www.chirpthird.com: Had a scammer working on me ...

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Posted by Orange 01 SS (Member # 1700) on :

I have my '93 Caprice for sale on a Caprice website for $3,750, and I got this e-mail message:

My name is Tom Smith,i am based inAfrica.I am interested in buying your for sale item.I am offering to pay ($3500) if my offer is acceptable to you then get back asap.For payment! would you accept a cashiers check withdrawn from a US bank?Expecting your mail soonest. Thank you

So like a dope, I sent this back:

It’s a good car, and I’m sure you’d like it. I would likely sell it for $3,500. I have more than that in it, but we’ve got a kid on the way, and I need money more than the car!
I guess I have a few questions for you, though. How would you get it? Are you stationed in Africa because you are in the military and live here, or would you need to send the car to Africa? I don’t know how to deal with shipping a car overseas.You’re also welcome to ask any questions that you may have about the car. It’s a really good car. I still get in it everyday and drive it without any reservations to my job about 40 miles from home. I get a suprising number of compliments on it, too! Of course, I’ve done a lot of the high maintenance stuff on it (as you can see from the ad), so it should be working good.
Anyway, feel free to give me a call or e-mail with any questions. I’d be glad to talk to you!

So I get this:

Hello
Thanks for the mail.For the pick up,have arranged forthat, my shipping agent will come for the pick up as soon as the payment is settled, I just contacted my client in the US who is going to make the payment for me as he is owing me some money and he said he wants to pay with cashiers check.I am not an American so you guys know the most preferable option. My client will be sending the check of $7,000 so i expect that the excess funds on it be sent back as this will be used for shipping arrangement.As soon as i get your full name and address including your contact number to which the check will be issued and sent then i will immediately instruct my client to send you the check. I look forward to trustworthy transaction with you, expecting your mail the soonest. and also tell me if i can count on you to send back the balance or not.
Thank you once again.Regards

Now, I'm starting to get suspicious. He didn't ask any questions about the car. There's this issue of extra money being exchanged. So I send this:

Tom,
Wow. It sounds like you’ve got some of this figured out! I’m not really sure how all of this works, and since I have never put a deal like this together before, I think I’m going to have to make some specific arrangements. When your guy comes to pick up the car, I would need him to bring the $3,500 in cash. I don’t want to be responsible for sending back any money just in case I mess something up, and for only $3,500, this could easily be a cash deal. At that time, I can sign the title over and give up the car. I would feel more comfortable having the money in hand, and you could feel better knowing that I’m not messing around with your money. And plus, you aren’t buying anything before your guy takes delivery of it, which should help too. You could then have him get the rest of the money to you for shipping. I’d be happy to meet the guy somewhere in town here to put that deal together.
If that sounds like a good deal to you, let me know. And again, I would be happy to talk with you about the car and answer any questions you may have. If you want to continue with this, please give me a phone number as well so I can give you a call. I always feel better when I can “seal the deal” with a live person and call them if there is a problem.
Thanks! Let me know how you want to proceed.
Craig

Now, don't make fun of me, but I had never heard of this scam before. I was talking to someone in my office about it, and they had heard of it! Turns out, there is a bunch of this going on. Here's the link from Snopes: http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/scams/carsale.asp
So anyway, not that anyone here would be stupid enough to fall for it, but if you're trying to sell something on-line, here's something else to look out for!

Posted by DanPazich (Member # 1352) on :

Yup a scam..Actualy seen it in the news and such. I work at a bank and see these things all the time. [Mad]

Posted by Hawkeye (Member # 88) on :

I've got a bridge I can sell them! [Big Grin]

Posted by FireChicken (Member # 2067) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Hawkeye:
I've got a bridge I can sell them!

Ive got some ocean front beach houses in Arizona Ive been looking to unload. Perfect the west african scam artist looking for a relaxing weekend vacation home.

Posted by Hawkeye (Member # 88) on :

quote:
Originally posted by FireChicken:

quote:
Originally posted by Hawkeye:
I've got a bridge I can sell them!
Ive got some ocean front beach houses in Arizona Ive been looking to unload. Perfect the west african scam artist looking for a relaxing weekend vacation home.

You oughta post some nice photos of them villas
for him to view! [Big Grin]

Posted by cytruffle (Member # 1733) on :

quote:
Originally posted by DanPazich:
Yup a scam..Actualy seen it in the news and such. I work at a bank and see these things all the time.

My hubby is VP of Corporate Security for BOA & says this $hit goes on all the time....the Nigerian scam nearly drove 'em all nuts!

Mr. Orange01SS -- I'm so glad you didn't fall for this!!

[ 26. September 2003, 06:03 PM: Message edited by: cytruffle ]

Posted by ss_rs_z (Member # 1888) on :

Good work Craig. Its a shame that people have to stoop this low but you beat him to the punch and can now look for an honest buyer for the Caprice. Way to go. [Big Grin]

Posted by el ess1 (Member # 1544) on :

Try this:

"Hello. Sounds like a GREAT deal!! Tell you what, send the check for $7K, then after the check clears, you can come pick up your new Caprice. Don't worry, the $3500 in change will be in the glovebox in small bills, U.S. currency. Naturally there's that little FBI matter that will need cleaning up before you go, but what's a few minutes between friends, right?"

I got a feeling he won't write back.... [Wink]

Posted by Daves2002SS (Member # 1719) on :

Money laundering.

Posted by alfredf00_1673 (Member # 142) on :

By any chance did you contact the Secret Service and your State Attorney and give the this info? Maybe they could use as a sting.

[Eek!]

Posted by Orange 01 SS (Member # 1700) on :

quote:
Originally posted by alfredf00_1673:
By any chance did you contact the Secret Service and your State Attorney and give the this info? Maybe they could use as a sting.

Yeah. I could try and turn it in. But what are they going to do? The guy was using a fake name with a Yahoo free e-mail address. I figure it's just as useful to post it around on these boards. At least it makes me feel better. [Big Grin]

Posted by Mike2001SS (Member # 2088) on :

Craig I got a e-mail this week from a guy said he worked at a bank and had a account there where someone had died and they needed a family member to claim the money. It was in another country and if I would claim it he would transfer the money to my account and I would get to keep 60% of $20,200,000.00 haha all he wanted was my info for the transfer

Posted by FirstLast (Member # 2010) on :

This scam mostly happens on email solicitations like the last reply - have received dozens of them, with replies. Wasted much time honestly answering their lame inquiries until I realized I must blacklist every darn African origin inquiry on my shipping dept. We ship canoes and kayaks 48 states, and why would anyone in Africa want a canoe? There aren't that many river regions unless you run safari in northern parts.

Like your paternal influences taught you, if it sounds too good, it probably is. There is no free ride.

Just filter out or delete the emails too. Nothing but trouble since they spam your name to gobs of Nigerian scammers. Makes me hate dealing with internet anymore - between the fraud, porn, constant viruses trashing my hardware, and spam.

Hope Congress gets this anti-calling bill done and beats out the liberal justices who don't care about our sanity! At least one step in our favor. Wish we would get tough on internet abuse and structure some huge penalties for the scum who ruin everybodys hard work with viruses.

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