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Do people actually fall for this?
- Thread starter tb-player
- Start date
My question is, does anyone actually fall for such an obvious attempt? I guess someone must have if people are still trying this nonsense.
If even 1 out of 1000 people fall for it, it can be profitable.
Just read about a rise in Zelle scams in today's paper.
Only if she sends noods.....I have a beautiful fretless for sale (possibly) here and on Reverb.
Today I received a DM on the Reverb listing from 'Lauren Smith' asking me to email her mom, who is interested in my bass. (Yeah, this sounds legit... lol)
I have an anonymous email I can use if I'm not sure who I'm talking to. So, just for fun I emailed the 'mom' asking her to please reply with any questions.
A few minutes later, I received an email reply from the 'mom' stating that her son was actually buying the bass. He wanted to buy the bass with a cashier's check and have a long-haul courier pickup the instrument once the funds had cleared my bank. All I had to do is reply with my name, address, phone number and the price of the bass.
Of course, I ignored the email and marked it as spam. And the original Reverb message is being reported to Reverb support as a scam.
My question is, does anyone actually fall for such an obvious attempt? I guess someone must have if people are still trying this nonsense.
In short - yes.
I've met them. And I don't know how, but they're not always the people you would think the dumbest. Possibly just too trusting and inexperienced? I don't know. But yeah, it happens.
Pretty much all the people I know who have gotten taken by such scams suck it up because they know they were fools. They let it go quickly, lol.
That being said - when I was 18 yrs old I had just gotten paid $60 cash for my part time job. It was 1979, 2 days before xmas, and I stumbled upon a 3 card monte guy on a corner. I just watched. I knew I had this guy beat and threw down a 20 so I could have more xmas shopping money. I knew I couldn't lose. When he turned the card and I lost I was dumfounded. Felt like I got punched in the face. It took the guy about 90 seconds to get my other 40. Nothing like that has EVER happened to me again.
Ah hem... that kinda makes me one of those people, huh? OK. I'm outta here now.
Was that you? Across the street from Macy's in midtown? I only ask because I dropped $50 in the exact same fashion. It was a long train ride home especially after realizing that the little old lady who won and the homeless guy looking out for the cops were all on the same team.
I read it fine the first time, this is the part that vexes me. If the check is fake, it won't clear the bank.
The way it works is that it takes time to clear, even if the bank credits your account. In the meantime, either you've given your item to the scammers or there is the thing where they send you a check for more than the cost of your item and ask you to refund part to whoever accepts the item from you. By the time the bank rejects the fake cashiers check, you are out the item, the extra money you refunded and the charge from the bank for depositing a bad check.
Aha! Thanks for the lesson in CRIME! Muaha!
We don't have checks in my country, so I had no idea how that worked. Why do they credit it to you if it hasnt cleared tho? Sounds like the bank is an equal partner in this scam.
