born . . .
The P-P-P-Powerbook was a huge success. Here are a few comments:
Hamburglar
Joined: Dec 30, 2000
I am seriously in tears here from laughing so hard. Your plan is completely brilliant.
ChlamydiaJones
Joined: Sep 27, 2002
Holy shit thatās the funniest spoof on the planet ever in history. I couldnāt stop laughing at āfire wireā for some reason.
Shemp Howard
Joined: Jul 27, 2003
That is the greatest notebook ever created. I laughed so hard I clapped. Bravo.
Not long after I finished to PBook, I received an email from eBay regarding the account out scammer used to contact me. (I have edited out the instructions to file for an eBay fee refund)
Hello Jeff,
Thank you for writing with your concern over the member, msalamon.
The recent bids placed with this account were the result of an
unauthorized account takeover. Unfortunately, we were not aware of this
activity until some time after the bids were placed. Once we became
aware of this activity, immediate action was taken. We are now in the
process of restoring the account to its owner.
I have reported the escrow site to the appropriate department to have it looked at. Since the account holder did not initiate this sale, you may consider
the transaction null and void if you have not already shipped the item.
Let me also suggest a few ways this takeover could have occurred.
If the user had a relatively simple password or password hint question
it is possible that a third party was able to gain access to the account by guessing the password.
It is also possible that the user could have unknowingly provided his or her password to another party. Some eBay members have reported receiving messages asking for User IDs and passwords. These messages appear to
come from eBay Support, but in fact are not. eBay will never ask for
sensitive information of this nature through email.
Finally, there are a number of computer viruses in circulation that log and record keystrokes. Itās recommended that computer users keep their virus alert software up-to-date, and check their system often for problems. A firewall for high-speed Internet users is also highly recommended.
**I have reviewed your email history and see that the email from was in regards to item # 4125873654. After reviewing this listing, I see that you did end up with a winning bidder, zoeviolet01.
We are concerned about violations on the site and have taken the liberty of investigating this memberās account. Please be assured that we have
taken appropriate action in accordance with our site policies. Such
action may include issuing a warning, a temporary suspension, an indefinite suspension or terminating the membership.
As you may know, we are unable to provide specific information regarding the result of our investigation to third party members. Please
understand that this is for the protection of all eBay users. However,
we can tell you that our records indicate that the user you are
reporting is currently not a registered eBay user.
Since the buyer is no longer registered on the eBay site, you may
consider the transaction null and void. You can submit a Final Value Fee credit request by following the instructions below:
I appreciate your interest in the well being of our site. It is assuring to know that we have members who are concerned about the safety of our
other users. I encourage you to continue to report all questionable
behavior to eBay. This will give us the chance to look into the
situation and take action where warranted.
http://member.ebay.com/ad/ck/1065-11789-3840-13
Thanks again for writing, and thank you for being part of the eBay community.
Regards,
Cyan
Fraud Prevention Group
Well, that explains the mystery of the strange German account! Just add the hacked account to the list of evidence.
Deviating from him usual email schedule, our scammer responds:
-----Original Message-----
From: Gianluca [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, April 27, 2004 1:22 PM
To: MyNameIsJeff
Subject: Re: One question before I ship!
OK What configuration have the apple?
Please send me today the package becouse I need soon. Please email me the track number.
It seems he is so excited his scam is going to work, he canāt even type correctly!
The next step was to send it. As much as I wanted to send this, I couldnāt afford it on my own. Here is my post where I posted the shipping costs and asked for donations. (Paypal info and other useless text was edited out)
MyNameIsJeff
Joined: Dec 05, 2003
P-P-P-Powerbook.com!
Ok, I just got back from the āPack Man.ā For those of you interested, Itās going into a 18x18x5 inch flat panel box wrapped in brown paper. This trip to london will be accompanied by a broken cdrom drive and an informative excel 97 book. (And yes, I taped the fuck out of it.)
