But You Know He'll Always Run....To Sweet Melina

As I noted in my last post, I've decided to start scambaiting "Melina Richard", who replied to my recent Craigslist post with a fake email response, similar to the Nigerian 419 wire scams. Anyway, here's what's transpired so far...

Melina's Initial Email

A couple things to note while you read this:
1.) "She" appears to have sent this email to herself...
2.) "She" doesn't identify where her "contract" is - also note that initially she's coming back to the "state" for a new "HIV/AID" research contract, but near the end of the email she says she wants to come to the US to start her own business.
3.) "She" plays the organ and piano and she HAS organ and piano!
4.) Spelling and grammar are, as always, impeccable.

----- Original Message ----
From: Melina Richard
To: queen_melina111@yahoo.com
Sent: Monday, May 7, 2007 8:16:42 AM
Subject: I am interested in renting this Room / Apt...


Hello,
My name is Melina Richard,I am mailing just to confirm if you still have the room for rent. Here is all I can say about my self for now. I am 28 years old female and I work full time, Monday through Friday. I was born in UK WODGREEN , but I was brought up in .I work in Mildmay HIV/AID cure, so we travel alot through this because am one of the perfect workers of the hospital , now i am now in Africa, what we do is to give medicine and to advice those with HIV/AIDS possitive , now our next contract is at the state , so i need to move back to the state, so today when i was on the computer i saw your ad on the site that you have a room to rent which is near to where my next contract in the state is being available , then i decided to email you to know if the room is still available , and to know more about the room ok ,i will like you to email me back if you think i will be the best person to rent the room . I am not really a sports person, BUT I do love Hockey Games. I am a very out going person and fun to be with. I do play the organ and piano, and I do have BOTH piano and organ here at my house.I am not a drinker and I don't smoke and I don't do drugs. like bike ridding, swimming, and I love to travel. I am presently in LAGOS SATE IN WEST AFRICA, and I will be moving to the state to fully start a new life and get my own business after 8 years of service in the HIV/AIDS home in africa... I will be staying in the Apt/Room for some months even may be up to a year depending on how the lease is draw I will be arriving to the states within some weeks if possible...... ,i will like you to email me back to my personal yahoomail if you think i will be a good roomie to you , send back to me a message ok
You can also meet me on my yahoomesanger my screen name is queen_melina12 i am online now
Waiting to hear from you
Warmest Regards,
Melina


Here's my response to Melina

Note the size and cost of the room are ridiculous.

Dear Melina,

Thank you for the response to the ad! I think perhaps you sound like a good fit for the place. However, I have a few questions that I hope you can answer for me before I can make a decision:

1.) Where is your contract in the States?? Specifically, what city/state in the US??
2.) The room size is 38 cm x 56 in - does that work for you?
3.) The deposit on the room is $5,000, and the rent is $10,000, a month - does that work for you?
4.) You mention that you were born in UK WODGREEN - me too! Which school did you go to??
5.) I'm not sure if the house can take both a piano AND an organ - are you planning on bringing both of these? Can you play both at the same time??

Let me know the answers to these, and we can see if you'd make a good fit for the place.

PS It's good that you like bike ridding, as there is a great bike ridding path nearby!

Thanks!
DI

One day later, "Melina" wrote back...

Subject: Still Interested (My Mode of Payment)

Hello
I am happy to hear from you , Thanks so much for your prompt response..I am very happy for your reply that shows the kind of person i am thinking of renting from how kind he his...For the payment that is not a problem at all...Because my boss will be highly responsible for all the expenses of the payment all i have to do is to confirm the amount of the room including the utilities and then get it sent to him including the informations in which the payment will be issued to..So all i require of you is for you to send me the total amount for the month because i will be paying for that for now,because i am thinking of staying in the state for up to a year so what is going to be happening is that i will be paying for the month in advance for now so that when i get to the state,i will now get to balance up the rest of my rental allowances.But if you think your room is not available until a whole year,it is not a problem okay all i just need to do is for me to look for another place after which the time you need me in your house expire.And if you think you will allow my stay in your place up to the period,i will indeed appreciate it alot.So if you are so sure that all i have said to you are now understandable by ou,then i will want to get back to me with the AMOUNT FOR ONE MONTH AND UTILITIES,and i will also want you to provide to me YOUR FULL NAME ,ADDRESS AND PHONE NUMBERS so that i can forward it to my boss because my boss will be paying you in advance since both my flight and some other things are included in the payment,so all you have to do is that as soon as you receive the payment(Check) you will deduct your rent fee and the utilities from it and then get back the rest to my flight agent so that my ticket can be booked and scehduled for the next available flight... But you may want to ask me to fill an application or a background cheque i will not be able to do that simply becasue all my document is not here with me they are all in the state , am sure you will understand all this, waiting to hear from you , so i will want all this informations for quick payment as soon as posible..And for when i will be arriving to the state,i am very sure that i wil be in the state as soon as the payment gets to you so i will want you to be rest assured on that.
Thanks and i await from you the information needed for the payment to be made.
waiting to hear from you ,
Thanks and have a good time.
Warmest Regards,
Melina


"Melina" laid out the whole scheme in this response. I particularly like her explanation for not being able to fill out an "application or a background cheque," namely that her documents are all in the "state." Anyway, as you will see below, I'm not going to give her my "address" or anything yet, just to see how pissed off I can get her. Hello international incidents!! Also note I'm going to misspell her name and change around some figures from before. Here's guessing she won't catch it.

My Response to Sweet Melina

Hello Melissa,

Thanks for the quick reply! It was good to get a response from "Queen Melina" :P

That payment plan will be no problem - the full amount for one month and utilities will be $25,000. Is the payment going to be a personal check? I'll need to see some ID for that, ma'am.

Also, you didn't answer all of the questions I posed earlier:
1.) Where in the state is your new contract? I only ask because I'm a pretty well-known and rich ($$$) landlord magnate and have properties throughout the state. I want to know which one you are going to be coming to. Or, put better, gracing our presence with.
2.) Are you bringing your organ and piano?? I may require a security deposit on those, as they tend to scratch up the furniture and urinate on the carpets.
3.) Also, would you mind filling out a brief background credit check and application? I'll attach it in my next email - standard operating procedure you understand. Shouldn't be a problem if you have all of your documents with you as you said.
4.) Do you have a picture?

Let me know about these questions - I look forward to welcoming you to your new home in the state!!

Ciao bella!
DI


OK, so I might have been deliberately grating in this, but, hey, that's the way the "DI" rolls. I hope she sends a picture - if so, don't worry, I'll post it, ya perverts...

For now, we wait.

DI out...