from Ghana

[massaman]

got a interesting email today from someone on ghana who said they could ship ooths and wondered if anyone else ever had these types of emails sent to them and kind of sounds little fishy to me but going to check it out and heres the persons email address in case anyone wants to look into this too!

[email protected] is the persons email address did not ask what kind of ooths it was but just kind of odd getting something like this and is this a uncommon thing or just something that scammers do now and then?

 

[Rick]

You just got it out of the blue? If so I would be cautious.

 

[massaman]

I know and well kind of responded that they send the ooths first before I do anything and will see how they react to that request and well maybe one of you can also check this persons credentials using the email and seeing how legit he is and not wanting to make any kind of agreements without knowing first

 

[PhilinYuma]

I know and well kind of responded that they send the ooths first before I do anything and will see how they react to that request and well maybe one of you can also check this persons credentials using the email and seeing how legit he is and not wanting to make any kind of agreements without knowing first

Good idea! That should end that correspondence. I wonder how he got yr Email addy? My double sawbuck says that he's a crook! No, make that a C note. . There's not anything that you can check from his Email, particularly since he uses an American client. Who know, he might be from Michigan!

 

[massaman]

it is prob a scam not knowing what species it is and asking 400 dollars for 30 ooths and not made of money either

 

[massaman]

yeah its a good idea to ask first to see the ooths before making any deals with people that just get your email addrsss out of the blue and offering ooths and well kind of not made of money so trying to get a few to look at first then maybe will be a make or break deal if the dealers will go with this!

this is kind of suspicious as this was the last message he sent to me

would u be my agent for ooth sales

man got large supply

am in

what abt u.work the sales and we share and i dropship or ship to you to ship them.

nart

 

[massaman]

and this person said he had 30 ooths for 400 dollars so i would never pay that kind of money for ooths even if i had it so asking for 4 ooths and well going off with my plan!

 

[mantisfart2]

Even if it isn't a scam, which i am sure it is, 30 ooths taken out of the wild of one species from probably one small area is irresponsible, if each ooth is fertile and can hatch 40-100 nymphs thats potentially 1200-3000 mantis snatched from the wild. That could have a devastating effect on that species numbers in that area. I have no problem with a few ooths of any species being taken from the wild to get that species established in culture so we can all enjoy them but i personally think its wrong for us too keep taking ooths in large numbers from the wild of species when we already have in culture, just because its a cheaper option or we don't have the patience to wait until they have been captive bred and offered for sale. I have noticed the people who do this have no real interest in keeping, raising and breeding mantis, all they are interested in is pounds and dollars. I am not having a go at massaman here, i just wanted to give my opinion on people who keep offering wild collected ooths for sale.

 

[3.1415926]

I heard of african websites that offer a wide range of species at low prices in which are scams.

 

[Ian]

Just one tip when you receive such emails.

If you do go ahead and buy, never send the money in advance, unless they are known dealers. Show them proof you are legitimate - your mantidforum profile, website if you have one, breeder feedback profile, etc.

If they are not willing to go ahead, then I wouldn't risk your money. There are plenty out there that are more than willing to receive payment when you've received the goods.

 

[massaman]

yea I know and thats why I am asking him to send the ooths first and then decide on just getting a few and my mom raised no dummies and he can either say no or say yes is more or less what the options are and think he is going to send a few but dont know for sure and if he does happen to send them will make sure I get some photos to post to make sure they are legit of course!But if they are scammers then I got my own ways to deal with them if they send the ooths of course and if they are not as whats expected then they will not get one red cent and would not give them any money anyways and I know its a scam so going to pull my own scam on them!

 

[massaman]

what is unusual also is the person who sent me the email never said what kind of mantis it is so it could be anything or nothing!

well he does not know what the species is all he said was theres 2000 species of mantids and only ones found in ghana so the dude is either a major scammer or hes a total noob at this hobby!

 

[hibiscusmile]

I got one this last week too, cant member his name, sure I still have it, he had of course Idols and a bunch of others, I told him I would take four of each....

that he has to send them and when they hatched I would pay.

they cane to 600.00 including 83.00 for shipping...

he emailed back that he needed half the money

I again told him, what I already told him

he said ok, but he needed the shippin fee

I told him no deal, havent heard from him since.

 

[sbugir]

I got one this last week too, cant member his name, sure I still have it, he had of course Idols and a bunch of others, I told him I would take four of each....that he has to send them and when they hatched I would pay.

they cane to 600.00 including 83.00 for shipping...

he emailed back that he needed half the money

I again told him, what I already told him

he said ok, but he needed the shippin fee

I told him no deal, havent heard from him since.

Definitely a scam. Any way to get a bit of cash. It's almost like the Nigerian Black Money stuff, or the Socialist Bank of China scam.