FedEx Priority $80.41 2-3 Days
Global Express $63.44 Week or so
Some other service $40-something 2 weeks ugh
Ok guys, Iād like to go priority if possible. If we get close enough I will eat the rest. So if at least 70 people give a dollar we are in business!
The donations came flooding in. Shortly after this post, I went home from work, to find my power was off. After a couple hours in the dark, I logged on to find just over $100 in donations! I couldnāt believe it! Thanks to all of you who donated.
It wasnāt long before I received another email from our scammer, who was growing more and more inpatient.
-----Original Message-----
From: Gianluca [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, April 28, 2004 4:31 AM To: MyNameIsJeff
Subject: RE: One question before I ship!
Please email me with all infoo soon
Someone is getting a little pushy! I replied with this:
Hello! I am sorry for the delay! I was not able to send your new G4 Powerbook to you yesterday! But I am able to send it today! I am going to be taking it down the the united states post office to fedex it to you. I am told it will take 2-3 days. I apologize, but that is the fastest I can send!
I will send another email with your tracking number when I get back!!!
chao! Jeff
Off to the post office I went. I have to admit . . . this is where I started to get very nervous. Will he look me up through the return address? Will customs come bring the smack down for the over-pricing? What if? What if? What if?
I managed to choke it down, and go send it
When I was in the store, Iām sure I looked very nervous. I could feel my face turn red and my body temperature rise. As I was filling out the form, the lady asked me what the value of the package was. . . .
āUm, $2000 will do.ā (I was trying to hold it, but I was smiling from ear to ear. She looked at me with a confused look.
āYou know they will have to pay a lot for tax on customs.ā (My smile grew even bigger.)
āI know.ā
Road Block: It turns out, when you send something to London from the US through FedEx, they want a phone number. No big deal., I said I would go email him, and call them to ship it off.
-----Original Message-----
From: MyNameIsJeff [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, April 28, 2004 10:40 AM
To: āGianlucaā
Subject: Problem with shipping
Hello,
I took the package to the post office, but FedEx requires a phone number for the recipient if the package is being sent internationally.
As soon as you reply with that I will call them and tell them so they can send it.
Thanks! Jeff
I began to wonder at this point . . . Obviously, this guy wasnāt going to give me a legitimate number. I got my receipt and they told me it would send after I called with his phone number.
Taken from the post with the receipt:
For those of you who can make it out, the tracking number is 846563452310 (there is a package ID too, I donāt know if you need it: 17913) Again, Itās not going anywhere until I get a phone number.
It took way to long to find an angle where that shit all showed up!
In the mean time, a member named Pipski makes history. Pipski becomes our first undercover agent in London, and makes the first recon mission into the scammers address.
(The James Bond picture and title was later given to him for his spectacular stealth photography and intel gathering.)
This was getting better and better. To actually have people there! Pictures of the scammers shop! Amazing work Pipski.
Before Pipski could get home, I received my email from the scammer.
-----Original Message-----
From: Gianluca [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, April 28, 2004 1:01 PM To: MyNameIsJeff
Subject: Re: Problem with shipping
OK no problem, this is my phone number 00447940667511.Please email me soon.Please send the package gift or small value and send EXPRESS SHIPPING.
Regards
I immediately called and had it sent. Once I posted the number, I think everyone on the site called. And of course, it was a false number. Just in case, I later removed it from the post, in case he somehow noticed the hundreds of calls. We didnāt want to scare him off now do we?
Once I had his number, I sent him his tracking number.
Here is your tracking number. 846563452310. The package ID is 17913. The lady at the post office said that FedEx comes at 4:00pm to take shipments. So in about 2 hours it will be scanned in the fedex thing I guess and you can start tracking it. I
Pipski
Joined: Apr 18, 2004
Lovely barbershop. Pity I wasnāt invited.
