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African Internet Scams seeking refuge in the olive oil trade!

March 3, 2009

Renato Fenocchio does make really fantastic olive oil, but I was a little skeptical of an inquiry for 150 bottles for an individual. The email exchange is below and just another thing to look out for when you do business online. Tony Mckim Mon, Mar 2, 2009 at 7:41 PM To: info@farmsteadwines.com Dear Owner, My name is Tony Mckim and I am Interested in Ordering some olive oil and to be Honest this is my first time for such an Internet Order.So would be very Glad if you can send me an email with some Types, Size, price ranges of your olive oil you have in stock and advice as soon as possible so that we can proceed and advice the Forms of Payment that you Accept. I also want you to provide me with your full name and Phone #. I Hope to hear from you soon. Regards, Tony Mckim anthony nicalo Mon, Mar 2, 2009 at 9:25 PM To: Tony Mckim Hi Tony, Thanks for contacting us. We only carry Renato Fenocchio's Extra Virgin Olive Oil. It is naturally farmed in Liguria and handcrafted with 100% taggiasca olives. This rare, artisan oil comes in 750 mL bottles for $45, plus shipping. Orders of three bottles or more receive a 10% discount. Payment is accepted via credit card on the website at http://www.farmsteadwines.com/oliveoil/. We could also make arrangements for you to pay by check, if you would prefer. We would deliver the oil as soon as the check cleared. Thank you again for your interest and please do not hesitate to contact me with any further questions. My contact information is below. Kind regards, Anthony -- Anthony Nicalo President Farmstead Wines Know Your Farmer www.farmsteadwines.com anthony@farmsteadwines.com Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/farmstead Tel 1.877.887.7813 Fax 1.888.359.4493 Tony Mckim Tue, Mar 3, 2009 at 5:39 AM Reply-To: tony.mckim@yahoo.com To: anthony nicalo Anthony, Thanks alot for the prompt response meanwhile i will like to order 150 pieces of the Renato Fenocchio's Extra Virgin Olive Oil that comes in 750 mL bottles.Kindly get back to me here with the total cost on that includes tax and excluding freight so we can proceed on with the order.Thank you and i look forward to your response shortly. Kind Regards Tony Mckim anthony nicalo Tue, Mar 3, 2009 at 7:42 AM To: tony.mckim@yahoo.com Hi Tony, That's a substantial quantity of olive oil! Are you planning to use it as a corporate gift for a particular company or are you a distributor? Please send me your address so that I can calculate the tax rate and prepare an invoice for you. Best, Anthony Tony Mckim Tue, Mar 3, 2009 at 11:53 AM Reply-To: tony.mckim@yahoo.com To: anthony nicalo Hello Anthony Thank you for your prompt response. For now am out of the country and with my wife in Paris-France because she has been admitted in a hospital there,I would prefer to come to your store for the pick up of the goods but at this moment i will not be able to come due to the condition of my wife , so i will be glad if you could do me a favor and contact storm.west1shippers so they can pick up the goods from ur location on my behalf and proceed with the shipment to our newly opened firm in Ghana Kindly Get me the shipping cost from storm.west1shippers, below is the delivery address and the contact email to storm.west1shippers 140 Saha St Nima,Accra Ghana,00233 Contact email to storm.west1shippers E Mail: storm.west1shippers@gmail.com Name:Mohammed Ahmed I would like you to get back to me with the total price together with the shipping cost, so that i can provide you with my credit card information for you to bill it for the total amount of the order plus the shipping cost then arrange the pick up today.hope to hear from you soon.. Tony Mckim


  • Bev Cutler / July 12, 2009

    Checking on Tony Mckim I found your comments and would like to add that he is targeting Picure Framers too! How many other industries I wonder?
    The email I received had almost identical wording, but referred to framing instead of olive oil….

  • Richard Sharman / December 7, 2009

    Tony McKim has been a busy boy - he contacted me about ordering some {Tote} whatever the hell Tote is.

    I’m a photographer; he’s welcome to order prints through my website!

  • Louis / February 15, 2010

    I would like to inform you that Tony McKim has changed his name to Larry Mike and he ordered $7000.00 worth of products from our company and then contacted us to contact a shipping company via e-mail to set up shipping and find out shipping costs which came out to $3550.00. He then wanted to pay us for the order as well as shipping charges and then wanted us to contact shipper to set a pick up date for the products however shipper contacted us and said that we would have to pay upfront for the shipping charges Old Larry Mike did not figure I guess that we would check on who the shipper was. By the way no such shipper existed and he did not figure that we would check with the credit card services to make sure the credit card he had given us was not stolen, which in fact it was. Thanks for your heads up article because that is what really tipped us off that this was a scam.

  • Shane / February 16, 2010

    WOW! He emailed me as well 17/2/2010 word-for-word the same message - this time for camping equipment. I realised is was a scam as soon as he said to send the goods to Ghana and that he was in Paris-France with his sick wife.

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