suspicious of a potential buyer...your thoughts/opinions please

[Matt R Miller]

I'm a little suspicious of a buyer that I am in contact with regarding my Cirrus that I'm selling. He appears to be from Canada, which makes things all the more difficult. Here are the emails he has sent me. I guess I'm just wondering if anything looks fishy to any of you. There is no one trick that it looks like he might pull, but I just have this feeling...

Hello,
I saw your advert over the web and am much interested in buying it. I live in CANADA,I will be responsible for the shippment down to my location, so please kindly write me back with your last offering price.I will also need some of its recent pics,and will like to know its present condition .I am Looking forward to your soonest reply.
MY REGARDS AND WILL LIKE YOU TO CONTACT ME DIRECTLY WITH MY EMAIL ADDRESS

so that one seems ok, but then as we continue...

Greetings,
Everything sounds well and am okay with the prize $850 and I will be offering you $900 for it so i will want you to keep other buyer's off.Concerning payment I have a friend in the state who is ready to issue you a Certified Cashier's check in Usa funds since I don't have the funds in your currency. For convinient and easy transaction, I have a liable shipping agent who'd be responsible for the shipping as soon as you receive payment for the PEAVEY .I will therefore need the following information of yours to forward to my friend before he sends the check.....
NAME IN FULL........
ADDRESS IN FULL..........
STATE..............
ZIPCODE........
COUNTRY.........
CELL/OFFICE/HOME PHONE NUMBER.......
I await your soonest reply
MY REGARDS

so at this point the whole "shipping agent" thing is a little weird, and offering me more money for no reason? well i gave him my address so he/his friend could send the money, and then:

Greetings ,
Thanks for the reply and the information you sent . I have just called my client now and he has said he'd be sending a check of $4200 to your contact address in which you will remove the asking price $900 after cashing it in local check cashing store or in any western union office close to your area and an extra $100 for your running around and then wire the balance to the shipper that he will use for all his flight charges and all other shipping charges and for the insurance of the (PEAVEY) when being shipped, I hope I can trust you on this?So you will be getting the check next week,The information of the shipper will probably be sent alongside the check. I will notify you if he has sent it. Looking forward to completing this transaction w/ you.Get back to me asap.
NOTE: ALL CASHING FEES AND WESTERN UNION CHARGES SHOULD BE DEDUCTED FROM THER SHIPPING FUNDS.
REGARDS AND HERE IS MY CONTACT INFORMATION
edited out

so all this makes it even a little more suspicious...and where does he get $4200 from? even if that was CAN, it would still be well over $3000 US.

so then i ask this fellow for the contact info of his friend...

hello matthew,
i am sorry i dont think he will be free to call you, and also i cannot call you now cause my line is out of work but as soon as it is back online i will give you a call and let you know the situation of things.

this is what put me over the edge. this has trouble written all over it.

so what do you guys think? i really appreciate any thoughts/advice.

[David Wilson]

SCAM!

[pointbass]

Run away as far and as fast as you can

Absolutely a scam, a frioend of mine just got burned for over $2500 on a BS deal like this, only for drums.

DON'T DO IT!!!!!!!

[paintandsk8]

yep, thats definetly a scam, I didn't even have to read past midway through the second e-mail.

[silent method]

its a scam, stay away he will give you a check for 4200 you cash it and give him the extra, then the check comes back as being fake and you owe the bank the differance becuase you took out the money and gave it to him

[Basschair]

I've been selling some of my stuff on C's list in the SF bay area, and I get those emails on a daily basis. Canada, Africa, UK, and various eastern bloc countries. Run far, far away.

[The Mule]

100% SCAM, many variations of that money trick around, global problem...

[JimS]

Flee !

(I don't mean Flea either.)

[silent method]

Originally Posted by Basschair

I've been selling some of my stuff on C's list in the SF bay area, and I get those emails on a daily basis. Canada, Africa, UK, and various eastern bloc countries. Run far, far away.

dont be putting down canada though man, i do most of my buying in the states and i am from canada and never had any trouble, look at my feedback, although only 2 entrys it will be growing

[ras broos]

If he actually does send you the bad check it's postal fraud. If you feel like jerking his chain, turn all the material over to the feds and let them deal with the guy. Just don't fall for it.

[Steve Clark]

A Canadian would never do anything as underhanded. We're peace loving, avoid conflict, would never rip anyone off . . . .

Wait a sec, that's what our government is doing with the tax $. Sponsorship scandal leads to $million investigation that costs way more than the sponsorship scandal which leads to snap election which also costs $millions.

I submit that the Canadian government is trying to buy your bass with my money. Run away.

[Tritone]

Forward this to him....

http://www.fbi.gov/

[The Mule]

Originally Posted by Steve Clark

I submit that the Canadian government is trying to buy your bass with my money. Run away.

Like that one!

[chief ten beers]

dude i can't even believe you engaged him as far as you did.I had a ton of emails sent to me when i posted gear online and they were similarily worded...they are all scammers.I would either immediately delete them or i'd tell them to go f themselves.It's really funny how they word their emails, much too overly formal and almost everyone i recieved were worded almost exactly like yours.don't even think about it

[MAJOR METAL]

Dont let them know where you live.

[purfektstranger]

I live in Canada and buy stuff from online auction sellers in the US all the time. Getting a US dollar money order from any bank here takes about five minutes. Tell this guy where to go........

[pocket sand]

Was the guy that offered to buy your Cirrus named Martins Bartons? I received that exact same email a few months ago.

[bassteban]

I know he's my friend because he offered to pay $100 over my asking price(I'll list the item here when I get around to supporting)- even using the word "prize". I think I hurt his feelings when I said I would not do a third-party transaction; he hasn't contacted me since.

[matthewfoote]

This sounds very much like a variation on the good old "Advance fee fraud".

It goes like this. I have a cheque fo $5000 which I will send to you to pay for goods of a lesser value. Please be kind enough to take your cut for the goods and a little more for your trouble and then send the difference back to me.

The cheque is a forgery/stolen [take your pick] and you end up trying to pay in a worthless cheque whilst haveing paid out good money of your own.

This fraud started in Nigeria and is called a 419 fraud after statute 419 of their penal code. It usually involves a fake letter from a person claiming to be from the Nigerian state oil company saying he has access to $10,000,000+ but to get it out of the country he needs some up front money say $20,000 which he wants you to send him. For your trouble he will pay you say 20% of the $10m [$2m]for your trouble. Only thing is when you send him your money he and it vanishes.

Tempting isn't it but you will get burned.

Please leave it well alone.

Matthew

[Brendan]

You know it's a form letter when he doesn't even mention the item he's buying.