Another example for you. A phone call first to check on our size followed by this email. Their grammar and math appear to be evolving!

“Thanks for your prompt response. I really appreciate that, we will need 3 of your single rooms and 2 of your double rooms for 10 nights.

Also, since the guest will be 7 in number, we will be glad if you can as well provide breakfast for 7 of them for the whole period of their stay.

I need to know the total amount for this plus VAT so as to proceed with your payment as soon as possible. Remember Our Arrival Date is 10th of October 2011; Our Departure date is 20th of October 2011.

I will like to know the total amount in euro currency please.

I hope you have credit card processing machine POS. because I will be making the payment with my credit card only.”

Regards,

Mr. Simon Cowell

Cowell Travel & Tours
Adlib House, Fleming Road,
Liverpool, Merseyside, L24 9LS
England.

Tel: (+44) 703 591 2085

By Lynley Perkins on Sep 8, 2011

I almost daily receive such like “bookings”. I am curious to know what are they up to: Did anyone take the matter all the way to the end?
Paolo Antuono

By Paul on Sep 27, 2011

Just received this email in Rockford IL –
Knew it was a scam instantly – then checked internet – and found these postings! Thanks for sharing – LW

By Miss Sales on Sep 28, 2011

These scam emails always talk about spending vacation ‘in your country’ or ‘your town’ without mentioning the name.

And it’s always about 10 nights.

And they always want breakfast.

The English is still a bit funny, but indeed progressing.

There is never a website mentioned of the travel agency that wants to book.

By Jan Westerhof on Sep 28, 2011

thank God their grammar is suspect

By rhode Gordon on Oct 4, 2011

Just received the same email – it was the name that made me suspicious! Actually, I bothered to postcode check the address, and that does match a building of the same name so they are, as you say, getting a bit more clever about this. Glad I now understand how this scam works though.
Janet

By Janet Hopkinson on Oct 4, 2011

The big give away was when he wanted us to pay ground transportation our of the credit card payment to the hotel. Hope no one took him up on this scam

By Pete on Oct 7, 2011

You are right, this one was very good, so good I searched for it on the internet. I get quite a few each day and as you say the English is pretty poor, some are even willing to move their conference date or wedding/honeymoon in order to accommodate my availability!

By Angela Weston on Oct 9, 2011

We received this enquiry, looked like a scam, so I googled the company and found comments, thank you.
Email:

Greetings,

I am Dr. Simon Cowell, I am writing from the Cowell Travel & Tours, Liverpool England, we have group of 7 people coming to spend their vacation in your country for 10 days. With due respect, we will like you to provide accommodation and breakfast for 7 of them for the whole period of their stay.

Let me know your room’s types and cost per night so that reservation will be made on time. Our Arrival Date is 1 of November 2011; Our Departure date is 11th November 2011.
Number of People: 7. all adult.
Kindly Confirm if you will have availability during these dates so as to proceed with the booking.

I will be appreciating your urgent response, I hope you accept credit card as means of payment, because I will be making the payment with my credit card only.

Regards,

Dr. Simon Cowell

Cowell Travel & Tours
Adlib House, Fleming Road,
Liverpool, Merseyside, L24 9LS
England.

Tel: (+44) 703 182 0750

By Chapmans Peak Hotel SA on Oct 10, 2011

This is about the 5th scam letter like this we have had in Zimbabwe.
You can definitely tell. As soon as I read it, I realised it sounded fishy.
My manager then googled and came across your comments. Thank you for confirming my suspicions. We have responded to the emails in the past, but the follow up emails are more telling.

By Julia Mama on Oct 20, 2011

Hi there, I am a manager of a diving resort and they tried several times…..so I have searched and found this site….it really piss me off…lucky we don´t take credit cards.
Anyway thanks for the helpful informations.
Cheers

By Bunaken Island Resort on Oct 20, 2011

i got the same email and say i am fully bookt then promt they changed the dates
good that i google it and fount this thanks
here is there email

Hello,

Thanks for the details, I will like to change the date of our arrival since your hotel will be fully booked during that period. I will like to make the reservation on the 1st of December to 10th of December 2011, do let me know if you will have availability during this date then we will proceed with the booking.

