Raven vs the Hafoot
Posted: Wed May 02, 2012 11:22 pm
Your fearless and illustrious hero has been scammed. It happens more often than we in the news industry would like to admit, but happen it does. The antagonist of our story is the scammer, but with such an unusual modus that he got my journalist-senses tingling.
It started when I was cleaning out old office equipment from the After Midnight offices. Most was donated to charity in exchange for a tax break, but there were a few extra items which I missed in my charitable exuberance. I listed a few computers on eBay.
One Macbook was watched by a user who called himself Cyberfyber. the bidding expired and the winning bid fell through. Enter our friend, Cyberfyber (I couldn't make up a name that bad if I tried). He sent a message in which he claimed that he did not bid because eBay had become rife with hackers. He instead wanted to purchase my laptop using an independent money escrow service that he trusted.
It's an old scam. The escrow service is an obvious fake with a terrible fake webpage. In fact, the service's website contained some of the same spelling errors that were in Cyberfyber's personal correspondence with me. The scammer sends me an official looking message from his fictional money-holding service which states that he has paid and it is holding money owed to me, then I release his goods, and I complain to a non-existent company because I never received my money. It is even older than the Nigerian Princess scam (a personal favorite of mine).
I received the expected e-mail and was ready to ignore the entire affair with a block command, but then something curious happened. I received instructions from Cyberfyber to not send the package until half-way through October. I could not fathom of why a scammer would wait the better part of a year to collect his loot. I responding to his request and asked him for more specifics.
He told me to send the package to a particular internet cafe here in Saint Louis, but that he would only be available to pick it up on the day of Halloween. Suspecting a possible occult connection, I asked it there would be any other options and claimed superstitiousness as a reason for avoiding business on Halloween. Cyberfyber then changed his instructions so that he was available on either Halloween or Saint Patrick's Day, one of the other. I chose the later.
Being very intrigued now, I started inquiring within some hacker communities where I have friends. Did anyone know a scammer with this M.O. who did business on Halloween or St. Patrick's exclusively? Sure enough, someone responding with, 'It isn't Cyberfyber is it? I hate that guy.' Understand, these hackers and crackers have a fondness for virus designers, anarchists, and internet trolls; all of whom they find amusing. For them to hate a scammer specifically, he must be exceptionally annoying.
Yes indeed, further inquires confirmed it. I was even contacted out of the blue by a well-known hacker named Gideon. Gideon is a jerk. We have a history. I don't really want to get into it right now. Gideon and Cyberfyber also a have history.
It was Gideon who first told me about Hafoots. My own research reveals that Gideon was correct about an old European legend about gremlin-like creatures called Hafoots and that Cyberfyber was such an abomination. My research library is unclear as to whether a Hafoot is a Gremlin by a different name or a similar species of sub-demons, but they are troublesome. Even other demons find them annoying and will usually refuse to work with Hafoots – you thought I was going to write “Hafeet” there, didn't you?
Although warned that this Cyberfyber was a dangerous supernatural creature who had begun prowling the internet for victims, I remained skeptical. I wanted to see this scammer-demon for myself.
I set up a reverse trade scam. I sold him a computer with the expectation that I would never be paid, but the I sent was an exceptionally worthless piece of junk. I would have the box of junk delivered C.O.D., thus my nemesis actually loses money on the deal. I sent the package to the local internet cafe, put Walther in my pocket, and found a nice table at the cafe on Saint Patrick's Day. While reading the Wallstreet Journal, I almost didn't notice a Leprechaun come inside and claim the package...
It started when I was cleaning out old office equipment from the After Midnight offices. Most was donated to charity in exchange for a tax break, but there were a few extra items which I missed in my charitable exuberance. I listed a few computers on eBay.
One Macbook was watched by a user who called himself Cyberfyber. the bidding expired and the winning bid fell through. Enter our friend, Cyberfyber (I couldn't make up a name that bad if I tried). He sent a message in which he claimed that he did not bid because eBay had become rife with hackers. He instead wanted to purchase my laptop using an independent money escrow service that he trusted.
It's an old scam. The escrow service is an obvious fake with a terrible fake webpage. In fact, the service's website contained some of the same spelling errors that were in Cyberfyber's personal correspondence with me. The scammer sends me an official looking message from his fictional money-holding service which states that he has paid and it is holding money owed to me, then I release his goods, and I complain to a non-existent company because I never received my money. It is even older than the Nigerian Princess scam (a personal favorite of mine).
I received the expected e-mail and was ready to ignore the entire affair with a block command, but then something curious happened. I received instructions from Cyberfyber to not send the package until half-way through October. I could not fathom of why a scammer would wait the better part of a year to collect his loot. I responding to his request and asked him for more specifics.
He told me to send the package to a particular internet cafe here in Saint Louis, but that he would only be available to pick it up on the day of Halloween. Suspecting a possible occult connection, I asked it there would be any other options and claimed superstitiousness as a reason for avoiding business on Halloween. Cyberfyber then changed his instructions so that he was available on either Halloween or Saint Patrick's Day, one of the other. I chose the later.
Being very intrigued now, I started inquiring within some hacker communities where I have friends. Did anyone know a scammer with this M.O. who did business on Halloween or St. Patrick's exclusively? Sure enough, someone responding with, 'It isn't Cyberfyber is it? I hate that guy.' Understand, these hackers and crackers have a fondness for virus designers, anarchists, and internet trolls; all of whom they find amusing. For them to hate a scammer specifically, he must be exceptionally annoying.
Yes indeed, further inquires confirmed it. I was even contacted out of the blue by a well-known hacker named Gideon. Gideon is a jerk. We have a history. I don't really want to get into it right now. Gideon and Cyberfyber also a have history.
It was Gideon who first told me about Hafoots. My own research reveals that Gideon was correct about an old European legend about gremlin-like creatures called Hafoots and that Cyberfyber was such an abomination. My research library is unclear as to whether a Hafoot is a Gremlin by a different name or a similar species of sub-demons, but they are troublesome. Even other demons find them annoying and will usually refuse to work with Hafoots – you thought I was going to write “Hafeet” there, didn't you?
Although warned that this Cyberfyber was a dangerous supernatural creature who had begun prowling the internet for victims, I remained skeptical. I wanted to see this scammer-demon for myself.
I set up a reverse trade scam. I sold him a computer with the expectation that I would never be paid, but the I sent was an exceptionally worthless piece of junk. I would have the box of junk delivered C.O.D., thus my nemesis actually loses money on the deal. I sent the package to the local internet cafe, put Walther in my pocket, and found a nice table at the cafe on Saint Patrick's Day. While reading the Wallstreet Journal, I almost didn't notice a Leprechaun come inside and claim the package...