Monday, September 28, 2015

A Craigslist Scam

Recently I posted a large item for sale on Craigslist. I still have the item in my possession and did not go through with any part of the sale. However, in attempt to warn others of scams like these, I am posting the emails I received as well as the email addresses of the scammer. Hopefully this will help other people.
****************************************************************
 After an initial email asking about the item (it was very straightforward, concise, and actually referred to
the item in question), I received the following email: 
  
Thanks for your prompt response, actually I am sorry that I could not
  longer come to pick it in person as planned, I actually just had a
  change in my work schedule but I believe am ok with the condition as
  seen on the advert as well as the price stated. I am ready to make
  instant purchase with my mode of payment would being a Certified Bank
  Check via Postal service Express mail or UPS overnight delivery.

   I'll arrange for a local pick up as soon as you receive
 check, cashed it and have your money in hand, I promise you everything
  will go smoothly as I would like to have it before my wedding
 anniversary which comes in a week.

   Kindly get back to me with your Full Name,Full mailing Address,Cell
 Phone Number and Agreed price. As soon as this is provided, payment
  will be overnight to you and I will let you know once mailed out with
  tracking number sent to you. I will also add an additional $30 for
  holding it for me till the Check gets you and delete the posting from
  CL today.

  Thanks and I hope we handle this in good faith while waiting to hear from
  you.

  Best Regards
 
There was something about his response that didn't seem quite right to me, but I responded anyway
to see what would happen. 
 
************************************************************************* 
 
A few days later, after having responded to that post, I received the following
email: 
 
 
Hello,
I appreciate your quick response,i'm happy you are selling to me. I
got your details and have forward it to my secretary, payment has been
issued out to you and sent to you via Us postal service, I will email
you with the tracking number for confirmation. I will also like to let
you know that shipping company funds was included with your payment
due to i might not be around once the payment arrive to you because am
going to Las Vegas for my Wedding Anniversary once the payment arrive
you will go ahead and have the check cash then you will deduct the
money for your item with additional $30 for your Gas and running
around then you have the rest of the money send to my shipper via
money gram then i will contact shipper to get ready to come over for
pick up immediately. LET ME KNOW IF I CAN trust you in this
transaction. Note you are not responsible for shipping as soon as you
have the check and deposit it, my shipper will be coming over for pick
up at your location. Hope to hear back from you soon and please go to
craigslist and delete the posting today.
 
Thanks for your understanding
 
denies,
 
When I read the part about sending a shipping company and wanting me to pay via
MoneyGram for the shipping, I knew this was a scam. I did a little bit of digging
and found someone else who had similar experience:
 
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AwrBT9qEVQlWGXgAfopXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEydWVsa3RxBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDQjA5MzVfMQRzZWMDc3I-?qid=20110508114902AAoPddU&p=%22craigslist%22%20buy%20car%20via%20certified%20chec 

After reading that, I figured I'd make a post and attempt to get the word out, too.

Here are the email addresses that the scammer used:
 

mortontjg@gmail.com
denishasef@gmail.com

If you ever receive an email from any of these addresses, please know it is a
scammer. I hope this info can be of help to someone.

Saturday, September 26, 2015

Book Review: WUMO: SOMETHING IS WRONG



WUMO: SOMETHING IS WRONG is a collection of some of the best strips of the one-panel comic strip, "Wumo."  The strip looks at the ordinary things in life as well as figures and scenes in culture and holds them up through a magnifying class made of fun house mirrors. You'll recognize yourself in some of these strips as well as family members, friend, and co-workers. The strip is different, but it reminds me in some ways of "The Argyle Sweater." I had never heard of "Wumo" before reading this book and after reading it, it's a strip I want to read more.

Book Review: SKIP SCHOOL, FLY TO SPACE



SKIP SCHOOL, FLY TO SPACE is a collection of "Pearls Before Swine" strips gathered together and marketed specifically towards kids under the AMP! label under Andrews McMeel Publishing. Unlike normal "Pearls" collections, these strips aren't from any specific time frame and don't contain any major story arcs. It's more like a "best of" book than anything else. SKIP SCHOOL, FLY TO SPACE is a great book to introduce "Pearls Before Swine" to someone who has never read the comic before. Fans of the strip can enjoy it as they are reacquainted with strips they haven't read for years.

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

THE PEANUTS MOVIE Trailer #2


I can't express in words how happy I am going to be to see this movie. I really hope it's as good as the trailers are leading me to believe.