Kind Regards,

Mr. Simon Cowell

Cowell Travel & Tours
Adlib House, Fleming Road,
Liverpool, Merseyside, L24 9LS
England.

Tel: (+44) 703 591 2085

——————————————————————————–
From: Sadadu
To: infocoweltraveltourss@yahoo.co.uk
Sent: Friday, 21 October 2011, 0:35
Subject: Re: {Spam?} ACCOMMODATION INQUIRY

hello,

sorry but we are fully bookt
kint regards Sadadu

——-Oorspronkelijk bericht——-

Van: Cowell Travel & Tours
Datum: 21-10-2011 0:16:09
Aan: info@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Onderwerp: {Spam?} ACCOMMODATION INQUIRY

Greetings,

I am Mr. Simon Cowell, I am writing from the Cowell Travel & Tours, Liverpool England, we have group of 7 people coming to spend their vacation in your country for 10 days. With due respect, we will like you to provide accommodation and breakfast for 7 of them for the whole period of their stay.

Let me know your room’s types and cost per night so that reservation will be made on time. Our Arrival Date is 10th November 2011; Our Departure date is 20th November 2011.

Number of People: 7. all adult.

Kindly Confirm if you will have availability during these dates so as to proceed with the booking.

I will be appreciating your urgent response, I hope you accept credit card as means of payment, because I will be making the payment with my credit card only.

Regards,

Mr. Simon Cowell

Cowell Travel & Tours
Adlib House, Fleming Road,
Liverpool, Merseyside, L24 9LS
England.

Tel: (+44) 703 591 2085

By Sadadu on Oct 21, 2011

hi, i was in the step before getting the creditcard number, thx guys for the comments.i called the phone number and they picked up the phone.im a night receptionist in belgium .witch tour operator is still open at 2in the night???

By souf on Oct 27, 2011

I received the same mail 3 days ago. I was so naive to reply to it soon and not to suspect his 2nd mail too.
—————————-
From: Cowell Travel & Tours
Sent: Wednesday, October 26, 2011 12:51 PM
To: Pension Villa Verde
Subject: BOOKING

Hello,

Thanks for your prompt response. I really appreciate that, we will need 3 of your single rooms and 2 of your double rooms for 10 nights.

Also, since the guest will be 7 in number, we will be glad if you can as well provide breakfast for 7 of them for the whole period of their stay.

I need to know the total amount for this plus VAT so as to proceed with your payment as soon as possible. Remember Our Arrival Date is 20th of November 2011; and Departure date will be on the 30th of November 2011

I will like to know the total amount in euro currency please.

I hope you have credit card processing machine POS. because I will be making the payment with my credit card only.

Regards,

Mr. Simon Cowell

Cowell Travel & Tours
Adlib House, Fleming Road,
Liverpool, Merseyside, L24 9LS
England.

Tel: (+44) 703 591 2085
—————————-

By Villa Verde on Oct 29, 2011

Thanks for warning on this page , im a real estate agent and recieved this and pass it to my friend who owns a hotel, we was just on stage to ask the card details but it make suspecious when he ask to charge the consultancy companies fee as well from the card to refund him.

I found this site ,i saved my friend.Thanks everybody.

By Pratic on Nov 3, 2011

As far as I am concerned, that standard 7night/10people scheme gives them away immediately…

By Panzer on Nov 11, 2011

My managers briefed me on this “booking ” as they went off for their weekend off.
Picked it as a scam instantly – as the managers ahould have. I’ve briefed them often enough. “in your country” “credit card only”
Called himself Dr in the letter and Mr in the address. Must have got himself confused as to which scam he was running! I rang the number (from Australia) out of curiosity. No connection. maybe they’ve moved on…
I reported it to Abuse@yahoo.com. Not that means anything.
Keep up the good work! Sadly It’s only the wary who will ever see this message anyway – the dumbasses will be too busy processing stoles cards for these scumbags.

