I’ve just woken up and logged into my email to find a Russian guy basically begging for money.
Is this a scam?
On the surface it looks like it may be someone who is just in dire straits hoping that someone will help him out. In fact, for all I know, that may actually be true.
However, what is interesting, is the fact that he has sent this email to “undisclosed recipients”.
This suggests more than one person has logged in to find this email today and also that it was sent by a bulk mailer.
Hmmm… what is a poor Russian boy doing with an email list and a bulk mailer I wonder?
Anyway, without further ado, here is the mail he sent me -
Dear Friend,
Please excuse me for this letter.
My name is Valentin. I’m student and I live with my mother in a small town Kaluga, Russia. My mother cannot see and she receive pension very rare which is not enought even for medications.
I work very hard every day to be able to buy necessities for my mother, but my salary is very small, because my studies still not finished.
Due to deep crisis authorities stoped gas in our district and now we cannot heat our home. I don’t know what to do because the winter is coming and the temperature becomes colder each day.
I am very afraid that the temperature inside our home will become very cold and we will not be able to survive.
Therefore I finded several e-mail addresses and thank to the free internet access in our local library I decided to appeal to you with prayer in my heart for small help.
If you have any old sleping bag, warm blanket, warm clothes and shoes, medicines from cold, I will be very grateful to you if you could send it to our postal address which is:
Valentin Mikhayline,
Ryileeva, 6-45.
Kaluga. 248000,
Russia.If you think that it would be better or easier for you to help with some money, please write me back to my email valem@nextmail.ru and I will write you how to send it safely, if you agree. In this case I will be able to buy a portable stove and heat our home during the winter.
I hope to hear from you very soon and I pray that you can help us. I also hope very much that this hard situation will become better in our region very soon.
From all my heart I wish you a Happy New Year 2007. I wish that the New Year will bring hapiness in your family and all your dreams come true.
Valentin and my mother Elena.
Kaluga. Russia.
E-mail: valem@nextmail.ru
The fact that he starts off by asking for sleeping bags or warm blankets kind of makes you feel like he is genuine.
However do note that he thinks sending money would be easier!
Incidentally, I work with a Russian girl – Nataliyia – and I remember from previous conversations with her that internet access is still extremely rare across most of her country.
Even in the current political climate there it is unlikely that someone would be able to go to a library and have access to an anonymous mail service such that mail.ru is.
Add to that the fact that a bulk emailer is almost certainly being used and you have to start asking questions!
I’m tempted now to use a vague email address to engage this guy in conversation to see where it goes.
If I do I’ll be sure to report back!
Share this post: Tweet It | Facebook It | Stumble It | Digg It | Delicious It
{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
I received the Elena wood stove scam e-mail in early October ’09, ejected it then went into it to flush out how they got my e-mail address. I have had two computers stolen in the last four years, suspects are workers from the eastern block ‘working’
in Portugal. She has survived two Russian winters and looks fine and well fed in ‘her’ photograph. Maybe ‘Valentin’ is her ‘gone’
boy friend plying the same trade…..from Geoffrey Swain, Portugal.
Now I’m feeling jealous – I never got the photo with my email
I got the Elena one about two years ago (she called herself Olya then, but the text was identical) and I thought at first I would just ignore it. But then I thougt let’s scam the scammer. I had quite an interesting time with these emails, although a lot of times she didn’t answer any of my questions, just sent some standard texts with poems and nature descriptions. When she finally came up with her request for money, I said I would gladly send her some along with a good policefriend of mine who would be travelling to her town shortly on some other business. After that I never heard from her again. Even the email adress disappeared and the mailserver said it didn’t exist. By the way, I could trace the origin of these emails as far as Oregon, America of all places.
So yes, this is a verified scam.
(Nice looking pictures of her, although the woman in the pictures probably don’t even know they are being used for scamming)
got one from “elena” today too…
i suggest we send these guys iron cast stoves which they cannot use or sell… just pile them up in front of their homes or rather on them…
: )
i imagine though the postal address doesnt really exist..
If only doing that wouldn’t cost so much…
from Elena
to elenaga@zumail.ru
date Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 11:48 PM
subject Hi
Hello,
My name is Elena, I have 32 years and I write you from Russian province. I work in library and I can use computer after my work when possible. I finded your address in internet while visited some sites and decided to write you this desperate letter.
I have daughter – 8 years, her father abandoned us and we live with my mother.
