On September 15th, exactly a week ago, I received an email:
Subject: TOYOTA COROLLA Sedan 1.6 , 4,200,000 HUF
Message: Hello friend, is this still available for purchase?
I won’t say that I started to worry at this point, but it’s still strange that someone would contact me with such a short message, and bypassing the official platforms. In any case, I replied immediately, not wanting to take the deal on my own:
Hi! Yes, it’s available for purchase. Regards István
Okay, will I need to change or fix anything when it arrives? Please be honest in your answer! Thank you
The car is in perfect condition, with a few months of maintenance. It was due for inspection in April. I had to replace the brake pads myself.
I am only selling the car because I live abroad and don’t need it. I would have used it for many years anyway.
So I sincerely recommend it.
Well, I am happy with the price and the terms, but I would like you to know that I cannot come to pick it up in person. I have a private transport company that will come to pick it up after the payment has been made.
Please provide your details so I can proceed with the payment to your account.
Full name
IBAN
Home address for shippingThank you
- The name on the ID is Täubert Kay, but the email address in the letter contains one more dotted letter: Täubert Käy <taubertkay7@gmail.com>
- I wasn’t lazy, I looked up the gentleman in the picture on Facebook. There is an existing profile, based on the details, we are indeed talking about a person from Germany, it is only a little worrying that his last post is from 2019. (Here I put an asterisk in the writing: *.)
- What conditions is the writer satisfied with besides the price?
- He buys a car worth several million forints without even looking at it, just sending someone to pick it up?
- Who is the buyer? Him? Then, who will sign the sales contract? Let’s say, if the purchase price had been credited to my account, a driver could also sign the sales contract because of me, I wouldn’t have been interested.
- He pays because he trusts me so much, then sends someone to pick it up?
Great, thank you!
Full name: István Schulmann
IBAN: I provided
Home address for delivery: 2943 Bábolna, Ácsi út 2, Hungary – I gave the address of the gas station so that the delivery service wouldn’t come to pick up the car at night.Best Regards,
István
Thank you for the details, the first thing I will do on Monday morning is to make the payment and let you know. Thank you
I was just laughing at this point, wondering why we don’t arrange the money transfer immediately, it would be there in two minutes, but whatever. I’m patient, for that much money it’s worth waiting three days.
At this point, it was already obvious that Monday’s scenario would be “Oh, my friend, the transfer fee is missing, 30,000 HUF, transfer it to me, and then I’ll transfer the big horse!”. That’s almost exactly what happened.
On Monday morning, I received an email that I couldn’t connect to this matter at first. Here it is:
Subject: First Direct Bank has accepted your appointment
Sender: First Direct Bank <noreply@messaging.squareup.com>
Message:
Your appointment has been accepted.
Hello Schulmann István,
You’ve acknowledged an instant international payment from Mr Taubert Kay.
This email confirms that you have received an instant payment of Ft4,462,980.00 HUF from
Mr Taubert Kay through First Direct Bank AUCTION payment service.
( TOYOTA COROLLA Sedan 1.6 )
Status: Pending
Important Notice: For seller protection this payment method is governed to provide seller protection, ensuring that the payment is final and cannot be disputed or reversed.
Transaction status: Initiated 99% completed.
Action Required: To complete the transaction please follow the instructions below:
Summary of this invoice
Sender information:
Mr Taubert Kay
XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-8957
Receive information:
Schulmann István
HU55
OKHBHUHB
K&H Bank Zrt. 271 Ács
Transaction ID
U-04J03293E5202820W
Merchandise Amount: Ft4,200,000.00 HUF
Freight charges: Ft262,980.00 HUF
Total Amount: Ft4,462,980.00 HUF
The above amount includes Pickup fees for the Goods, which means they must be manually approved by us. Given the amount of money involved, we need to take additional steps to protect account holders.
To release the payment, please ensure the following steps by sending the shipping charges to the shipping company via Western Union and send us a scanned photo/receipt of the Western Union deposit receipt for us to confirm its VALIDITY and release the full amount in pending to your bank account.
