Follow the Spam! What Happens if You Buy from a Spammer?

Sun Oct 28, 2007 6:36PM EDT

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Find Top quality replica luxury watches
Massive Price Reduction Broad Assortment Generics
Candy for the kids

These are all real subject lines for spam messages I've received today alone. I've never actually been tempted to buy a fake watch from a spammer, but I've always wondered what would happen if I really did shell out the $49 for one of these AMAZ1NG R0L3X REPLICAS!!! Now I no longer have to: Computer Associates bought just such an item from a spammer, tracked the money, and reported the results for you to see just to see where the money actually went.

The original spam, advertising a "T4g Heuer w4tch" for $200 from a place called Lagetyo.com, likely originated from a malware-infected PC sitting in a church in Washington state, almost certainly sent without the knowledge of the user. Clicking on the spam link, off our buyer was whisked to Lagetyo, a professional-looking (though merely temporary) website (see screenshot), which included a privacy policy, a shopping cart, and contact details. Even the credit card transactions were encrypted.

A security audit showed that there was no malware in the site; everything was on the up and up. This makes sense: Once you have your victim on your grasp, you don't want to scare him off. He's about to give you his money (and credit card info) willingly. Why bother with malware now?

So he bought a pair of earrings on the site for $52 plus $29 shipping. And using software, web services, and good-old sleuthing he followed the money, taking a convoluted trip to China and Korea (where the websites he used were located), to a shell company in Las Vegas, to another shell company in Washington, and finally to the island of Cyprus, where the cash was collected. 

Much to everyone's surprise, our hero's item was possibly actually shipped from China to him in Virginia according to shipment tracking information from the shipper. Whether that information is legitimate, we'll never know. Either the post office lost the item, or more likely, it was never shipped at all and the shipping log was fake. Regardless, the money's gone, and he never got the product. And if it was shipped, what was actually in the box? We'll never know; the buyer dropped the case at this point.

The bottom line? Buying from a spam site just isn't worth the risk, no matter how good the deal seems.

LINK: Read the entire adventure here. 

Comments on Follow the Spam! What Happens if You Buy from a Spammer?

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  • 6 Posted by randytwo2000 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:29PM EDT Report Abuse

    Spam is just another part of the Darwinian engine, taking money from those dumb enough to park their suspicions, and allow their wants to rule their life.

  • 7 Posted by sissa_stern on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:24PM EDT Report Abuse

    If you guys read the whole article, you'd see that the item was never received.

  • 8 Posted by jnnydietz on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:37PM EDT Report Abuse

    What do you people mean, "what happened??". Read the article, this time with your eyes open. It says he didn't receive the product and the money is gone. Hellooooooo. Even my pet monkey would have understood that.

  • 9 Posted by mcbentley92 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:13PM EDT Report Abuse

    I believe this just proves to stay away from them. They are hiding something if they have to send spam out to get customers in the first place. No surprise that it lead out of the country and the product was never delivered.

  • 10 Posted by wjeanlambert on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:48PM EDT Report Abuse

    Thanks for the interesting report - it was what I expected. Wisdom dictates that purchases be made from reputable dealers.

  • 11 Posted by technodem on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:59PM EDT Report Abuse

    Happened to me too. A few years ago, got a "great deal" from a place called Bob's Discount PCs in Texas for a Compaq motherboard. I needed the board to fix a broken laptop and $80 for the part was better than $250. I didn't get the information from spam, but from doing a search for the part number on the web. After not recieving the part, I emailed "Bob" many times and even put in a complaint with the Texas BBB (which said the amount was too low for them to get involved) the desire to fight this fizzled out. So all I can say is this junk doesn't just happen through spam.

  • 12 Posted by teleblues@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:59PM EDT Report Abuse

    Anyone stupid enough to fall for ANY unsolicited offers via email get's what they deserve, c'mon people, haven't you ever heard "there's a sucker born every minute"?

  • 13 Posted by wy_out_willie on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:51PM EDT Report Abuse

    DUH, what a surprise!!! All this proves is that there are suckers among us and that's why the low life spammers are still workin' it.

  • 14 Posted by drobesky on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:48PM EDT Report Abuse

    Thanks for that article. I would never buy from a spam, but always wondered what kind of trail it leaves.People that create this garbage should be sent mountains of it!

  • 15 Posted by the_rodewalds on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:06PM EDT Report Abuse

    FYI...Most Banks or Credit Unions and sometimes even credit card companies will work with you to get your money back for a item that was purchased and never received. If you are caught up with a SPAM transaction the best thing to do is to call your bank and see what they can do for you.

  • 16 Posted by warfel_rebecca on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:40PM EDT Report Abuse

    This ONE article about ONE purchase from a spammer doesn't speak for the entire world of spamming. I bought something from a pop-up spam once and received it 6 weeks later. I was sort of suprised but it worked. So there is no way to know what the intentions of a spamer are in my opinion. I still wouldn't suggest doing it though. My sweetie bought from a similar spam as mine and didn't get squat. There is just no way of knowing and the fact that its unreliable and thats reason enough not to do it. Not to mention how identity theft has become a major issue in the past few years.

  • 17 Posted by thehorseridinggreencrayon on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:04PM EDT Report Abuse

    OK guys. It's sad that this had to be re-written for you. As you read articles, don't expect the writer to spell out every little thing for you. You have the ability to think, to analyze what was written. The questions asked on here all had obvious answers written in the article -- learn to infer.

  • 18 Posted by npmyoung on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:41PM EDT Report Abuse

    Anyone stupid enough to buy from a spammer deserves to be ripped off.

  • 19 Posted by locked_andloaded on Thu Sep 3, 2009 6:55PM EDT Report Abuse

    Was the result a profound revelation to ANYONE? Why did anyone take time to do this inane activity?

  • 20 Posted by natalie_upenn on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:33PM EDT Report Abuse

    I think he was being sarcastic.... like, "miraculously, the watch got lost!" Well duh.... of course it was "lost". It never existed! I just want to know if the guy got his money back, and what happened to the schmo on Cyprus that got caught with it.

  • 21 Posted by ogaldez01 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:43PM EDT Report Abuse

    Thanks for the helpful information, I want to add that lately I have been received so many notices that I won lottery in Europe, or that some one died and left a huge amount of money for me, but they need my info. to release those monies!!! Please report such things/offers as Spam Immediately! Good luck. OscarOs

  • 22 Posted by solidsnake2756 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:32PM EDT Report Abuse

    spammers are actually fairly smart, if they can con just enough ignorant people into giving them their money, they can make a fairly good amount of money depending on the amount of spam sites they have set up and how many emails they send out. and since they don't actually sell any product, it is all profit.

  • 23 Posted by billbeasland@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:07PM EDT Report Abuse

    If you buy something from spam emails you are stupid. Bottom line is you must be very stupid to click on a link that is spam and then give them your money.

  • 24 Posted by pytse on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:23PM EDT Report Abuse

    I heard, if you didn't recieve the product, you could call your credit card company to reverse the charge. Is this true?

  • 25 Posted by boom7ka on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:11PM EDT Report Abuse

    spam is stupid. anyone with a brain doesn't read spam and deletes it

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