I received the deceased spouse email featuring a like-new Yamaha Upright in high gloss black with a player mechanism on it. I almost fell for it because I get legitimate free piano emails often. However, legitimate free piano emails are almost always a 50+ year old spinet piano, which I always decline. What almost fooled me was that this person wrote in normal english. Usually scam emails are written in an "English as a second language" type of text. Here is how I figured out it was a scam:
1: I used the online white pages to find out there was no such person by that name in the state he claimed to be moving from
2: The moving company he refereed me to had an excessively generic website with no tangible information on it.
3. The moving company's facebook page hadn't had a post in over two years and their entire facebook page had a total of only two pictures.
4. When I called the moving company, It went straight to voicemail. The recording didn't offer any company info, it just said, "You have reached the voicemail of (xxx) xxx-xxxx".
5. When I looked up reviews of the company, there were none to be found.
But up until that point, he really did almost trick me. Even to the point that I told my wife we were getting a free Yamaha.
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Gary Howell
Buckeye Piano Tuning
Massillon OH
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-13-2022 22:32
From: James Kelly
Subject: Free Piano Scam is back.....
This past week I got two offers for a free piano . I wonder how many people on the internet get hooked by these fishing schemes. I also wonder how many members of the PTG will get the same email since they tend to make the rounds. I did not respond . One was the deceased spouse pitch and the other scammer said her son gave up lessons
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James Kelly
Owner- Fur Elise Piano Service
Pawleys Island SC
843-325-4357
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