[mccaffreyl]

Hi just wanted to know if anyone has ever bought anything from david_hansson22@yahoo.co.uk - he's selling Ireland rugby tickets and wants payment through western union. He reckons he's in Italy on business at the minute and can't do a bank transfer. Anyone got an opinion?

[Bluey]

scam. con. fraud. trick.

he's probably a teenager in an internet cafe in Lagos - anyone can create a free email account and virtual identity.

gumtree advice is never send money to someone you've never met for goods/services not received and if its too good to be true, then it ain't.

any mention of Western Union or someone who can't meet you in person should ring alarm bells - it's requested by people in countries that don't have extradition treaties and the person receiving the cash is largely impossible to trace.

wise up -read the following

Wikipedia is a very good source of information
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance_fee_fraud
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Union#Popular_money_laundering_tool
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_fraud
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-mail_fraud
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Get-rich-quick_schemes

If you want to get back at him and waste his time, do a search of 'scam baiting' - this is where you get to play with their lust for money and turn them into the mugu (fool)