OK, still there but this PC is a bit more discreetly placed. Itās a barbers / Internet Cafe, lots of customers. None youād buy a used car from, few schoolkids. 9B has its own mailbox out the front of the shop, not sure where the entrance is. Going to take a quick tour of the street and see if I can see any other entrances to flat 9B. Will post again in a few hours when I get home.
shipped it express, so it should be there in 2 to 3 days.
Also, the post office lady asked what it was, and I didnāt want to lie, so I said laptop computer. When she said how much it is worth, I said, it is a family gift, but she said I couldnāt do that. She said I had to tell her how much I paid for it. I donāt want to get in trouble for mail fraud, or evading taxes or anything so I told her $2000. I am sorry if that means you have to pay more. Since I screwed up, I will share the cost with you. Please let me know how much it was, and just have the escrow service refund you half of the amount. Can they do that? If not I will gladly send you how ever much you spent on it. You can even have the escrow hold my payment until I send you money for what you pay.
I hope this doesnāt make you want to cancel. As Iām sure you noticed, no one ever bid on it and it didnāt sell. I really need the money, so I am willing to work with you how ever to complete the transaction.
Thank you my friend! Jeff
As soon as Pipski got back from the drop site. He posted the details of his findings. This gave us all a really good idea of the shop.
Pipski
Joined: Apr 18, 2004
Lovely barbershop. Pity I wasnāt invited.
OK, I have good news and bad news. btw, thanks for all the concern but 1st thing I did when I got in was alter my p/w. I figured it was worth running the risk, but I guarantee you this is me, not the scambarber.
The bad news is about the photos. Just had a quick butchers at them - lousy cheapo cam doesnāt have a screen - and they aināt so hot. In my defence, it is damned difficult to take snaps from underneath a barberās gown or a computer desk. Also, this cam is a horrible piece of crud with no image-stabilizing or anything. Iāll autobalance them in PS and then sort out hosting for the very few that are even worth the effort.
On the plus side I picked up a fair but of HUMINT. For a start, the street map is misleading. The entrance to the shop is actually on the Edgeware Rd. The address given is a grotty little non-street that the properties back onto. Do we care? Well, I dunno if FedEx or UPS or whoever weāre going with use GPS, but if the two streets have different postcodes and the driver just follows his GPS he might go straight to the back entrance, so that would bear watching. That said, I still think heād end up out front because the back of the properties are totally anonymous afai could see, he would have no way of knowing which one was which. Plus thereās high walls and bins and itās all very unprepossessing.
OK, so, the shop itself. Two barber chairs, four or five very cramped terminals downstairs and, I think, some upstairs too. Big window, easy visibility inside from without. Under
the window (on the outside) is a mailbox for 9B' but there is no way on Earth our man is going to get a laptop-sized package in it. Were I the delivery guy I would take one look at that and then go into the shop and ask. Oh, the shop also sells toy guns for some inadequately explored reason. The owner, or at least the guy in charge while I was there, is a black guy in his mid-20s (estimate). Credit where it's due, the haircut he gave me was of a pretty good standard (not a bad barnet, for Barnet). Not the sharpest knife in the box and he has some odd ideas relating to the police. [They have a TV there and while I was being barbered the news story came on about a nurse here in the UK, who's been arrested - or tried, i forget which - for murdering four of her patients. Whereupon my man expressed incredulity that they could possibly know that and went on to say that he thought Harold Shipman probably only actually killed
one or twoā people and that a serial rapist of the elderly currently plagueing London, who has been confirmed as of Caribbean descent by DNA tests, probably only' actually raped one person. Although that, he tells me,
is bad enoughā.]
I am a notoriously bad judge of character but I have my doubts that this is our man. He doesnāt strike me as a scammer, for all his other faults. That isnāt to say that I couldnāt well imagine him taking a cut (no pun intended), but I donāt think heās the real culprit.
