Has anyone else had this happen? You list a 20-25 year old car on eBay or Craig's List and get an email is very poor english saying a check will be send and someone will be there to collect the car. The "Winner" is out of the country of halfway across the counrty. Happened to me twice, just wondering what goes through these peoples minds.
i dont know anyone that would actually fall for that shit,,, but they still try,,,, REALLY annoying,,,,
Friend fell for it- lost the money AND the car. I just got one of those messages yesterday- called him out and they didn't respond.
I am liking your good very well. Please advise me the final price and my agent with make of you contact.
the car leaves after I have counted the cash money... be it at the house, or the bank, where ever- never surrender the car/title until there is cash in hand.
You would think people weren't dumb enough to fall for it, I have a friend who works for Wamu here in california, says people bring in those 'money orders' and 'checks' weekly and they have to break the news to them about the scam.
Had a friend with the same mentality and the check they gave him cashed just fine at the bank, 5G's in his pocket. then 2 weeks later they found out the money order was fake, he never sent the car, was going to wait for the money order to clear, good think he did. Anthony
It's kinda shocking that people still go for it, but it happens. I had to convince my aunt that the guy selling the year old Acura for $7K wasn't legit. "But he says he's in the Army and can get it shipped really cheap. Should I at least call him back?" "The car looks really good in the pictures...." The seller ones always want Western Union, and the buyer ones send you a fake check that you cash and either send them a portion of the money for "shipping costs" or they take your car after your check "clears" and then you find out a month later that it was fake and you're on the line for it.
I get those all of the time. "I am interested in item for sale. Please send address so I can send check." I usually respond with a couple of questions. Since Craigslist viewers are usually local I ask them to name the governor of my state and tell me what they plan to use my "item" for. I never get any responses after that. A while ago a friend was trying to sell a Cadillac. He got a response from someone overseas wanting to buy it that claimed to have someone local to pick it up. My friend figured it could be legit so he told them to send the cash. A week later he got a check with the envelope postmarked from Florida and a check drawn from a bank in New York. He brought the check to his bank and asked them to look into it to see if was real. A day or so later he got a call from the CIA and they came and took the envelope and confiscated the check as evidence in part of an investigation. Never heard fromthat buyer again. I'm guessing the scam works by them sending you a check (fake) and then sending someone to pick up whatever it is for sale before you can try to cash it. Personally, I don't know why someone in Africa would be trying to scam me out of 70 year old Ford parts but it happens every time I list anything... Jay
hahaha i tell them to send their wife with a bag of cash, i will be making a movie with her and my dog for no extra charge hahahahahaha i had one guy admit it was a scam and wanted to know if i wanted to help him out hahaha cocksuckers
I know a guy who had a trans am on ebay, they did the overpay scam on him, borrowed 4k from grandpa to send the guy his money from the balance, but luckily didnt loose the car. He even made 2400 off the car when it sold the second time. The sad thing was he was selling to get the $$$ to get out of jail.
Thanks, Good to know I'm not the only one to get these replies. Just trying to move old daily drivers, wonder what they do with the ones they do get? Guess if the checks bounce they just scrap them.
he scam works the other to almost got caught, a fine muscle car being sold for 20-30% of true price and asks you to send a check, but i said i would drive to pick up car and bring cash. there was no car
If the car is too crappy, no one ever comes to get it. As long as you sent them money back, they're not going to cut into their $4000 or whatever to spend half that to come get a car barely worth $500.
If it is a gmail or hotmail account...it's a SCAM. Those are free accounts that don't collect much personal info. I set up an email account for ANY replies to items I have listed for sale. I had one "guy" ask if I accepted a check. I said,Sure...If it's wrapped around a stack of cash! Never heard from "him" again.
i want very much your car. i am send you one check for 50,000. you can give me 42,000 change? thank you please.
Yes, this subject has come up here before. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16669 http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=281667 http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=260410 http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=256384 http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=234610 http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23190 http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=201909 http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=165514 http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=136290 http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=128736 http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=127773 http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=118992 http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=114025 http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=107131 http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=60800 http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=54002 http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=51045 http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=48770 http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28947 http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=41407 http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=36419 http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=34810 http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=33752 http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=33469 http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=25625 http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=25613 http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15404 http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10371 http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7666
i had one guy add me on yahoo messenger to try and scam me. he asked if my car was still for sale and i said which one? he said he'd buy them all for 5k a piece for his car dealership. after a few more questions he gave up.
Just tell them to send the money to their "shipper" and when he picks it up have him pay you in cash.
One time I had a guy going forever. He wrote about an engine I had for sale, 2nd response I had I changed it to car. Next email to him I hoped he would be happy with his new boat. Then the next I asked for info on where to ship his limo. I couldnt really go much bigger than those, so the following email...you guessed it...an airplane! Dude never caught on. Serious.
I see from other threads, everyone recommends a wire transfer. A friend of mine bought Hilborn Injectors he found on ebay. 2nd chance offer for $600. He contacted the seller, who claims the injector was in England but he was in New York on business. He wired the money and never got the item. I asked him if he ever read the ebay warning about 2nd chance offers and wire transfers. He said no. He lost his $600. Unfortunately, because of the scams, I will only buy or sell, face to face transactions now.
This isn't exactly the same scam, but here's what Happened to me. I had a truck listed on ebay with a "buy it now" price. some one used the "buy it now" to purchase the truck, or so I thought. over the next few days, I waited for a response from the buyer, but never recieved any. I then used the ebay option to find the contact information for the person that bought the truck. When you use this feature, Ebay also sends the other party your contact information. the buyer's information was bogus, so I pursued a refund from ebay, which takes 30 days. about a month after this incident I try to log onto my Ebay account but it wont accept my password. my account had been hacked and was being used for fraudulant auctions. I figure that the person who used the "buy it now" feature for my truck, was able to gain enough personal data using the contact info that ebay sent them (possibly through a background check), to access my account using the "forgot your password?" feature. This was a pain to get straightened out.
Craiglist, I was looking at a harley that was reasonable. After contacting the guy, no email just a phone number (probably a pre-pay), we made an arrangement to look at the bike. I was to meet this guy at a home depot where I would follow him to a warehouse were he had many awesome bikes. Best to bring cash because their going fast. I decided to pass on it... go figure. Later he emailed me telling me to watch my back. Gee, thats were my 357 is.
Got a check once from Circuit City,it was for 30some thousand dollars,Said I won a sweepstake for a $100,000. all I had to do was send them back 10 grand for handling charges. took the check to Circuit city told them they could have the whole check for one of those big screen TVs, only about $2000.They said it sounded good to them except their checks weren't drawn on a bank from South Africa. Had a boat for sale once online.A guy called from somewhere far away, said he was going to send me a check. I asked how he knew it wasn't junk? If the motors ran? He said I sounded honest. I told him he didn't sound honest.
No matter what you have to be careful, never let your car, or stuff, go without cash, if it's a wire transfer check with the bank to be sure they actually received the funds and if it's a cashiers check, take it to the bank and have them call the maker to be sure it's legit. These days people make fake cashiers checks.
Here you go read all about it. http://www.ebolamonkeyman.com/ If your selling it either a bank to bank account transfer (not your personal account either). Good banks have house accounts they can use for this with reference notes to get it for you the customer. It is generally FREE! Or use good old CASH. And check the bills with a marker too.
i used to work for FedEx and had a lady come in that got taken for $4700 on the check part. On top of that she still lost the package of $1200 in f'ing make-up to the "buyer" in Nigeria.
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