Scam e-mail target Reiki Practitioners
We would like to warn you about certain online "predators" targeting bodywork therapists. Initially they targeted massage therapists, a larger-spread and better-known group of healers, but recently they have broadened their area of interest and included all kind of other alternative healing modality therapists, including Reiki Practitioners.
We know these scams have been brought up before, but didn’t know if anyone had seen this particular one or not. We just got one, and thought we’d share it, along with the reasons that we know (at least in our case) that it’s a scam.
The scam starts with a harmless e-mail like the one below:
Hello,
How are you today? My name is Mrs. Chiara Fabiano, I live and work here in Italy, I am 36yrs old. I have been doing massage since 1989. I do a deep relaxation massage in which the muscles relax without pain. I also do energy massage that helps people feel great when I am done. I am certified to do pregnancy massage. I have lots of happy clients here in Italy.
I have a client Miss Casale, a model here in Italy, She will be coming to the Canada in two-week time for a modeling job and she will be residing in Ontario temporarily until the necessary arrangement for her job has been made before she leaves. She will be needing 1hr Reiki session two times a week, for one month and two weeks.
Miss Casale asked me to come with her to the Canada but I told her I would not be able to go with her to the Canada as I have a course I will be going for in a week time and the course will last for three months. So I promised to help her get a good practitioner in your area.
Pls tell me a little more about your self, how long have you been a Reiki therapist? And would you be able to provide her Reiki therapy? I will also need you to get back to me with the amount you charge per session and also let me know if she can pay you via Canadian check.
Pls send your reply to my personal email address (chifabiano@yahoo.it) because I do check it frequently.
Thank you very much and do have a nice day.
Chiara Fabiano
Via Baracchini Flavio, 15
20123,
Milano,
Italy
The first paragraph is meant to gain your confidence. A few key words specific to massage therapists and energy healers are designed to make you believe that the author of the e-mail is really a massage therapist.
The first part of the second paragraph introduces a real name. If you do your homework and google the name, you will find out that it belongs to a real person. In this case, Miss Lisa Casale is indeed an Italian model. This finding will increase your confidence in the authenticity of the e-mail even more.
On the other hand, the third paragraph is meant to flatter you and your skills. You may wonder how the author found you. If you have a website, it all seems credible. You may even feel proud of your website and happy that it brought you this opportunity.
The forth paragraph looks like a typical business inquiry. This is a normal request if you do not give away much information about yourself or the rates for your services on the website.
The fifth paragraph may rise some suspicion as to why you have to deal with a third party instead of the alleged client or her manager. You may think that the author was put in charge of selecting the best practitioner for her client, which is a reasonable assumption.
This far into the e-mail, you may forget or ignore the fact that there may not be any modeling agencies anywhere close to your area that would warrant a visit from an international model.
Even if you have doubts, the e-mail seems harmless enough, so you may decide that there is no harm in replying to it.
If you choose to reply, there is another e-mail stating the details of the necessary "transactions" prior to the alleged top model’s arrival:
Hello [your name],
How are you doing today? I hope you woke up well and strong? I am very pleased to read from you. Hope you had a nice time over the weekend; I’m doing pretty good here.
You sound like a very nice person am sure Miss Lisa Casale will love your work. I sent a copy of the message you sent me to the Miss Casale, and she is very happy you will be able to provide her with Reiki.
She said she will arrive on the 21st of next month and the first session will be on the 23rd, Miss Casale said you should schedule her from the 23rd of March to the10th of May (2 times a week for 1 month and two weeks) and she will like most of the session to be before 3:00pm or after 7.00pm in the evening as she will be doing most of her photo shoots between 3-7pm; Sundays should not be included because of church. If the time will not work for you, you can get back to me with the best time that can fit into your schedule.
The Modeling Manager said he will be going on vacation to Australia with his family tomorrow, so he gave me the sum of 4000USD being payments for your service and the rest to be sent to her Modeling Equipments rental manager in Asia as Miss Lisa Casale will be Renting some of the Equipments she will need for her photo shoot from an Equipment rental company in Asia.
