Having exhausted their list of willing suckers and confused senior citizens, it seems scammers from foreign countries are now turning their attention to other targets.
Not a week goes by without receiving a quote request for a substantial order of lab equipment written in that tell-tale pidgin English and loaded with sloppy grammar.
Instead of claiming to be a family friend stuck in an airport or a member of African nobility of dubious descent, today's scammer hides behind lily-white monikers like: "James White" and "David Smith" and purport to hail from well-known American institutions.
Take for example, the request below:
Dear Sales ,
This message is from the Medical University of South Carolina purchasing authority that we in needed of this listed material to our medical and lab division center.So Please have one of your sales representatives to quote me the below Ingredients with this our terms of payment {30 Days Terms } ?
MultiGene OptiMax Thermal Cycler Item Number: TC9610-----------10 PCS
Your reply is highly needed and our Preferred Method of Contact is through email or Phone.
Best Regards .
James White,Director of Purchasing,Research & Development.
Medical University of South Carolina
171 Ashley Avenue, Charleston SC 29425
PH:+1843-410-7636 (USA)
FAX:+1843-371-5810 (USA)
O-Key Purchasing Department.
One need not be very savvy to see this for what it is. When the day comes that these outfits hire English speakers with an education beyond the fourth grade we might be in trouble. For now though, this sort of thing is nothing more than a nuisance.
What is perplexing, is a noticeable pattern of what these scammers are seeking. Again and again, they want the Labnet Multi-Gene Optimax Thermal Cycler; and in quantities of eight to ten, or more.
Here is the product page on our website
Why? What are they looking for?
Is there something unique that this instrument can do which no other device can? Is there a sinister secondary use beyond PCR that we should know about?
We'd love to hear from you.