I received this email yesterday:

GoodDay,

I will like to make an enquiry about your lesson and the cost per hour. Pls
let me know cos i have a son that will be coming on vacation at your state
and i will like him to enrol for the lesson pls get back to me asap.
Jim Willy.

I was guessing this was a scam. No mention of an oboe. A mention of “your state” but not naming it. And no questions about my qualifications or anything. But I went ahead and replied, asking some specific but simple questions and referring the sender to my website which lists what I charge and other important information.

Here’s the response:

Dear Patricia,
Thanks for the mail,I hope you will be able to give my son the best of knowlegde in the training cos we are far apart from each other, i based in London but he school in Canada but will be coming down to the state for a month vacation in the state so i will like to inform you that pending the time he will be in the state you will be taking him basis on 30 minutes for 3 days a week making 12 days for the month he will be staying for the vacation.Pls i want the best of knowlegde for him cos he is so dear to me and i really want him to be perfect in this lesson……Pls get back to me with the cost for whole 12 days and if there is any expenses that you will like to charge with it let me know so we can proceed on payment discussion cos i want this to be settle before his arrival.
Regards
Jim Willy

Uh-huh. Right. Not one answer to my questions.

So I wrote to the IDRS list and received a reply.

This is, indeed a scam. The person then sends a bogus check to me that is too large, and I’m supposed to send back the extra money.

Now I’m a very gullible person at times. FAR too gullible. But does the scammer really think I’d take a check that was too large, cash it, and, without waiting to make sure it was any good, send him some money? If he thinks that, he’s more stupid than I!

So if any of you readers receive this email as well, you might just ignore it. Or, heck, have fun with the guy. If you have enough time on your hands and don’t mind wasting it.
—–