Monday, September 21, 2015

Graphic Novel Review: REVOLVER



The central character in REVOLVER is a young man by the name of Sam. Like the unnamed narrator of FIGHT CLUB, Sam lives a life that seem detached of much meaning. He works in an office in Seattle, spends his nights drinking at bars, and uses a lot of his free time to purchase needless clutter. However, while on his way to work one morning, the world suddenly seems to change. The stock market crashes, airplanes are flying into buildings all over the U.S., a bird-flu pandemic is sweeping Asia, and there are reports that radioactive material in Russia has disappeared. This is later followed by dirty-bombs exploding in major cities and the destruction of the city of Seattle itself. Sam wants to survive, but doesn’t know if he has what it takes. But when he wakes the next morning, the world has returned the way it was before. All the terrible things that happened have not occurred. The only thing that is different is that Sam remembers everything. This revolving between the two worlds continues every time Sam goes to sleep. He falls to sleep in one world, but awakens in the next. The skills and knowledge that Sam gains in the post-apocalyptic world are carried with him into this former life in the other world and he begins using that knowledge to benefit others. It’s never explained why or how, but Sam is a Revolver living in two different worlds.

Although I liked REVOLVER, I was rather disappointed by it. The art isn’t that great. The characters are flat and much of the dialogue and monologue is stifled. There isn’t a whole lot of originality going on. Things that happen in the story are never explained. The story doesn’t really get interesting until about 3/4ths of the way through and just when the reader becomes invested, the story ends on a kind of cliffhanger. Despite this, I still enjoyed REVOLVER. At the end of the book, I wanted more because I wanted to know how things finally turned out. Had the book been completely bad, this would not have been the case.

Overall, while REVOLVER features a somewhat clichéd plot and has several weak points, it has enough going for it to make it a decent read.

Saturday, September 19, 2015

Book Review: WETTER, LOUDER, STICKIER: BABY BLUES COLLECTION #31



WETTER, LOUDER, STICKIER is the 31st "Baby Blues" comic collection. It follows the daily lives of the humorous and relatable MacPhersons family: Darryl the Dad, Wanda the Mom, oldest daughter Zoe, son Hammie, and baby daughter Wren.  The strips in WETTER, LOUDER, STICKIER ran in newspapers from Dec. 30, 2012 – Jan. 4, 2014. Some of the strips have notes from the series creators Rick Kirkman & Jerry Scott. My favorites are usually the ones that find Hammie completing some crazy stunt. In this collection, I really like the "Peanuts" reference with Darryl and Hammie playing football. I also thought it was pretty cool they made a "Sharknado" reference in one of the strips. There really aren't very many longer storylines in this collection, but I did like the story arc where Wren names her new stuffed animal a curse word. Overall, the collection itself is a good collection of "Baby Blues" strips.

With that said, I do have one complaint about this collection. In the first 29 collections, the books were almost square (9" X 8.5"). The previous "Baby Blues" collection, BEDLAM had a different format and was 11" X 8.5". I didn't like the size of that book, but WETTER, LOUDER, STICKIER is that same larger size.  I don't like it. There are some strips that end up covering two pages and with those, although the illustrations are bigger than usual, some of the dialogue gets lost in the book binding, making them difficult to read. I hope that in the next collection, the format returns to the traditional size.

Friday, September 18, 2015

Comic Review: THE BLACK HOOD: THE BULLET'S KISS, CHAPTER TWO





THE BLACK HOOD: THE BULLET'S KISS: CHAPTER TWO finds police officer Greg Hettinger in emotional and psychological tornado. Addicted to pain killers after the horrible crime that left his face horribly scarred for life, Hettinger stops meeting with his therapist and becomes more and more of a loner. However, what no one knows is that he's become addicted to something even more deadly and dangerous than painkillers: wearing the mask of the dead vigilante "The Black Hood." Hettinger wears the mask as comfort but also a way to take out his frustration and rage on criminals. Meanwhile, the criminal kingpin whose business was harmed by Hettinger's actions when he was a good cop before the accident sets into motion a series of events to frame Hettinger.  Besides a note from the author, the end of the book also has a short essay entitled "A Vigilante Bullet to the Heart: Crime in Philadelphia" about a man who took justice into his own hands in 1843.

Chapter Two of THE BULLET'S KISS is rather short and other than what happens to Hettinger at the end of the book, there's not much that really goes on. The book is intriguing enough, but it lacks some of the appeal of the first chapter. I hope things pick up again in chapter 3 of "The Bullet's Kiss" storyline.