Kester Ed

I listed a tractor for sale on Craigslist and was contacted by a Kester Ed (kesteredworld111@gmail.com and kesteredworld@gmail.com)who wanted to buy the tractor for $5000. He said that he was in the military and could not pick the tractor up or send a payment for the tractor through the mail. He wanted to hire a shipper to pick the tractor up and ship it to his son in Poland as a gift. The shipper would charge $995. He wanted to pay through paypal, so I opened a paypal account to accept his payment. Instead of paying for the tractor via paypal, he requested that I wire money via Western Union for the $995 shipping fee to a shipper's address he provided. He would then repay me for the shipping and the tractor with $5995 via paypal. This was a red flag, so I stopped communication with him and wrote this report. I included some of his emails below.

"Good to have your reply,I am Kester Ed, from southwest VA and would have love to come for further face to face inspection at your residence myself, but I am a US Army Reserves working as a flight doctor under the auspices of the aircraft Maintenance here in Virginia. I am buying this for my son in Warsaw,Poland, as a surprise gift and understand i want you assure me it's in condition described. I will appreciate more pictures if available and will be sending your money asap. My shipper will be available to pick this up as soon as payment is made. Do you have paypal account? because, I have a paypal account that I can easily send money through because, its good for business payments. Get back to me with your paypal email address and name in order for me to have your money sent on time. Confirm sale to me and remove the add from posting".

Regards

CDT. Kester Ed,
US Army Reserves
F. Co 5-159th AVN RGT
Aviation Ops Spec. {15p}

"Having concluded all arrangement with the shipper, my agent will come over to take care of it, this is to notify you that I will be sending your money shortly. I will also be adding the shippers money to the total amount I am sending and this is due to the fact that, I am presently busy here at the Marine base and have no permission to move out of the base to complete this transaction and have no other means of sending the shippers money directly. So, I implore you to proceed to any Western Union Money Transfer outlet and have the excess funds sent from your pocket to the shippers information asap via Western Union Money Transfer and get back to paypal via email with the transfer details so that paypal can complete the full processing of your money into your account after all transaction data (Western Union Money Transfer details) is confirmed by paypal. As an added security measures, paypal will also confirm my shippers identity to you on the payment confirmation page that you will receive in your paypal email address as soon as I have your money sent."

"I have sent your money and you must have been notified by paypal now. Check your paypal email address thoroughly including your spam folder for the payment confirmation. The said funds have been deducted from my account. So,I added extra 50 busks for the western union service charges,Kindly proceed to the nearest Western Union Money Transfer office asap and get the excess funds sent from your pocket to the shipper head office in Warsaw via Western Union Money Transfer and send the Western Union Money Transfer details to paypal in order for your funds to be fully processed into your account by paypal after all transaction data is confirmed. So get back to paypal via mail "with the details on the receipt that will be given to you at the Western Union Money Transfer office after you have had the money sent" in order for paypal to complete the full processing of your funds and your money made available for cash out in your account. Here is the shippers information that the Western Union Money Transfer should be sent to below:"

Below is the Shippers Information:

Name: Nwite Chinaka Ida
Address: ul. Marszalkowska 101
city/state: warsaw
Zip code: 00001
Country: Poland

"I will like to bring to your attention that I am an honorable man and will love to notify you that Western Union Money Transfer is an independent money transfer agents and there is absolutely no way for me or my shipper or anybody to receive the money sent via Western Union"