By Charles on Nov 13, 2011

Just received the mail from mr.Simon Cowell and instantly felt there might be something wrong. Googled the company name and briefly looked at their webpage which looks real, although quite simple…. So I replied the email and he came back to me quite quickly. Then I went back to Google and found your site. Thank you all for sharing thi information!!!!
Normally I do not answer to reservation requests that are longer than 3 lines, or that have any personal info in them like, I am a doctor, or we are 8 priests. Who cares! You just need a room, right?

By Erik Feldhaus van Ham on Nov 15, 2011

I have been playing with this scam and now have the MasterCard details and numbers from Mr SImon Cowell! I have looked on the internet and can’t find a site where I can report this. Surprised MasterCard don’t have anything to cover this! Advise on reporting this would be usefull! Cheers

By Simon Parks on Nov 18, 2011

Thanks for letting us know! Im am also a real state agent and have just receive a reply to the firs email sent by Cowell, I thought it was strange the urgent payment and found your page. here is the letter I got:

Thanks for your kind response and assistance so far regarding our reservation at your place. I am glad to inform you that we have just concluded discussions with the guest group leader today and considered your cost and decided that the guest will stay at your place, I will make the Full payment of 1.700€ for the rooms as you stated, because we wants to make sure that every thing will be in place before the arrival date and also to avoid any form of disappointment.

The guest Names/Identification will reach you before the arrival date. Moreover, we also made an arrangement with a logistic Consultant firm who will take care of the guest flight arrangements from here down to your country and other transportation / Logistic requirements the guest will need during their stay at your place.

We will pay the logistic firm for this service they are going to render to the guest. In order not to share my Credit Card information with a third party, I want only you to handle my Credit Card information as we will be staying in your place. Meaning all the charges will be made through your POS Charging Machine including that of the Transport/logistic firm payment.

So once you receive my credit card details,you are required to charge the total amount of 8.700€ from my credit card,then take the cost of your Full payment services 1.700€ for the reservation and transfer the balance of 7,000€ to the Transport/logistic firm for them to start their logistic traveling arrangement for the guest as soon as possible to avoid any delay which may lead to cancellation of this reservation in the future.

Please confirm this if it is okay by you, and then provide me with below details for our office records.

(1) Your Full Name
(2) Your Full Address
(3) Phone Numbers
(4) Credit Card Types Which You Accept For Payment.

Please remember that the integrity of our Company is involved, I also hope the stay of the guests will be made comfortable? I will be sending you the Credit Card information for reservation to be made as soon you confirm this ok by you.

Please be advised that we are ready to pay for all expenses and fees you will incurred as a result of the entire amount to be charged.

Kind Regards,

Mr. Simon Cowell

Cowell Travel & Tours
Adlib House, Fleming Road,
Liverpool, Merseyside, L24 9LS
England.

Tel: (+44) 703 591 2085

By maya on Nov 25, 2011

Just received this scam email fortunately it was in junk.

I did a quick google search for the “Cowell travel and tours” and found your website highlighting scam emails. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I put the scam email into the phishing scam bin so hopefully not too many people will fall for this.

*My tip*. We only accept bookings with a 25% deposit electronically wired to our bank account with the 75% balance due 10 weeks before arrival. This seems to take care of the time-wasters who want to pay by other dodgy methods. If they want to book with you they will, especially if they trust their product. Keep up the good work.

Kind regards, Rob.

By Rob Ogden on Dec 1, 2011

Hi folks, very similar email last week….and as stated in previous posts, the English is getting much better – I was at the point of accepting payment for a Dr. Thomas Bradley and his 6 chinese/greek guests and translator – until it sounded too good to be true – it is straight overpayment fraud – not only do you lose your money but because YOU processed the trasaction, you are also in the frame for the crime and so won’t perhaps report it… Dr. Bradley was on an oil platform/oil emergency in the Gulf of mexico etcetc and couldn’t do a money transfer…be warned these guys are good and I narrowly dodged a bullet – Baruch, Granada Spain.

