in my Craigslist experience primarily because it was carried out over weeks time by a sympathetic (and, consequently, credible) fraud.

Here’s how it hits you: You need a roommate (or, in my case, you’re looking to sublet). You advertise the room on Craigslist. You receive an email from sandrawilson010@aol.com. The fraud calls herself Sandra and claims to be living elsewhere in the country. My fraud claimed to be from Greece. (The fraud has terrible grammar; part of you is red-flagged, but another part of you attributes this to the alleged foreign origin.) The fraud claims to be interested in moving to your area, noting that “her uncle” told her it would be full of opportunities.

So where’s the scam? Continue: The fraud has to leave the country to care for her uncle, who allegedly is sick. The fraud maintains correspondence during the alleged trip. (The fraud does not message you for a number of days while “traveling.”) The fraud claims to be sending you a money order for the rental amount. (You are satisfied with a money order as it is like cash.) At some point, the fraud sends you a picture, which you assume to be the interested entity, although the image borders on “too good to be true” land. The fraud then tells you that the fraud’s personal items (e.g., a bed, suitcases of clothing, a computer desk, a car) will be shipped before the fraud arrives back stateside and that additional funds will be included in the money order to cover the shipping expenses. (The average cost to ship a car is $1,000.00.)

You are wary. Finally, you have been asked to pay something. The fact that the scam had not asked for payment until now (two weeks into correspondence) has made the scam appear credible up to this point. As you had not been asked to pay anything, you had no need to worry. Now, however, red flags should blind you. The fraud then self-inflicts a TKO (against the reasonably prudent person, that is) by telling you that instead of paying the shippers in person, you will need to mail them a check for the amount of the shipping; only once the shippers receive your payment will they ship the fraud’s items.

At this point, the disconnected person sees the scam. I fear that many people, though, have been won over by the endearing grammatical mistakes and attractive picture and have been suckered into sending money to the alleged shippers.

Once asked to send money, I Googled the email address from which I was receiving messages and found the following blog entry: http://in-myhumbleopinion.blogspot.com/2007/08/sandra-jones-i-can-smell-kind-of-person.html. That blog elaborates more of the story than I have. As you will read on that person’s blog, the fraud eventually asks that you wire the shipping money to Nigeria.

If nothing else up to this point has caused you angst, at long last, mention of Nigeria, the capital of scams, should set off every bell and whistle in even the most gullible person’s universe.

I hope anyone else whom this fraud attempts to scam will be enlightened by this blog entry.

Update: Other accounts that employ the name “Sandra Wilson” include: sandarwilson_5751@yahoo.com; jsandrajones01@aol.com; sanjones102@aol.com; sanjones100@aol.com; sanjones103@aol.com; sanjones400@aol.com; sanjones14814@gmail.com.

Other frauds of the same variety use the names Tina Jones (tinajones008@idioemail.com; tinajones008@live.com), Katherine Williams (willicomps072@aol.com; Katewille13@aol.com; katewille02@aol.com), Kate Wayne (waynecare12@gmail.com), Kristina James (kristybabao011@aol.com), Jennifer Matthews (jennifermatthe1@aol.com), Jenni Francis (jenifrancis005@aol.com), Natali Adams (mchllmcmii8@aol.com), Kaci (kacigl@aol.com), and Sarah (Serascoty07@aol.com).

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