Every now and then we gentle inhabitants of the "Shell World" receive
offers that seem in some respect "too good to be true", such as
wonderful trade offers that have us seeing Cypraea fultoni fultoni and
giant, near-gem specimens of other desirable species dancing before our
eyes (or perhaps huge orders for Pectinidae, that must be sent "as soon
as possible".....).   Most often, these offers truly are exactly what
our intuition tells us at first examination: too good to be real.  There
will always be fraud-artists and thieves in the world, and our little
community is of course not immune from them, sad to say.  Therefore, we
must exercise due caution, and take reasonable precautions to ensure we
are not taken in: ask for and check references, for example.  This does
not mean we should become paranoid and start circulating lists of
suspected cheats and other malfeasants as has been occasionally done in
the past, but it does mean that we should be as careful as we deem
nessessary to protect ourselves in this imperfect world.
        I was also approached by the "Evhen" below, but did not bite his lures
because his references did not pan out, and he asked for very little in
comparison to the value of what he offered,  and refused to send the
registration number for his initial package: entirely too many Red Flags.

Take Care, my friends in Warmer Climes!,
Ross M.

ubject:
                  Warning: Bad collector from Ukrania
        Date:
                  Tue, 5 Mar 2002 10:12:07 -0300
       From:
                  Marcus Coltro <[log in to unmask]>

Various friends here in Brazil received an e-mail from Ukrania from a
guy saying he had very nice shells to trade.  He sends very nice lists
with amazing shells for incredible prices. Then he asks for your lists
and tell you he will be sending his shells on the same time you send
yours.

I don't need to tell you will never see any shell coming.

If you don't send any shell or say you will be waiting for his parcel,
he says he received back his parcel from the post office destroyed and
then offers very common and cheap shells from Europe (these he probably
really have)

He did that with two friends at the same time: he offered his second
grade list to a friend who wanted to see first his shells, and to the
other friend he offered the nice list.

He changes e-mails and names (even gender!) - my friend received this
one:

Evhen Hryshyn.

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