By Baruch Fahey on Dec 13, 2011

Webmaster – copies of emails happily supplied if you want them…

By Baruch Fahey on Dec 13, 2011

An here is another..
“Hello,

i will be interested to know if you could assist me in getting an accomodation for the group of company that are coming to your country for business trip

Below is the details of my booking:

Room Type. 4 Single rooms.
check in : 10 / 07/ 2012
check out: 17 /07/ 2012
Number of guest…4people.
Days of stay… 7 days

Get back to me on this ASAP,so that we can proceed on this,also i will like you to know that all payment will be made before the arrival of my client via my secure credit card details.

Thanks and kind regards.
John Laffley”

By Pete Sinke on Jan 31, 2012

Just got another scam email; very similiar to previous emails but different name: When emails read ‘your country’ we know immediately that its a bulk email:

Hello,

I am Mr Robert Travis, I am writing from the Travis Travel & Tours, Liverpool England, we have group of 5 people coming to spend their vacation in your country for 10 days. We will like you to provide accommodation and breakfast for 5 of them for the period of their stay.

Let me know your room’s types and cost per night so that reservation will be made on time. Our Arrival Date is 20st April 2012; Our Departure date is 30th April 2012

Number of People: 5. all adult.

Kindly Confirm if you will have availability during these dates so as to proceed with the booking.

I will be appreciating your urgent response, I hope you accept credit card as means of payment, because I will be making the payment with my credit card only.

Regards,

Mr. Robert Travis

Robert Travel & Tours
Adlib House, Fleming Road,
Liverpool, Merseyside, L24 9LS
England.
Tel:+447024015591
Email:robertamotour@yahoo.co.uk

By AWOL Tours on Feb 3, 2012

BEWARE. Same M.O. Robert Travel and Tours , Adlib House , Fleming Rd, , Liverpool L24
No web site . Sender: Robert Travis.
PH 0044 7024015591
email : robertamotour@yahoo.co.uk

Bombard the bastard!!!!

By Kevin Wilyman on Feb 4, 2012

Just received the exact same e-mail at our hostel here in Denmark. Only difference: The author is no longer Simon Cowell, but a Thomas Travis. Maybe a brother of above mentioned Robert Travis?

By Mette on Mar 17, 2012

I get at least one per week. Sometimes, I even reply.

From: Nancy A/K Gubah
Sent: Tuesday, March 27, 2012 5:15 PM
To: aaronyu.irene@gmail.com
Subject: Reservation inquiry

Hi,

Compliments of the season! My name is Mrs Nancy A/K Gubah. I got your details from the tourism directory and would like to rent 2 double rooms.I will be going on my annual leave soon and will be coming to your country for 2 weeks with my family.We will take it from the 9th of APRIL 2012 to the 23th of APRIL 2012.Please let me know if it’s available and the total cost for 2 double rooms and 1 single room including breakfast and tax for 2weeks stay.

(1) Mr / Mrs Gubah. (Double room)

(2) Evelyn Gubah 18yrs and Tina Gubah 22 yrs.(Double room)

(3)Joe Gubah 20 yrs (Single room)

I’m a Malaysian female of 45 years; I’m also an accountant, working here in
MALAYSIA.I will also like you to confirm if you accept credit card for Payment,Get back to me if the dates mentioned above are free,so that we can book reservations immediately,with my credit card.Thank you and looking forward to hearing from soon.

Regards

Nancy Gubah.

Hi. Compliments of the season to you too.

I’m afraid you’re a liar though. You didn’t get our details from the tourism directory, did you? See, we don’t advertise with anyone from the ‘tourism directory’. There isn’t such a thing here. If we did, and if you weren’t telling lies, you’d note that a) we don’t charge by the room, and b) that we don’t do breakfasts, and c) we don’t charge ‘tax’. Oh, and d) you’d know that we don’t take credit cards either. In fact, WE tell YOU what the booking conditions are, NOT the other way around. Oops! Almost forgot e) you’d know whether we had availability or not by looking at our a v a i l a b i l i t y c a l e n d a r (I did that bit slowly for you, just in case I’m typing too fast for your poor little brain to keep up).

