Scam Alert

This ad was found in a local paper here in Northern Michigan.

"Experienced Teacher needed to tutor a 13-yr-old girl, 6th grader. $50 per hour. Instruction can take place in my home or public library three times a week, with flexible hours, lessons should last about 60 min. Subjects: Math, Science, and English reading. If Interested kindly contact me bradsonandrewss@aol.com"

Then we found these....

http://www.cookcountynews-herald.com/common/classifieds/HELP_WANTED_025.html

http://www.27east.com/classifieds.cfm?category=1255

http://www.threeriverspublishing.com/TRP/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=60&Itemid=228 

http://www.moorefieldexaminer.com/default.asp?contentID=579

http://www.harlanonline.com/classifieds/help_wanted/

http://www.scribd.com/doc/27731412/CSN-3-3-10-issue

The same ad! Found in papers in Iowa, Minnesota, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Downstate Michigan. Stefani personally contacted these papers and told them of the scam. Many are looking into and removing the ad.

Here is the email that was sent to Stefani by the "father":
"Hello ,
   
Thank you for the email, At present, i seek an experienced private tutor for my daughter in Math, English, Science and  reading tutorial. I would be happy to have my daughter under your tutorship, I have made contacts with my daughter( girl of 13 yrs) concerning the arrangement of the tutoring and it's pretty cool with her. Please advise on your fees (per hour/per day) depending on how you've rendered your services in the past. I want you to know I'm paying for 1 month ($50.00/hr) is what I have in mind, let me know if this is okay by you . I hope you understand this as total deposit to BOOK your services. Also am planning for you to tutor her 3 times a week, which is 2hrs per day, so get back to me with the total fee for the subjects and the days you will be available to teach her during the week. At present i am making arrangement with the school my daughter will be attending when she gets to United state as she presently stays here with me in United Kingdom (UK) she will be arriving in the states on the 18th of March 2010 and i want her to study more while there in the states because am planning a relocation for us, I took her with me after I lost her mother some years ago, that was a single painful experience in my life time .
       I want you to know I'll be sending you the payment inform of a check for the tutorials while I'll also pay tshe Nanny that will look after her in the state while i join her later on, so as soon as you get the  money/funds cleared you'll deduct cost of  tutoring for the month and send balance to the nanny that would be looking after my daughter in the state.
  
If you are ready and willing to accept the offer, which is in the best interest of my daughter and yourself, kindly send your full  information to receive the payment so it can be made out on time as she will be arriving soon , also I want you to know she's my only daughter and I love her more than I love myself , I would have accompany her if not that am in the middle of a big project. So I hope i can trust you with my life because she's my life and reason why i work, also i made a promise to her mom to take very good care of her and see that she has a very bright future, she's aspiring to be a Lawyer but her mom would have loved to see her in a doctor's suit ...I want you to teach her good morals and academic, also I want you to help me make her discover herself and follow the path of what her heart tells her to be, I want the brightest future for her, I truly hope I can trust you with my daughter and with the nanny's payment although my daughter is of most importance.
   
Thanks for willing to help, I will be waiting for you to e-mail me with the following details so we can make concrete arrangement very soon .
  
Name:
Address:
City:
State:
Zip code:
Home phone number:
Cell phone number:
Age:
   
Will be waiting to read your mail soon.

Very Respectful

Egnr. Bradson Andrews"


Joshua did some more digging and found that this scam has been running for about 5 years. They run the same ad and send out the same email. It appears they want a "money mule".  
According to Wikipedia a "Money Mule or a Money Mule scam refers to a type of online scam that involves the victim unwittingly transferring either stolen money or stolen merchandise from one country to another. Characteristically, it is from the country of the victim where the money or merchandise was originally stolen, to the country of the scammer."

After Stefani's "investigation" it appears that the organization targets small towns and small newspapers. Please pass this information along to any of your teacher friends whether they are "big city" or "small town". Thanks!

God's Blessings,


Joshua and Stefani

Joshua's 28th Birthday

In the busyness of Lent we managed to celebrate Joshua's birthday.
After Sunday service the congregation surprised Joshua (and me) with a mini-birthday party. There was singing, cake, and fellowship. I was able to get a few pictures of cake.

 Yummy cake.

Happy Birthday!



On Thursday March 4th, his actually birthday, we had take out pizza. It was from our favorite place in town, Manzana's. The following Saturday we spent the afternoon in Gaylord. We saw a movie and had dinner at a Chinese buffet. We really enjoyed spending a rare afternoon together. 

We had some interesting visitors on Joshua's birthday...wild turkeys! We had 26 turkeys in our backyard at one time. It was quite a sight! Stefani scared them off before she could take a picture. Four more came to visit a few days later and Stefani was able to snap a few photos. 

They are munching on apples.

 Gobble Gobble!


God's Blessings,
Joshua and Stefani