G-Shock Car Shock Promotion Update
My encounter with the Casio Promotion scammer came to an abrupt end on Wednesday. No shots were fired, no prisoners taken.
Chat Log
I put up the entire chat log as well as the email conversations on a special page (It's worthy of a separate page). I hope that people find it entertaining and educational on how a scammer was persistent on getting me to send the money.
My favorite exchange came on Tuesday afternoon. When I was 'discouraged' that they didn't tell me that it costs money to send money via Western Union:
How it all ended
On Wednesday morning, xx hours after this whole ordeal started, I was out of excuses and decided to end it with a simple email:
| From: | blog@cryan.com |
| Date: | Wed, September 27, 2017 12:37 pm |
| To: | "Sierra Shelley" |
Thank you for letting us know about this opportunity. We are going to pass on this.
Was it Going to be the End?
I was certain that I would get a reply requesting to send back the full amount. As that would be a natural response if this was a legitimate opportunity.
No additional communication was made.
I wonder if they moved on or if the communication line was cut off because the scam was running too long and they were about to get caught.
Guess I'll just hang up the check on the virtual wall and thank them for six days of entertainment.
Casio Confirmation
Before sending them an email, I did reach out to Casio and asked them if they were running a car promotion. You never know. They replied with the following:
Five Lessons Learned
If you're unsure about an offer that seemed too good to be true, as the company that is "sponsoring" the promotion. A simple email or phone call can help alert the company that someone is abusing their brand.
If anyone sends you a check and ask you to cash it and they perform some action - which involves you moving money, it's a scam.
Scammers will use scare tactics to get you to send them the money.
They will make it seem as legit as possible - except be very short in email replies. In communications, they will always be focus on the financial aspect and not the actual activity.
Western Union has an alert on top of their send money form. It's good advice. Hopefully, service workers at the store will ask follow up questions to put a sense of the reality of your transaction.