Just wanted to get information out regarding a scammer who is currently operating under the name of Micheal Worns (spelled exactly that way), with an e-mail address of "royalversion1@gmail.com" He has also used an e-mail address of "royalversion1@yahoo.com."

He tried to scam a family member of mine buy offering to buy an item that was listed on Craigslist. In this particular case the game is to offer to buy the item for more than it was listed for (to cover shipping and other costs) and to ask that the item be sent to an address in Nigeria. If the seller balks at sending the item to Nigeria, he counters with a request to send it to a friend on Bromley Road in London, Kent, England.

The scammer states his desire to present the item as a surprise gift to his child and emphasizes the urgent nature of the transaction. He states that he will make his payment via Paypal, and asks that the item be sent when payment is received.

I discovered that this is a common approach: the scammer will try to find a way to send a fake e-mail to the seller from "Paypal" indicating that funds have been transferred into his account. Alternatively, the scammer will have a fake e-mail sent requesting a that a shipping or tracking number be provided in order to complete the money transaction.

I discovered his alternate e-mail by plugging in "royalversion" into a google search, and it returned this posting by a French e-bay user (also here is the Google English translation, which leaves a bit to be desired, but it gives the general sense):

http://questions-reponses.ebay.fr/th...adID=900017891

http://translate.google.com/translat...ari%26rls%3Den

If anything, this post will be one more hit that may be returned, should anyone else come across this scammer and do a Google seach for his e-mail address. In addition, I found a fake website that is obviously for show only:

www.royalversion.com

If anyone has any questions regarding this scammer, let me know.