I spoke with the Equipments rental manager today and was told he will not be able to cash a Canadian check in Asia as it is cashable only in Canada. I want to know if I can make the check in your name as it is a Canadian check so that when you receive it you take it to your bank and have it cashed, you deduct you part of the money and you help me send the rest to the Equipments rental manager in Asia on my behalf via western union money transfer so that her equipment can be delivered to her hotel before her arrival, I will give you all the details and direction on how to handle it when you receive it so you need not worry about that.
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Pls do let me know if I can trust you to do this for me.
Miss Casale will be making reservations in the hotel below next week and she will give you all the details you will need as soon as the reservation is done and also her flight details.
[The address of a hotel next to you]
Pls let me know if this hotel is close to you and if the Reiki session will be at her hotel or your office.
The Model Manager will be going on vacation tomorrow and will leave your payments with me for me to send to you via DHL so that you can receive the check and have them cashed before her arrival.
Pls do email the information that Modeling Manager will use in making out the check to you for you to cash and make necessary arrangements before the arrival of Miss Casale as he will be going on vacation tomorrow and will need to have that done first thing tomorrow morning.
This are the information he will need for the check, pls do send the following to the modeling manager’s email address (modeloconceto@yahoo.it):
Name on check:
Address check will be sent to:
Phone Number to call on delivery:
Total amount for you job:Thank you very much.
Chiara …
After the first paragraph, which is a nice introduction, the second paragraph starts by again some cheap flattery. Then, it introduces a new element. You already know that the first name of Miss Casale is Lisa, so the fact that it is mentioned is designed to increase the authenticity of the business e-mail.
The third paragraph is pure business and looks credible.
Furthermore, the author starts to build a web of lies and one controllable fact: the address of an important hotel close to you. All this is designed to make you accept a $4000-$5000 cheque and send the difference to an Asian company, after cashing it.
At this point things already start to look odd. You may wonder "why don’t they pay that company directly", but your ego may say "they trust you that you will pay the difference once you cash the cheque".
Even now, the e-mail is still harmless. All the author wants from you is public information that can be found either on your website, or on other webpages.
Most people will probably start doing some research on the internet about it at this point, and hopefully find a blog like this one, where the fraud is unveiled. Others will just stop at this point and choose not to respond to it following their instinct, despite of what their ego dictates or how much they need the job. Others will choose to play the game, as they do not have anything to lose yet.
If you reply to the second email, the scammer will send you a "cheque" to pay in advance for your services, then he will ask you to pay the difference to a third party, or a partial refund just because he had overpaid you. Then the check that he had sent you will bounce after the usual 5 business days and you’ll be out of the money you sent as per their instructions, stuck with the penalty for the bounced cheque, and a bruised credit score.
If you ask how you could verify that the cheque wasn’t a fake, you will be directed to some big official central bank or other financial institution and pay a $25 to $50 fee to check it. Most probably you will find this reassuring enough and you will not go through with it.
If you are cautious enough, you may wait long enough for the cheque to clear before sending a cheque for the difference. But even in this case, the bank will penalize you for the fake cheque you have deposited and your credit score will still suffer because of the bounced cheque.
Bob Hagan, the US spokesman for the state Regulation and Licensing Department, said the e-mail preys on the misconception that cashier’s checks from banks are as good as cash. He said:
It’s not cash. It’s a check and is valid only when honored by the issuing bank.
In other scam e-mails the requester(s) are an old couple, two sisters or friends coming on vacation in your area. Other names used in this scam: Paolita Lussio, Annetta Luciano , Tessy Brown, Rose Howard, and many others.
Spelling, grammar, and other errors are often common to this scam e-mails. They are trying to make the e-mail look more believable, as it comes from a person to whom English is a foreign language.
We hope that this is a useful "eye-opener". Keeping an eye out for scams and analyzing anything that seems "too good to be true" is the best rule to follow.
If you ever encounter such a situation, please feel free to share the details with us and through us, with all our readers.
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