I smell a scam . . .

[britechguy]

Not that this sort of thing is unheard of, but I've never gotten an e-mail message quite like this one. The message shows no name, just two hyphens, and the domain it comes from is erbel.us, which makes it all the stranger. I have no intention of replying, as that only lets these scammers know it's a good address to sell/resell.

-----------------------
Hi there Brian,

First of all, sorry for any speeling or grammar mistakes as english is not my mother tongue.

My name is [redacted], and I'm from/living in Germany. Well, reason I write you is because I want to help a friend living in your county. I want to inquire from you if you'd be able to custom build an midprice PC (not more than 1,500USD), and what rates you'd charge to get all the parts and of course build it.

I know this is not your typical request and by far not normal, but my friend is technologically... not the best and I'd rather have someone with experience built this thing than sending the parts to him.

Thanks already for an answer.

Kate
-----------------------

 

[Blues]

I too wouldn't trust it but it is one of the most convincing things I have read if it weren't for the display name and email address details I might be more inclined to believe it.

 

[Porthos]

I would answer that email with sure, CASH in advance.

 

[Sky-Knight]

Get paid via Venmo or something similar that cannot be reversed up front, then move. But I suspect even if you respond that won't happen. This sort of thing tends to be a CC scam.

 

[britechguy]

Well, since I don't even do custom builds, and have no desire to start, I couldn't even agree with a "cash in advance" stipulation.

 

[Porthos]

Well, since I don't even do custom builds, and have no desire to start, I couldn't even agree with a "cash in advance" stipulation.

Same here.

 

[britechguy]

For my own amusement and desire to see what happens, I replied in the negative on doing the build.

I fully expect that I will not receive any reply. If it's a scammer/spammer, filters can take care of ensuing mail if need be.

 

[timeshifter]

One of the biggest red flags is why the hell would someone who is computer illiterate want a custom build?

 

[britechguy]

@timeshifter: Or even know what a custom build is?

I don't ever want the responsibility that comes for "after care" with a custom build. I might do one for myself (but never have, yet) but will never do them for others.

There are tons of excellent machines out there for any given demographic and where getting support for them if something dies "in short order" is typically a warranty claim.

 

[Sky-Knight]

@britechguy Yep, anymore these days if someone wants a custom box, heck even if my kids want one... I just get a Dell Optiplex Refurb with the CPU / RAM in it I want, and get a GPU.

Or at least that's what I did before the GPUs went bonkers.

 

[Markverhyden]

Scam. And the decision to not reply in any fashion is the best choice. One never knows how much spare time these people have on their hands. Doing something that ticks them off just might put you on a permanent poo list for never ending attacks. It's really amazing what these doxers can come up with for victims who are very active on the Internet, especially social media.

Emails from overseas aren't unusual. But they happen. I've done Cisco work in the US for a company based in Brazil. Early on I let them know I was born in Brazil and still speak Portuguese. Got a couple of scam emails last year in Portuguese using a common method to prevent bad links from being filtered, redirects to on files OneDrive and Google Drive which contain the actual redirects.

 

[Markverhyden]

One of the biggest red flags is why the hell would someone who is computer illiterate want a custom build?

And many more. No reference to where their "friend" is. No reference to why they picked @britechguy who'd only show up on a search if it specified his area. It's not like Amazon just came out yesterday. Only an idiot would not pick a purchase choice that would include returns and warranty options. The list goes on.

 

[GTP]

@britechguy It's a scam. I get these emails often.

I don't ever want the responsibility that comes for "after care" with a custom build. I might do one for myself (but never have, yet) but will never do them for others.

This statement makes me a bit queasy but I respect your opinion.
I've been building custom systems since day one of my business. I can truly say that I've never had one back for a warranty claim within the standard 12 months of the sale and very very rarely outside that 12 months.

Building custom systems allows a greater freedom to select parts that make a better system imho.

On the opposite side of the coin I've had many, many customers who purchased directly from Dell, HP etc and have asked me for help with warranty claims well within the warranty period.

 

[Diggs]

Building custom systems allows a greater freedom to select parts that make a better system imho.

There's no real reason to build something other than a custom gaming rig (IMHO) and I have been frustrated too many times by other gaming rigs brought to me to fix where I couldn't. It's not like you can change out a $750 GPU or $300 MB because it "might" be having an issue. It goes back to the other thread of "no fix, no fee" and a kids gaming rig just isn't worth the trouble to me.

 

[britechguy]

Building custom systems allows a greater freedom to select parts that make a better system imho.

I'm not going to even attempt to argue that. A good custom-built system is like a bespoke suit.

That being said, all I said is that I do not have, and never will have, the slightest desire to become "a tailor." That's someone else's calling.

 

[Blues]

I wish I could offer custom systems and get the money some people do I would enjoy it very much but sadly like many here there just isn't a market for it as a full time business and without the I can't have the supply chain to reliably do it in the current supply status.

 

[fincoder]

I mostly only do custom builds for gamers, ones that are just getting into it so they don't know enough to buy parts and build themselves.

But lately because of OEM PC supply shortages and price rises, I've built a few ordinary home/office PCs as well. One advantage is storage, because the aftermarket SSD prices are so cheap. 1TB NVMe is affordable in a basic home PC, but costs much more in factory-built PCs. Next year there might also be an advantage in regards to OS version, some customers will likely prefer Windows 10 over factory-installed Windows 11 PCs. They can easily upgrade to Windows 11 for free after it's matured a little. PC components are currently well priced and available, except for graphics cards of course!

I also have some customers that bring in their PCs for upgrade/rebuilds. Case/PSU re-used, storage drives retained, OS re-activates. More affordable than a new PC.

There is still a market here for custom PCs.