I was recently a victim to the international cargo movers scam.
earlier today (jan-21-2010) i had placed an add on the Kijiji website stating that i was looking for a maltipoo dog. almost immeditaly i was contacted by someone named Boby Valentino. he had said that he had a female maltipoo 11 weeks old and was "giving her out" as his job kept him away from his home alot, and the reason she was free is because he felt i could offer her the love she deserved and he didnt want to see her go to a breeder or "puppy fighting". he said that all i had to do was pay $250.00 to get her shipped to Calgary via a shipping company, which would contact me with all the information.
i was extatic. like my dreams had come true and didnt even think twice about looking up the company.
later that evening after we had exchanged a few e-mails back and forth he had said he dropped the dog off at the shipping company and they would be emailing me shortly with payment details. however the email never came. finally 2 hours after he claims he went to the company he said he would call them and tell them to email it to him and he would forward it to me. which he did. i read the email and at first it didnt make sense. i should've clued in when there was grammer and spelling mistakes. the email had said that because their website was down that they where only excepting moneygrams or western union, and it had to be sent to their newley opened cameroon office so i had to set up a western union account. luckily their online transfer thing was down due to updates so i was unable to electronicaly transfer the money. i emailed boby and the company and told them of the issue and they both gave me a very similar answer, which was to go to the address that they found for me for the nearest western union branch to me. boby had told me to go in and tell them that the money was for a sick relative that needed the money for opperations. (i did not do this)
when i got to the western union branch it had closed. i took it as a sign that something wasn't right.
i got home and emailed boby and the company and said that the branch was closed but i would send the money in the morning.
both emailed me back again with a simiallar answer that that would be fine and to say that it was a rush. the company even suggested that i go to a wal mart (didnt know they had walmart in cameroon)
i couldnt sleep that night because all i was thinking about was that poor puppy waiting to get on a plane. so i got up and decided to google the company, there had to be something about them somewhere.
i opened the email first and noticed that there was a few different names they where going by. i searhed the first name and it was actually a real company. but the information emails didnt match up, not even close so i googled the website that they had said was down and i saw the "international cargo movers ::COMMING SOON:::' and then i noticed a link directly under it saying it was a rip off. i read the story and it was very simillar to mine so i emailed the guy back and said forget it.
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