Should I bother calling the cops?

[BandW]

Hello,

I am selling a couple of items on kijiji and I noticed something very strange about one of the people who contacted me. Whenever he contacts me and I reply back, I get a phishing attempt to my inbox within 30-60 minutes, like clockwork. This just happened a fourth time.

1. The guy had first offered me $80 for the item I am selling. I immediately accepted. Got a phishing attempt. (Feb 17, 17)

2. The guy finally got back to me and then offered $70 (who does this? losers). I decline his offer and tell him good luck. 35 minutes later a phishing attempt arrives. (Feb 23, 17)

3. Guy then offered me $75 (really?) to which I simply stated: "Please do not contact me again". 47 minutes later a phishing attempt arrives. (Feb 25, 17)

4. I thought that was the end of it. That is, until yesterday (Mar 9, 17). I got an email from the guy saying he is willing to pay $80 for it. I did not reply to the guy as I had instructed him to no longer contact me. 3 hours later I get an angry email from him asking why I won't reply. 30 minutes after that angry email, another phishing attempt.

I get that this could be a coincidence. However, before I talked to this guy I rarely ever got phishing attempts, so few that they never really registered on my radar. Maybe 1 or 2 phishing attempts to my personal inbox per year. Ever since this guy messaged me, I've had 4 in around a month's time. Also, in the period between Feb 25 and yesterday (when I told him not to contact me and he didn't) I had zero phishing attempts. As soon as he contacts me again, one shows up.

So, should I report this activity to the CPS? I get that the CPS can't really act on anything I provide. However, I'm thinking it might be good for them to have a report on file in case others have reported this guy.

[Sasuke_Kensai]

Doesn't hurt to try. I called in something once at the regular number (266-1234)... I was directed to call into my local branch and that they should do a report. Called into the local branch and the guy seemed lazy, didn't want to do a report and I just let it go. Probably creates a lot of paperwork, haha.

Curious, does the email program (outlook? gmail?) automatically indicate if there was a phishing attempt? I have no idea what phishing is, from a quick look on Wikipedia it sounds like a person would have to enter information somewhere for the attempt to be successful? Just wondering if I need to look out for these things while kijiji'ing.

[Kloubek]

You can waste your time if you want.

Even when things are black and white, they rarely care. Here, you are only guessing there is a connection.

I wouldn't bother.

[BandW]

Originally posted by Sasuke_Kensai
Doesn't hurt to try. I called in something once at the regular number (266-1234)... I was directed to call into my local branch and that they should do a report. Called into the local branch and the guy seemed lazy, didn't want to do a report and I just let it go. Probably creates a lot of paperwork, haha.

Curious, does the email program (outlook? gmail?) automatically indicate if there was a phishing attempt? I have no idea what phishing is, from a quick look on Wikipedia it sounds like a person would have to enter information somewhere for the attempt to be successful? Just wondering if I need to look out for these things while kijiji'ing.

Thanks for the reply.

My email program does not automatically identify something as a phishing attempt. I knew each one was a phishing attempt because it told me I had a PayPal account that doesn't exist (it's under a different email) and a Scotiabank account that doesn't exist (I do not bank there).

Essentially, the scammer sends an email to the potential victim saying "Your PayPal has been breached" asking them to log in. When you click the link to log in, it is actually a website designed by the scammer that records your inputs but is designed to look real. Then the scammer goes and uses those inputs on the real PayPal website.


Originally posted by Kloubek
You can waste your time if you want.

Even when things are black and white, they rarely care. Here, you are only guessing there is a connection.

I wouldn't bother.

Thanks for the reply.

Yeah, you're right. I guess I'm just more annoyed than anything else at this point. Normally I wouldn't even consider it. I guess there was a part of me thinking there is some chance that other people have complained about this person. I bet he does this from his parent's basement in NE Calgary all day.

[OTown]

The way I am reading this is almost like the other guy's email has been hacked / a virus has affected his computer. For it to be clockwork like that the virus might be automatically sending those phishing emails to people in his address list. He might not even know about it.

[BandW]

Originally posted by OTown
The way I am reading this is almost like the other guy's email has been hacked / a virus has affected his computer. For it to be clockwork like that the virus might be automatically sending those phishing emails to people in his address list. He might not even know about it.

Damn, that makes perfect sense and never occurred to me. Glad I asked here. Thanks.

[Mitsu3000gt]

Originally posted by Kloubek
You can waste your time if you want.

Even when things are black and white, they rarely care. Here, you are only guessing there is a connection.

I wouldn't bother.

This.

Total waste of time, they won't even look at it.

Shit, a friend of mine handed them a Kijiji criminal with complete evidence, serial numbers, phone number, location, meeting time, witness from previous crime, etc. and they didn't even look into it. Something like this won't even make water cooler talk.

[G-ZUS]

Originally posted by Mitsu3000gt
Shit, a friend of mine handed them a Kijiji criminal with complete evidence, serial numbers, phone number, location, meeting time, witness from previous crime, etc. and they didn't even look into it. Something like this won't even make water cooler talk.


:werd: :rofl:

[speedog]

311 (http://spot311.calgary.ca/reports/new?service_id=50626ee5098388425f0000a1), they handle it all.

[Thaco]

it does seem very coincidental, but kijiji doesnt even publish your email address anymore so there's no way he could have done this... it just gives a [email protected] email address to the recipient, so it might actually be more of a kijiji issue than the "buyer"