No-one else turned up there for a haircut. When I arrived (and when I left) a big black guy (who looks just like the cook who has a heart attack in Crimson Tide) was listening to banging choons on one of the PCs and a pasty, ginger sort was on one of the others. While I was there a rather skanky looking Kappa-slapper came down from upstairs - she was clearly a regular btw, a bunch of schoolkids arrived and went straight upstairs - also well known to the owner. In fact, now I come to think about it, everyone there but me seemed to be a regular. Oh, and a dude in a red t-shirt (photoād - badly) also came dāstairs and left the place.
The street itself is - well, itās the Edgeware Rd. Rub-a-tug shops, takeaways, pool halls, minicab firms and dodgy boozers. There is a Wetherspoons pub right next door to the shop. That could be handy if - on the day of arrival, and assuming the package didnāt arrive before opening time - we could occupy seats by the window with a good view. Waiting in the warm with a beer sounds infinitely preferable to shuffling about on the pavement in the
pissing rain. Not sure about local parking restrictions but it ought to be possible to park up in a position with a good view of the entrance too, at reasonable times of day.
The scenario that presents itself as plausible - although it is arguably pointless to try and predict these things - is that UPS man (or whomever) will end up going into the barbernet cafe, with his delivery. If I was our scamboy, I would make a point of heading for the place - assuming I didnāt own it - when tracking suggests delivery is imminent. That would be ideal for our purposes because a goon watching the front, one watching the back and one inside, all with mobile phones, could pretty much sow that location up. Apart from a parked car or the pub there are no real vantage points sadly. Of course, what would be ideal for any
capture-the-moment-when-the-long-arm-of- SA-reaches-out-&-touches-someoneā exploits would be a couple of yuppie-goons with Wifi laptops and webcams.
Pipski also posted his photos. A little blurry, but excellent work none the less. For the sake of the document size, I am going to leave them on the site.
While we waited for our ringer to be delivered, we had to keep busy, so we started to look at the internet headers of his emails.
Internet Headers:
Return-path: [email protected]
Envelope-to: [email protected]
Delivery-date: Wed, 28 Apr 2004 17:32:01 -0400
Received: from [66.218.93.77] (helo=web41411.mail.yahoo.com)
by h-2.properhosting.com with smtp (Exim 4.24; FreeBSD 4.8)
id 1BIweu-000CLR-WC
for [email protected]; Wed, 28 Apr 2004 17:32:01 -0400
Message-ID: [email protected] Received: from [81.196.100.243] by web41411.mail.yahoo.com via HTTP; Wed, 28 Apr 2004 14:31:58 PDT
Date: Wed, 28 Apr 2004 14:31:58 -0700 (PDT)
From: Gianluca [email protected]
Subject: RE: Problem with shipping
To: MyNameIsJeff [email protected]
In-Reply-To: 001001c42d64$3186e4c0$70c9a8c0@STEALTHBOOK MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=ā0-770428758- 1083187918=:17958ā
Muti ran a trace route
12 90 ms 121 ms 90 ms ge-2-1.hsa4.sanjose1.level3.net [209.245.146.25]
13 30 ms 40 ms 31 ms so-2-1-0.bbr2.sanjose1.level3.net [4.68.114.157]
14 90 ms 100 ms 101 ms so-0-1-0.bbr1.newyork1.level3.net [64.159.1.41]
15 160 ms 171 ms 160 ms as-0-0.mp2.london1.level3.net [4.68.128.105]
16 * 180 ms 180 ms so-2-0-0.mp1.frankfurt1.level3.net [212.187.128.93]
17 180 ms 170 ms 180 ms so-10-0.hsa2.frankfurt1.level3.net [195.122.136.162] 18 170 ms 171 ms 170 ms fra2-cr2-p6-1.rdsnet.ro [62.231.127.41]
19 200 ms 201 ms 190 ms buh1-gsr1-p6-1.rdsnet.ro [193.231.252.229]
20 190 ms 201 ms 190 ms buh1-htb-ge0.rdsnet.ro [62.231.74.30]
21 370 ms 311 ms 280 ms buh1-cr1-vlan4.rdsnet.ro [193.231.252.73]
Was sent from a hijacked connection/proxy in Romania.
http://www.dnsstuff.com/tools/whoisā¦=81.196.100.243
We noticed, as soon as he had confirmation, that obviously trustworthy escrow site went down! But not before Sejanus archived it! (Available on the site)
While we sat and waited for the delivery of the P-P-P-PowerBook, we all just posted different ideas and other funny things that would be funny to do. Nothing really relative to this.