To complete the Western Union deposit, please follow these steps:
1; Visit the nearest Western Union nearby you
2; Request for a sending form and fill it with the Western Union address given to you below
3; Deposit the required amount of Ft262,980.00 HUF
4; Transfer REASON must be as Family and Friends
5; Get back to us with the Western Union transfer receipt after you successfully completed the transfer for proper verification.
Confirmed Wester Union Address Below:
FULL NAME: BRAHIM ABISMAIL
CITY: ISTANBUL
ZIP CODE: 34000
COUNTRY: TURKEY
For security reasons, we have made sure that this payment method cannot be ” DIVIDED, REVERSED or TERMINATED ” by the payee to ensure that you receive your money once you complete the Western Union deposit and return to us with the Western Union deposit photo/receipt of deposit you make for verification and immediate release your amount of Ft4,462,980.00 HUF
to your bank account upon Western Union deposit photo/receipt of Ft262,980.00 HUF for the pickup fee that includes the amount in pending to your bank account.
Note: The Western Union DEPOSIT photo/receipt must be sent directly to us for verification, you should only send the Western Union DEPOSIT information to the buyer after your money is finally released into your bank account.
Team First Direct Bank.
Thank You For Choosing Our Service We’re Here To Serve You Well.
The interesting part of the message starts with “To complete the Western Union payment, please follow the steps below:”
I was a bit under-estimated when I expected a scam of around 30,000 HUF. So, let me transfer 262,980 HUF and I will get that back, as well as the purchase price of the car.
If I wanted to be really stupid, I could even do the above steps, because there are two Western Union banks on Koh Samui. One is in Lamai, where I did the hike described in my article “My first long walk in the tropics”. In Hungarian, if I didn’t want to spend more than a quarter of a million HUF on this scam, then I will walk back to the part of the island 16-17 km away and free myself from the burden of so much money.
On Thursday, I was already sure that I would write about this purchase scam. I was at the point marked with an asterisk when I received Mr. Taubert’s letter:
Hello my friend, I have made the payment, did you receive the payment confirmation email from my bank, First Direct Bank? Please let me know, the payment confirmation is attached to this email. It is a pleasure to do business with you, I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you
I even received a picture, which – to be precise, as the star moves in the sky – was also named precisely: Ft4,462,980.jpg
Who could this man be, whom I no longer call Mr. Taubert in my mind, because I have no idea what his name is. Maybe Brahim Abismai?
At this point, I asked ChatGPT about the name. Based on my experience with the answer, I recommend that you also look up the name in case of similar dubious attempts. Two simple questions can help a lot.
Could Brahim Abismai be a real Turkish name?
The name “Brahim Abismail” does not seem like a typically Turkish name at first glance.
- Brahim is more of an Arabic name (short for Ibrahim, which is the Arabic version of Abraham). It also occurs in Turkey, but it is almost always used as Ibrahim, not as “Brahim”.
- On the other hand, Abismail does not fit into the usual forms of Turkish family names. Turkish family names are usually simpler, ending in -oğlu, -soy, -li, -ci, -kaya, -demir, -çelik, etc., or consist of some noun/formed word. “Abismail” has a much more Arabic sound, but it is not typical there either.
In summary: It is possible that it comes from an Arabic (and not Turkish) name, but it is very unusual for a Turkish person, so it is unlikely to be a typical Turkish name.
Is it acceptable as an Arabic name?
Yes, it is much more conceivable as an Arabic name than as a Turkish one – but it is still not entirely typical.
- Brahim: this is the short form of Ibrahim. It is a very common first name in North Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia).
- Abismail: at first glance it resembles the structure “Abi Ismail” (‘Father of Ismail’), which makes sense in Arabic. However, it is rare as a family name, but it can occur, especially in the Maghreb countries, where there are many surnames of Arabic origin.
So: acceptable in an Arab environment, it may exist, but it is not one of the most common or well-known Arabic names.
I will not write an answer. I am not angry at the anonymous person, and I do not judge. I know that he was just doing his job, even if it is not nice or fair. His chosen role was now to cheat on the stage of life. I accept it peacefully, and I do not want to hurt him with either word or thought.
Only for the sake of the other, I trust that he will not succeed with anyone else until he finds a more fair role for himself…