Due to financial crisis my mother lost job and our situation became very difficult.
The prices for gas and electricity is very high in our region and we cannot use it to heating our home anymore.
The winter is coming and weather becoming colder each day. We very afraid and we don’t know what to do.
The only accessible way for us to heat our home is to use portable oven which work with burning wood. We have enough wood in our region and this oven will heat our home all winter for minimal charges.
Unfortunately, we cannot buy such oven in our city because it price equivalent of 191 Euro and very expensive for us.
If you have any old portable oven and in case you don’t use it anymore, we will be very grateful to you if you can donate it to us and organize transport of this oven to our address (200km from Moscow). This ovens are different, usually they made from cast iron.
I will be waiting your answer.
With deep respect from Russia,
Elena and my family.
I guess that means this email format has been met with success then!
I have received a same stuff. It looks like sent from Netherlands not from Russia (I have removed my own Email ):
Received: from smtp-4.orange.nl (smtp-4.orange.nl [193.252.22.249])
by ns.penguin.cz (Postfix) with ESMTP id B2482309797E
for ; Sun, 16 Dec 2007 18:38:58 +0100 (CET)
Received: from smtp-4.orange.nl (mwinf6306 [10.232.3.34])
by mwinf6305.orange.nl (SMTP Server) with ESMTP id 82BFB1C0E991
for ; Sun, 16 Dec 2007 18:33:04 +0100 (CET)
Received: from me-wanadoo.net (localhost [127.0.0.1])
by mwinf6306.orange.nl (SMTP Server) with ESMTP id 6D3E370000B5
for ; Sun, 16 Dec 2007 18:33:04 +0100 (CET)
Received: from cd44069d0.cable.wanadoo.nl (cd44069d0.cable.wanadoo.nl [212.64.105.208])
by mwinf6306.orange.nl (SMTP Server) with SMTP id 2A016700009D;
Sun, 16 Dec 2007 18:32:58 +0100 (CET)
X-Me-Uuid: 20071216173300172.2A016700009D@mwinf6306. orange.nl
I’m shocked that this one is still going after 2 years!!
A 100 % for sure : Valentin versus Elena is an ordinary gender problem … “a transsexual mugu”. His/her name is now “Velenatin” … I am waiting for the stove demand from “himher” …
ps. for “mugu” -> see : 419 Nigerian scams
Luc
I’ve got a good idea what a mugu is
I received the very same email today.
I’ve had a couple of emails from others who have received this one recently. Looks like whoever is behind it has recycled it again.
I’ve received the “woman-and-daughter” stuff. My mail server said: domain at eposta.ru does not designate permitted sender host. Eposta.ru is her mail server. However, the mail traveled a weird way: it was send from Austria to Sweden, then to me. So, maybe the woman is using some anonimizer, TOR, or just simply this was sent from Austria to a Swedish server because this is a scam.
I often receive emails from trusted people that have followed strange paths so I don’t think that’s anything more than just standard practice for email routing.
However, this particular email certainly is a scam.
I might have to reply to her and tell her that she doesn’t need a stove now as she coped last year and global warming should sort her out in the future
A year later, I have received the same email, making this very suspicious. Please see below from Elena — I suppose this is good news because she survived last winter without a stove…
Received today —
Hi,
My name is Elena, I have 32 year and I live in Russian province. I work in a library and after my work I allowed to use computer when it possible.
I finded your address in internet and I decided to write you this letter.
I have 7-year daughter Angelina, her father abandoned us and we live with my mother.
Due to the crisis in our country my mother lost job and our situation became very difficult.
The price for heating our home is very high and we cannot afford it anymore.
The winter is coming and weather become colder each day. We worry if the temperature will become very cold in our home, we don’t know how to survive.
We need portable stove which give heat from burning wood. We have many wood in our region, but we cannot buy the stove in local market because it cost equivalent of 192 Euro and very expensive for us.
If you have any old portable wood burning stove, I pray that you can donate it to us and organize transport of its to our address.
We live 200km from Moscow (central part of Russia).
This ovens are different, they made from cast iron and weight about 100-150kg.
I hope to hear from you soon. From all my heart I wish you Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2009.
Elena.
There is another one of the same kind but by a woman asking for a stove (she even gives a link to a “photo” on which didn’t click). Again the internet access is from the library, there is mention of an old mother (and of a 6 year old daughter). A bit too suspicious really.
Are the names or email addresses the same in the one you received?
i got this email too you find anything?