Also, (and this is interesting, in a ‘study-of-schizophrenia-kind-of-way) why am I receiving this email from you, Nancy Gubah, with the email address of kok.malay@gmail.com, but with a return email address of aaronyu.irene@gmail.com? No wonder we’re all highly suspicious, is it? Why would you believe that you being an accountant would make the whole thing more believable? I had a spell as a window cleaner once. And a lorry driver. Oh, and I even became a Tupperware manager once. That was nice. Just a little background for you, so’s you’ll believe me more readily when I get to the bit where I tell you to fuck off.

While we’re taking five minutes out of our very busy lives to tell you in a round about way to fuck off, you also need to learn some simple grammar and punctuation, it tends to be off-putting for those of us with proper jobs, who sat & passed a few exams. You know, ‘cos we could be bothered to learn, and because we wanted to get on in life, not spend our sad little lives sending out scam emails. It’d be good too, if you could learn NOT TO SHOUT IN CAPITAL LETTERS TOO. It makes our ears bleed. And stuff.

So, Nancy/Kok/Irene, or whoever you’ll be tomorrow, I’d suggest you do a little research if you want to perform your scam on owners like us. Either that, or take the hint and stop your stupid games before karma catches up with you and spams your inbox a million times for each one you send out.

Have a lovely evening. But please do remember we’re not interested in you, your bi-polar email affliction, or your scam. Oh, and please make sure you do fuck off.

Regards.

Michael & Minnie Souris.
Proprietors. Here in FRANCE.

PS – I’ve just posted all of your e-mails on facebook, in the rather happy hope that people will be made aware of you and your stupidity. Oh, that and the fact that the spam bots may just pick up on your email addresses and start that Karma thing I mentioned.

By Stu on Mar 28, 2012

This is my latest:-

HELLO MY NAME IS MR A.RICARDO, I AM WRITING TO EXPLORE THE POSSIBILITY OF HAVING YOUR FULL COMPREHENSIVE ENQUIRE OF YOUR RENT OR HOTEL RESERVATION BOOKING FOR ME AND MY FAMILY. NAMES…MR & MRS A.RICARDO AND FAMILY (PETER AND ANTHONY, 14 YRS) ADDRESS….19 BOYD TERRACE NEWCASTLE NE5 5JR ENGLAND CHECKING IN..17 MAY 2012, AND CHECKING OUT..29 MAY 2012. PLEASE I WILL LIKE TO HAVE YOUR FULL RENTAL LIST TO ENABLE ME SECURE A RESERVATION BOOKING AND LET ME KNOW WHAT TYPE OF CREDIT CARD YOU ACCEPTS IN YOUR REPUTABLE HOTEL. KINDLY QUOTE THE PRICES AND CONDITIONS, IF AVAILABLE CALCULATE THE TOTAL SUM FOR MY PERIOD OF STAY. PLEASE I WAIT TO HEAR FROM YOU,S URGENTLY. BEST REGARDS, MR A.RICARDO EMAIL…antonioricardo28@gmail.com

By Piers on Apr 13, 2012

Here’s the latest that we just got here in Hungary from Mr. Richard Conolly the conman. He could have more sense than to choose a name with con in it.

Booking Inquiry

My name is Mr. Richard Conolly from the GLOBAL Star Travel, United Kingdom. It is my pleasure to inquire for accommodations in your facility. I want to book reservation for a vacation organized by our group of medical experts that will commence on the 05th of June 2012 and end on the 15th of june 2012.

Check in Date is 05th of June 2012 and departure is on the 15th of June 2012.

I will like you to provide accommodation for them for the time period. About 4/5 rooms will be needed. Please send me your rooms rates for both single and double rooms so that reservation will be made immediately.

I hope you accept Credit Card Payments. Get back to me only if you accept credit card as means of payment so that we can proceed with the booking on time.

Thanks.

Kind Regards,

Mr. Richard Conolly

GLOBAL Star Travel
Empire Way, Wembley,
London, HA9 0DH
Phone: +447024046938
+447024052952

By Anna Szekely on May 4, 2012