The time was ticking, and we were getting closer and closer to our delivery time. At this point, Starbucks, and Rhig joined the stealth recon with Pipski. They were going to be at the shop during the time of the original delivery. Starbucks took his USB key with several tools to gather even more intel.
rhig
OK Iām just leaving for my coach at 3:45, I arrive in London at 9:20 and should be at the barbers by 10:00 - 10:30
quote:
Starbucks
ntpasswd and all other tools loaded
my housemate has come back camera in hand, its a 3.2 MP Sony cybershot with 3x Optical zoom ,also with a mpeg movie option. My next post will be from London Paddington, good luck guys, any info SMS me or call me
I dont care about anyone crank calling, it will help keep me awake and amuse me
As soon as they all posted to let us know when they were going, and their plans, we had a problem:
Anaclisis
Joined: Apr 17, 2003
ceci nāest pas une grenouille
trouble
quote:
Apr 30, 2004 3:19 am
Package status
STANSTED GB
Regulatory Agency Clearance Delay
Not knowing what this means at the time. . . I began to PANIC. By panic I mean;
MyNameIsJeff
Joined: Dec 05, 2003
P-P-P-Powerbook.com!
quote:
Anaclisis came out of the closet to say:
trouble
SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT
All those things I was worrying about, came back 10 fold. Begin hyperventilate.
As you can see this did not set well with me.
MyNameIsJeff
Joined: Dec 05, 2003
Apr 30, 2004 3:19 am Package status
STANSTED GB
Regulatory Agency Clearance Delay WTF DOES THAT MEAN!!!??
MyNameIsJeff
Joined: Dec 05, 2003
P-P-P-Powerbook.com!
Maybe its the bum phone number?
Whould they try to call him at 3am?
I think I just instantly became diabetic.
EDIT: Anyone near north seattle. Please come fast. I am going to be needing CPR.
quote:
Scotsman came out of the closet to say:
This is apparently normal for Powerbooks. Thereās a thread about it here
Edit: Reading a bit more on some other forums. Here was a quote that might ring trueā¦ āOK, I just called Fedex. They said that customs rejected my forms because of the price that was declared.ā Goes on to say "I just emailed her my paypal
receipt and the url of the auction. Hopefully now they will release
it. So there was damn near a weeks delay just to tell me that! "
ok . . . ok . . feel a little better . . .no . . . . PANICING!
I need to lay down.
MyNameIsJeff
Joined: Dec 05, 2003
P-P-P-Powerbook.com!
CURRENT THE JEFF STATUS
MyNameIsJeff decided to show you this image:
Thatās me breathing into a bag hoping I donāt pass out. Or have my heart explode. With our operatives already on the way, we had to just hope that it changed fast, and got delivered while they were there.
Starbucks was our first man to post from the shop:
(He posted a log, that you can view on the site.)
It was not long before Starbucks saw a Fedex truck and posted this:
Basically, everyone in the thread went fucking ballistic. We had all thought that FedEx had sent it out for delivery, and just didnāt update the site. After we thought it arrived, our men left. Before Starbucks left, he set the screen savers on the computers upstairs to scroll: āP-P-P-POWERBOOK!ā
It was not long before the webcam feed was posted. (Available on the site.) Even more pics of the outside of the building were posted. Een one with a clear shot of the REAL number for the shop.
Starbucks
Joined: Jul 06, 2002
Strong Coffee Drinking!
Okay, I am in the cafe
here is some info, there are webcams, anyone wanna get a msn webcam recorder and i will pan and scan, they dont have memory stick readers so i cant get info from my camera, but there are plenty of pictures
Starbucks
Joined: Jul 06, 2002
Strong Coffee Drinking!
