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Possible online scam?

jobu3

jobu3

¿Huevos?!
Feb 17, 2002
4,509
512
119
Mountain Top, PA
#1
i am trying to sell a tobias growler. very nice bass just not a 5-string, anyway... i have it listed on here and at a classifieds-based site. i got some hits and after someone saying they will take the bass, here is what i get from them:


hello
thanks for ur reply well i will like to have the guitar for $800 cause i am
sending it to my son in holland
it is quite unfortunate that i am not going to be in town as from today cause i
am going on a business trip but with the discrption u gave me it is okay.
concerning payment i will instruct my business representative to
issue u a cashiers check of the above amount ($3400)to you, as soon as u receive
the check u will cash it then deduct the cost of your
guitar and wire the remaining balance of $2500 to my shipper via western union
money transfer in inorder to make arrangement in coming over with my personal
assitance for the pick up of the guitar u will make use of the extra $100 for
the running around.
my personal assitance will be coming with my shipper to make sure guitar is in
good condition.

all regisration papers will be handled by my shipper

if this okay by u pls i will need ur full name, adress and phone
number as it should be on the check.
thanks
awaits your soonest reply
Click to expand...


up come the red flags... i'm not comfortable running around with someone's extraneous $2000+ and wiring it to god-knows-where... i tell the person that i am not really comfortable doing so and that they should simply send the amount for the bass (along with a shipping address in the main 48 states) and do whatever they feel necessary with the rest.

reply comes back:

hello
i said i am sending u a check of $3400 whci u will cash and deduct the cost of
ur gitar and wire the remaining balance to my shipper who will come over to ur
location to pick up the guitar. he will use the money u will send to him to make
arrange ment to come over to ur location for the pick up.
Click to expand...

to which i reply: if the shipper is coming to me, why not send him/her all the necessary funds and have him/her pay me (with a cashier's check, money order, or flat out cash since there is apparently enough of it to go around) and do what needs to be done with the rest? as of yet, no reply... all this seems kind of not really worth it for the bass in question... i mean it's a good bass but it's well under a grand and not like it's an exotic alembic series I, or 50's p-bass, etc.

i'm thinking it has to do with some kind of ID theft or drugs, laundering of some sort... in any event, it is pretty bizarre! :eek: any thoughts, comments, and/or similar experiences are welcome.
:confused:
 
#3
I've gotten very similar emails when selling instruments on Ebay. It's a scam in my opinion, but I've never bothered to find out for sure. I don't acknowledge their emails with a response. My advice would be to hold out for someone in the good ol USA who can pay by cashiers check, money order or Paypal.
 
#9
The check that the buyer writes to you is bogus, but because it is an international check, it is shown as cleared by your bank after a couple of days. You write the buyer a legitimate check for the difference between the price for the goods, and the check he has written you. Several days or more later the check bounces, you have been taken for the goods, and for the amount of the check you wrote to the buyer.
 
#13
The typical AutoTrader E-MAil reply I'd get is: Helo Jones, i represent a buyer in Afrika relly like the car i get you check for $10k, you refund $6,500 difference, have title ready sign over, my friend will pick up. Please stop advertising car, thank you.

Heck Yeah it's a scam. Just reply stating your original price and terms plus, be explicit as to what forms of payment you accept(cash, certified funds drawn on a local bank to verify, ETC), that'll scare them off.
But save the letter you send, you'll need to use it again because you'll get tons of these types of scam offers.
 
#17
A good way to avoid this type of scam is probably to say in your auction that you do not take bids from International bidders. I've only heard of these scams having to deal with international shipment.

I personally don't ship international. Too much hassle.
 
#18
I got some guy named Thompson Selleck from Nigeria harassing me. I was randomly chosen from the billions of internet users to accept a deposit from him of several million dollars. He is such a trusting fella, and his grammar is far superior to any I have seen. :)

Just for kicks, go check out this site..Invalid Link Removed. Takes about an hour or so to read, but I woke my dog up I was laughing so hard when I read it the first time.

-Mike
 
#19
Originally posted by robertbrewster
The check that the buyer writes to you is bogus, but because it is an international check, it is shown as cleared by your bank after a couple of days. You write the buyer a legitimate check for the difference between the price for the goods, and the check he has written you. Several days or more later the check bounces, you have been taken for the goods, and for the amount of the check you wrote to the buyer.
Click to expand...

That's the scam. The international check or money order is bogus, but the banks cannot tell until a few weeks later. Even though they may "clear" into your account in a few days, they really won't clear for weeks. Once they bounce, the funds from the international check is removed from your account.
BTW, you can always call the money order company to make sure that the MO is legit. I do that whenever I get paid via MO.
 

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