Cataloguing Scam Morphs

Yes, there is a connection between the title, the subject, and the photo.

Sorta.

See if you can find it.

I got an email from a scammer who -- like a few others recently -- addressed me as if I had sent them a catalog of products that I had that were orderable online.

Granted, I do have my bogus company, Bonco, UnInc., and their line of imaginary products, which have been featured on this blog in posts past.  But a catalog of their products, online or off?  I've never had any such.  But I digress.

A feller named "Allen Parks" claimed he'd found my company online, and requested that I supply him with a price list.  He didn't initially say what KIND of product price list.  Scammers don't tend to dwell much on pithy details like that.

So I responded, "Oh sure...we gotz what you needz.  What is it you needz?".

A few days later, I got this:

From: Allen Park <gvvincenzo@gmail.com>
To: yahoo.com
Sent: Monday, July 30, 2012 7:44 PM
Subject: Urgent Order Inquiry!!.

"Hello,
...

I would like to place an order of OEM GENUINE ORIGINAL CATERPILLAR PARTS , and ship to Comanche Oklahoma, below is the part number of the product needed,

OEM GENUINE ORIGINAL CATERPILLAR PARTS
---------------------------------------

(1) 4W 7019 NOZZLE .............Qty 1
(2) 4W 7018 NOZZLE .............Qty 1
(3) 8N7005 NOZZLE ...............Qty 1
(4) OEM CAT INJECTOR PUMP Part #: 127-8222 ...............Qty 1
(5) OEM CAT INJECTOR PUMP Part #: 127-8216 ...............Qty 1

Please quote me from your stock the prizes and I will pay you via Western Union".
Quote him from my stock the 'prizes'? Well at least now I knew WHAT product line he intended to work his scam via.  I was pretty sure it'd be something akin to the overpayment ploy, comparable to that seen on Ebay and Craigslist, among others.

 

Since none of my Bonco, UnInc. products was anything remotely Caterpillar, after giving it a nanosecond of the shallowest thought I could muster, I elected to go him one worse:

"Ooohh, sorry...we don't supply OEM GENUINE ORIGINAL CATERPILLAR PARTS. We do stock post-morph OEM GENUINE ORIGINAL MILLAR PARTS. Awaiting your order".
It took a day, but I got a response.  It was not the kind of response that a supplier wants to get from a potential customer.  That is assuming that the alleged 'supplier' actually WAS a supplier, and the alleged 'customer' actually WAS a customer.

 

I had no such hang ups in this regard, on either side.  But I digress again.  And, in keeping with the general terms of my blog, I had to edit his response:

"f*** off"
Those of you in business know that an unhappy customer does happen.  And you know that the customer -- contrary to all that business school fluff and hooha -- isn't always right.  Especially in Scamland.

 

Anyway, my mythical business had an equally mythical dissatisfied customer.  You just knew I hadda reply.  Do you think I passed or failed in How To Deal With A Dissatisfied Customer 101:

"What...you're not into Millar Time?"
*ducking boos and throwd bottle caps*

 

A+, for any of you who can now tie the photo up top, to the blog post...