THE PACKAGE IS IN THE DEN I REPEAT
THE PACKAGE IS IN THE DEN WE HAVE FEDEX DELIVERY
smitz
Joined: Nov 05, 2003
Starbucks is upstairs with webcam, he recorded the delivery moment!
Im downstairs with the camera, the guy who signed for it IS the barber, but he put it in the back with out opening, dāoh. Updates to follow.
This post is coming from INSIDE THE HOUSE
As I was unsure, and grew impatient, another email was sent.
Hello!
Today is the 3rd day so you should be getting your new laptop!
I saw on the FedEx site and it is delayed! Does that mean it is still waiting to be delivered? I donāt know what time it is there, but I hope it gets there today. Or did you get it and FedEx just didnāt update their web page? Sorry, I donāt send things with FedEx often. I usually just use first class us mail.
Did you pay for the taxes? How much did you end up paying? I am sorry again for that. I didnāt mean to cost you extra money. But like I said in my other email, we can work it out.
How long will the āokā process take? I am eager to receive payment!
Thank you! Jeff
The thread grew very fast with posts of everyoneās excitement and praise of it finally being delivered . . . but as it turns out . . . it had not been delivered.
Cue despair and a sense of let down! Oh well, the mission was not a total failure. Gizmo_Gun did an awesome thing by calling and seeing what was up.
MyNameIsJeff
Joined: Dec 05, 2003
P-P-P-Powerbook.com!
I HAVE BAD NEWS.
The ringer was not delivered. I just called FedEx. It was never paid for. Probably because the jack ass gave me a bunk phone number.
I got transferred to the International Rep but hung up before I got to them.
Gizmo_Gun
Joined: Mar 21, 2004
Pow! Bang! Smack! Kablooey!
quote:
MyNameIsJeff came out of the closet to say:
Well, I was wrong. . . It doesnāt make sense.
Iām too afraid to talk to the FedEx people about it. What do I say? The guy gave me a bunk phone number?
Anyone brave enough to call?
Iāll do it.
Gizmo_Gun
Joined: Mar 21, 2004
Pow! Bang! Smack! Kablooey!
Okay, I just called FedEX and told them that my husband and I (sorry Jeff) were concerned about what was going to happen to the package at this point.
She said that they were currently waiting for him to call and give them further information. I did NOT, I repeat, I did NOT authorize the ability for him to pick up the package at FedEX. It has to be delievered.
She made a notation that we were going to contact him via email and get him to contact the office of FedEx.
So, now we wait until he contacts them. We can always call back and check up on the status.
Thanks for doing that . . . my dear wife.
So it came down to, FedEx could not deliver it, because they number they are trying to call him on is fake. They canāt have him pay the taxes if they canāt find him right?
At this point, we sat, and so began, the many days of Regulatory Agency Clearance Delay. For about 7 days, right about the same time in the morning, the FedEx tracking page was updated with Regulatory Agency Clearance Delay. With no emails from the scammer, we thought it was over. Our ringer was to sit in the purgatory of FedEx customs for ever.
Sometime around this point my title was even changed to Regulatory Agency Clearance Delay.
Then, something happened . . .
Gizmo_Gun
Joined: Mar 21, 2004
Pow! Bang! Smack! Kablooey!
JEFF! We have a situation!
FedEX just called me (I gave them my number on the spot to contact, since yours was MIA) and asked if we had gotten a hold of the receiver. I obviously said no, and said that we were very concerned. Well, FedEX wants to know if we will pay the dues and have it delivered anyway, or we will be charged a storage fee.
I told the woman at FedEX that I would confer with you and have you contact them.
(I still have the mark where my head hit the desk.)
With this information in mind, a new email was in order.
From: MyNameIsJeff [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, May 04, 2004 2:34 PM
To: ā[email protected]ā
Subject: Package cannot be delivered!
