"Billy Crane," shame on you!

My dad has been trying to sell four cemetery plots that he inherited from my grandparents back in 1998 -- because they are located all the way up in Falls Church, VA, there is no way anyone in our family would ever use them.

I've been trying to help him by listing them on several internet sites that list plots for sale. The other day, I got the first hit since I listed them. It was from a guy in the UK named Billy Crane claiming that his dad died in the US and he needed to buy a plot for him. I deferred contact to my father, since it's his deal, but both my dad and the "interested buyer" kept me in the loop.

He wanted to buy just one of the four plots, and when I explained to him that they couldn't be broken up, he was still interested. This seemed a little fishy to me since he lives in the UK (hence, why would he want to pay for three plots he wouldn't need, when he could buy just one from someone else), so I did some research online.

Good thing I did because I found this: Fraud Alert Information. If you scroll down to look at the sample correspondence, you can see the message from a guy named Billy Crane. Dude, he didn't even change his name!

I honestly don't know what's wrong with people. We went through a similar thing when we were trying to sell our Alfa Romeo a few years ago...people from overseas emailing to ask to buy it. The scams they run are pretty complicated, but it all comes down to a fake certified check and you out of money or property.

Be very careful when dealing with online financial transactions, and don't trust anyone overseas. There are a lot of sick fucks out there just dying to steal your hard-earned money. No pun intended.