Selling a bass by strange means

[WRXbase]

I put one of my basses up for sale on here and craigslist. A guy contacted me through craigslist wanting it, and willing to pay over the amount, to secure it for himself. That's not TOO out there.

Now it gets odd. He wanted to do, was mail me a check, and have a "moving company" come to my house and pick the bass up. Then his personal assistant mailed me a check for an amount FAR over the price, meant for someone else. It seems his PA is a total foul-up b/c he had to send it to my over-night, vise regular mail.

To solve the overage problem, he wants me to wire the overage money to someone in CA, less my cost.

Oh, and from how "he" writes, it seems like english is NOT his first language. It's not bad, but not totally on the money. No pun intended.

Almost forgot. I've told him I want to contact the package carrier myself and/or drop it off to them.


How do I proceed, fellow bottom feeders?

[McCalister999]

That sounds unbelievably sketchy, I'd run like Hell if I were you.

[BurningSkies]

You're kidding, right?

[curandero]

That's a scam all over craigslist.

[Balog]

I'm assuming you are being sarcastic here.

On the off chance you aren't, it's a scam.

[WRXbase]

I know it seems WAY off base, but what the ___ do I do? Unfortunately I'm too scrupulous to just deposit the check and stiff the buyer. I'm kinda lost, honestly.

[curandero]

I'd proceed by boxing up some dog turds and let his "moving company" pick up those. ;-)

[Balog]

Originally Posted by WRXbase

I know it seems WAY off base, but *** do I do? Unfortunately I'm too scrupulous to just deposit the check and stiff the buyer. I'm kinda lost, honestly.

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[mrpackerguy]

It's one of the classic scams. I suggest you google and read up on the common ones to save yourself the headaches.

[username n/a]

Don't listen to these guys. This is totally liegit. Trust me.

[Jared Lash]

Originally Posted by WRXbase

I know it seems WAY off base, but what the ___ do I do? Unfortunately I'm too scrupulous to just deposit the check and stiff the buyer. I'm kinda lost, honestly.

You can deposit it all you want, it will bounce. The only money that will change hands will be the "overage" money you send him.

Tear up the check and be done with it.

[WRXbase]

Wow. That took a min. I feel like a tard.

Got a lot of personal stuff going on and I've been in problem solving mode.

Gents, thanks for letting me see the series of evens typed out, slowing me down.

[jojobean39]

Nigerian 419 overpayment scam.

I'm going to go out on a limb here. I'll guess that he is emailing you from a yahoo address? If not yahoo, then gmail? Now, if he's using yahoo (or non-gmail), do me a favour and check the IP address. I'll go even further and say that I'll bet he is from Western Africa. More specifically Nigeria. Even more specifically, Lagos, Nigeria. Ask for a phone number. I'll bet it has a +234 country code. Maybe a +44, if he spent the time to get a re-routed number.

Oh, and one more thing... I'll bet my bass collection he wants you to send the "difference" to him via Moneygram or Western Union.

Do me a favour and let me know how many of those I got right please.

[Balog]

Here's a good resource, although it has some NSFW stuff.

http://www.419baiter.com/

[WRXbase]

Originally Posted by jojobean39

Nigerian 419 overpayment scam.

I'm going to go out on a limb here. I'll guess that he is emailing you from a yahoo address? If not yahoo, then gmail? Now, if he's using yahoo (or non-gmail), do me a favour and check the IP address. I'll go even further and say that I'll bet he is from Western Africa. More specifically Nigeria. Even more specifically, Lagos, Nigeria. Ask for a phone number. I'll bet it has a +234 country code. Maybe a +44, if he spent the time to get a re-routed number.

Oh, and one more thing... I'll bet my bass collection he wants you to send the "difference" to him via Moneygram or Western Union.

Do me a favour and let me know how many of those I got right please.

1: Gmail
2: Private ip / blocked
3: see 2
4: never got that far
5: Western Union

[jojobean39]

Not bad eh?

[MakiSupaStar]

Did he refer to your bass as an "item" or other non de-script term?

[MatticusMania]

Go for it, but keep the overage amount. Get rich quick man!

[Stampy]

Wow totally looks to be a scam. I'm learning a lot here myself.

[MatticusMania]

If you wanted to sell your bass via some strange means you could have strapped it on your back and wandered around a Home Depot parking lot asking people 'psst, wanna buy a bass'