I thought I should make people aware of this scam. It has come across my desk a few times before and I just ignored it. This time I was more ?pro active?.
On 04/11/13, I received an e mail from a Ms Penny Kay. She said that she was hearing impaired and it would be easier for her to communicate with me via text message. I e mailed her my cell phone number and shortly thereafter, she contacted me.
She said that she was planning a wedding and needed prices on vehicles. When she had made her decision, she then told me that she was in a hospital in New York and needed me to do her a ?favor?. She wanted to pay me $3000, $1122 was for me to keep for the limo. The remaining $1878 was to be sent via Western Union to the wedding planner to pay for their services. It was at that point I knew it was a scam, and decided to have a little fun with ?Ms. Kay?.
I told her that I needed two copies of photo ID both front and back, as well as a signed contract stating what she wanted me to do, as well as a copy of the credit card both front and back.
When she sent me a copy of her drivers license, I noticed several mistakes. The drivers license number was wrong. The address on the license didn?t exist. And finally, the license said ?Drivers license issued by Party411.com.? I went to that website and found that you can make novelty invitations and other things there.
At that point I began to wonder if Ms. Kay was really stupid, or if she thought I was. On a hunch, I called the number. The voice mail was for a Manny Gonzalez.
I continued on with the farce, and asked for a copy of the credit card. She sent me a pretty good mock up of a card, but it was an obvious forgery. When I told her that I had received it, she was adamant about me running it as soon as possible. She then told me to send the $1878 to Jeanette R Strawn located at 2310 W Shawnee Street in Muskogee Oklahoma. I googled the address. it?s a self storage company. At that point, I made copies of all communications, as well as the phony license and credit card and turned it over the my local FBI office.
DO NOT FALL FOR THIS SCAM! The way it works is you run the card, send the money and the card comes up lost or stolen, and you?re out $3000. I want to make as many people as possible aware of this. You think you?re helping someone make their wedding a wonderful experience, and you end up out three grand.
By the way?the number Ms. Kay (Manny Gonzalez) calls from is 518 618 2255,and her e mail address is pennykay1989@gmail.com. If you run a search on the number, you will see I?m not the only person he/she has tried this on.

Same thing here. Penny needs to go to school and stop playing scams. Does He think we're stupid?

Same thing here, asking if I would paint her house and accept a credit card. Asked for her address and no response. Reported to do not call list.

This has to be a scam. I'm a painting contractor. They want me to charge their credit card and then Western Union her agent $2100 to get the keys to her (Penny) new home so I can supposedly start work.  Anything involving out of state person and Western Union sounds no good.

I got the scam text yesterday. An immediate red flag with the Nigerian scammers is really bad grammar and poor sentance structure. Any legitimate business owner or halfway intelligent homeowner does not send out really bad text messages asking to do business together. They're text messages indicated they wanted me to go to Western Union with a credit card # then turn over $1900 to their Real Estate agent. They wouldn't give me their name or any other info.Right. I'd like to know how they found out i'm a painting contractor.Don't respond. Don't do anything except delete the messages.

Have received a long string of text from Penny (the name listed on the text). Wishing to hire our company to do some remodeling/updating of a home.  Penny claims she is closing on a house and needs to hire contractors to do the work.  Penny also states she is hearing impaired and can not take calls.  We played along for several days and finally the hook, Penny said in order to get the keys released to our company she wanted us to change her credit card (she was going to text us a card number) once we had the money we were to Western Union $1900 to her agent. An interesting phishing scam. Beware.

Texted me said they were hearing impaired and wanted me to do some work for them; however, they needed my zip code. They could not answer my question so I felt it was a scam

I just recieved a text from this number regarding them wanting to do business as well. i did not further contact the number as they were asking to speak to the owner, and i am the owner. if you didnt know that then you dont know me to business with me. SCAM!

This number was used today to try and scam me! It was used to text me the classic "I want to do business with you" scam. If you are a massage therapist, this person does NOT want to do anything other than scam you. BEWARE!!!!