Hello!
I received a call from FedEx saying that they are unable to get a hold of you to deliver the package. I really need payment for my laptop, so the sooner you get it and approve of it, the sooner the escrow can release my money to me. They said that they will have to charge me to hold it if they cannot deliver it. If that is the case, I will just pay to have it sent back.
Do you have another phone number? I was going to try to look you up by address maybe, but I donāt think that will work, so I thought Iād ask you first! Please respond as soon as you can! I am very eager to complete the transaction!
Thank you! Jeff
I had hoped this would do it. And it did. He next day he replied:
-----Original Message-----
From: Gianluca [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, May 05, 2004 1:59 PM To: MyNameIsJeff
Subject: Re: Package cannot be delivered!
Hello
I call to fedex and he tell me tomorow or of friday
will send me the package to my address.The money is ready in my hand to pay the taxes.What insurance do you put for this?
I will email you when I will pick up the laptop.
Thank you and sorry for this incovenience.
Gianluca
There were a lot of posts from a lot of excited people. The thread had come back to life. Not long after out last email, I received this:
-----Original Message-----
From: Gianluca [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2004 2:49 PM
To: MyNameIsJeff
Subject: Re: Package cannot be delivered!
Dear sir,
Today I have made the payment for the duty taxes.I went personal to Fedex and made the payment.Everything now is ok and they told me that they will deliver it to me tomorrow or latest at 10 oāclock in the morning on Monday.Sorry for this delay but Fedex told me that this is the best they can do.Anyway they will deliver it till
Monday aftrenoon and will be fine.
Next week we can finalize the deal.
Thank you for your patience and hope to be ok now.
AT LAST! And even more pics posted by Smitz (On the site)
As we wait for FedEx to update the tracking page with the status, there is this giant flame war. A good page and a half.
The Tracking site is updated again on the 10th about 4am with? Yes, you guessed it, Regulatory Agency Clearance Delay. God damn you FedEx.
But wait! Many hours later!
10, 2004 6:10 pm Package status STANSTED GB Released for Delivery
6:10 pm
Package status
STANSTED GB
Package available for clearance
IT WAS PAID FOR! HAHAHAHAHAHA!! The thread is once again flooded with posts of happiness and glee!
And then, as fast as it was released, it is delivered!!! Rhig was there and able to get even more pictures which are on the site.
May 11, 2004 10:01 am Delivered
COLINDALE GB
7:09 am
On FedEx vehicle for delivery ENFIELD GB
6:51 am
Arrived at FedEx Destination Location ENFIELD GB
May 10, 2004 10:19 pm Package status
STANSTED GB
In transit in destination country
Eager to hear from our scammer, I drafted an email and sent it. When I returned to the thread to post it, the thread was closed!
I think I had a fucking heart attack. But, OMGWTFBBQ re-opened it, because we are not finished yet!
Here is the email I sent:
-----Original Message-----
From: MyNameIsJeff [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, May 11, 2004 9:56 AM
To: ā[email protected]ā
Subject: Ready to complete transaction
Hello friend!
It sure took a long time, but it got there! I was worried for a while! I thought I had lost my powerbook for good in some kind of scam.
I wish I didnāt pay for such fast shipping, now that I see how long FedEx takes. Please let me know when you are done checking everything and making sure it works. I packed it pretty well. I hope shipping didnāt bang it up. You will see I included some extra books. I didnāt really need them now that I got rid of the powerbook.
Anyways, I still cannot log onto the escrow site. Will payment still be sent even though they are having connection problems? I realized I never gave my address or any bank account information for payment. If I were to give that to you, would you be able to get it to them so they can send the payment? That would be great. I need this money to pay my rent.
I am curious . . . What did you end up paying for the taxes? I wanted to know because I still want to refund some of the money to you.
Thanks! Jeff
And this is where we sit. We know he paid for it, and we know he has it. Now we wait for his response. If none is received, then we call and find out why.