I recently received an email from a Brew Smith asking me to come to England and build a memorial sculpture. He said he had seen my website and was very impressed (while I am also a sculptor, there are no sculptures on my website [charlesmoffat.com] so immediately warning bells went off). He was offering to pay $9000 USD plus all my expenses.

Mr Smith then asked me to contact a "Dr Edward Alex" of the British High Commission in order to get my work permit... Dr Edward Alex then responded (from a Gmail address no less, not a .gov.uk address!) asking for some paperwork and 160 pounds sent to him in HIS name, not in the name of the British High Commission.

Of course I was already on to him. Work permit scams are apparently very common in the UK. I checked the IPs and they were both coming from the same location.

I offered to go get the work permit from British Consulate in Toronto (a mere 30 minute walk from my home) and he promptly ignored that suggestion, insisting I send the money to Edward Alex. (Oh and neither one of these people can spell properly... horrible English skills for Brits! And they LIKE USING BLOCK LETTERS A LOT IN AN IDIOTIC EFFORT TO LOOK OFFICIAL.)

I ended up playing with him, saying I didn't have enough money for the work permit, could he please send me $50 by PayPal... he said he phoned "Dr Edward Alex" and said a lesser payment would be okay.

I am going to continue playing with him as long as I can. The more time he wastes on me the less time he will spend trying to scam other people.