Scammer on the loose

[Hovis]

I've got an ad in the classified at the moment and received this email earlier. From a Mr Robinson Smart.

Hello,
   i came across your ads, and am so much intrested in buying it, so i
desided to email you to confirm if it still available if so i will want you
to get with the asking price also i will needed at list 2 pics of it.
   Concerning the payment, i will be paying you with a cheque which i believ
is the best way of payment, in order to procced, i will want you to get back
to me and confirm to me if it still available ok, also concerning the
shippment, i have a shipping agent that will come over to your location for
the pick up ok, so dont worry your self on that ok, so i wait to hear from
you soon, thanks alot and god bless you.
   best
   regards.

Sounds like a scam to me or am i being paranoid? Any one else had anything like this? I've only advertised on one other site so have posted this there too.

[defenderdan]

Is it a high value item that you are selling?  ie- worth scamming you for.

[drutt]

scam scam scam scam scam scam (oops, I've forgotten the words)

[strapping young lad]

scam scam scam!

where did you place this ad and if you are selling it put it on ebay cos u can cut out international selling and people who bid from abroad cannot bid on your item

i had a bid on my phone blocked cos the guy was in germany

[woody]

i have had similar for ads in Loot
the thing is my brother was selling a car at the same time and he got the same e-mail  :lol:

[thermidorthelobster]

This is what will happen:  he'll either

a) send you a banker's draft, you'll send the vehicle and the draft will be revoked after it's cleared.

or more likely b) he'll send you a banker's draft for a higher amount, and ask you to pay him back the difference in cash.  You'll send the cash and maybe the vehicle too, and the draft will be revoked after it's cleared.

The fact is that banker's drafts CAN be revoked AFTER they have cleared, although the numpties in my local Lloyds don't actually understand this.  They best way to deal with banker's drafts is to call the issuing bank and get it in writing from them that the draft is not stolen, not forged and will definitely be honoured.  In this case, the scammers are issuing stolen banker's drafts.

If it sounds dodgy, just walk away, there will be other buyers and it's just not worth any risk on your part!

[Budgie]

You could always email him back & say that a cheque is fine but you opporate a 3 month clearing period for cheques from outside the UK before the item will be released as there have been so many scams around!

Or that there is an additional £100 charge, payable through Paypal only, for cheques from outside the UK and the cheque will not be presented to your bank until this payment has been made.  :D

You may as well have a bit of fun with them as they've taken the touble to email you!!  :lol:

[UDTrev]

Don't forget to charge interest on the 3 month wait, whilst you are stuck with your vehicle :)

Hmmmmmm would claiming the interest from the deposited funds as well be pushing your luck ?  :roll:  :roll:  :roll:  :roll:


Trev

[Hovis]

I'm pleased you all agree, my response now seems justified....

Dear Mr Smart

It is still available. However, if you aren't some form of scammer I'll be amazed. Cheques, as you well doubt already know are not the best way of payment, cash is, always has been always will be. I also find it extremely unlikely that you'll have an agent who will "come over to my location", pick up and ship a rusty old jeep worth a few hundred quid. If you are expecting to get my bank details quite simply, F*** off.

If you are genuine send me a phone number and i'll call you and you can come with cash.

Kindest Regards

Me x

I've only advertised on here and on NE4x4.org.

[barmiebrumie]

I'm pleased you all agree, my response now seems justified....

Dear Mr Smart

It is still available. However, if you aren't some form of scammer I'll be amazed. Cheques, as you well doubt already know are not the best way of payment, cash is, always has been always will be. I also find it extremely unlikely that you'll have an agent who will "come over to my location", pick up and ship a rusty old jeep worth a few hundred quid. If you are expecting to get my bank details quite simply, F*** off.

If you are genuine send me a phone number and i'll call you and you can come with cash.

Kindest Regards

Me x

I've only advertised on here and on NE4x4.org.

:(biglaugh):



had very similar,  SCAM, SCAM, SCAM,  Mine was from nigeria they even send a spoof paypal saying was money was with paypal & as soon as i sent the shipping number paypal would release the funds :? ,

so how do i get a shippng number without  shipping the goods first, just sent it onto spoof@ebay & a similar emial back the the scammers



John.

[bigfatsi]

I think it's called the Nigerian 419 scam or something. Some involve letters offering money from african princes etc. There are a few marvellous 'baiting' sites around by people who are prepared to wind them right up. Some had them sending photos of themselves and such. Really funny. Quite easy to lead them along. It seems that it costs them a small fortune to post the fake drafts over so a lot of people will pretend to accept just to cost em a few quid and then deliver the evidence to the police. Of course some of these people are dangerous so be careful if you play with fire!

Simon

Edit: Enjoyed this one http://www.bustedupcowgirl.com/scampage.html

[thermidorthelobster]

Just for clarity's sake, the 419 scam is another totally different scam from Nigeria.  It's not the same as the fake banker's draft thing.

The 419 scam is generally when somebody offers large sums of money for handling a dodgy transaction, such as winding up somebody's estate;  the catch is that you need to pay a large handling fee up front, or occasionally you give your bank details and they clean out your account, although this is less common.  In general, the victim never gets any cheque at all, fake or otherwise.

[bigfatsi]

Cheers for the clarification.

Try this one http://www.419eater.com/

Incidentally I post a link of this site on all of my ebay items and now I don't get any offers of £10000 over the asking price. Bummer, eh?!  :lol:

[rollazuki]

I had one of those Nigerian419 scam thingy emails sent to me.
I sent an email straight back sounding really earnest , wanting to help, asking what I needed to do next. All that and they never bloody well got back to me.
maybe they sussed I was a scam?

[Rocketman]

Always remember,
If it looks like a scam

it is

no question

deffo

[the loon]

scam. pure and simple
Had the same type of mail when I sould our vectra estate on ebay a few months back and the same when I sold the 90.
Normaly the "bidder/buyer"will be from an african country.

Had a couple of offers of £500 bank drafts as well for items worth about £50 saying I could pay the differance back via cheque  :roll:

How gullible do theses people think we are :?:

I think there must be some kind of office somewhere where these fools sit and browse the web all day sending out the same stupid mail to anyone selling anything

[Budgie]

How gullible do theses people think we are :?:

Very! I think is the answer to that.  
I mean, they wouldn't keep sending the emails out if they don't get money off them occasionally, so there must be some gullible people out there somewhere.
Actually, alot of them end up writing to BBC Watchdog explaining to the nation that they're gullible!!  :D

[mark.yellow.series.3]

yer ive had a couple of them, i kept asking for the cheque and they always came up with excuses but still wanted me to post items. :x

[Hovis]

He replied!!!  :shock:  :shock:  :shock:

He sent his phone number. So I emailed back...

Ok fair enough. How much are you offering for the jeep?

Let see what happens. I looked at web site last night,

http://www.419eater.com/index.htm

Some of the stuff they have got the scammers to do is great. Theres pictures of one guy with a fish on his head eating a loaf of bread!

[DaveS]

I had similar offers for a £60 set of tyres, talking about arranging shipment etc!!
One came from Belgium wanting to pay in $US draft, I replied that I was under the misconception that they used  euros!! Then blocked him!

Have also had the nigerian prince type e-mails just block theose too!

In the end I cancelled the web advert used local paper free-ad and got cash sale!!

[Ja1983]

I`ve had so many, and take great pride in sending snotty mails back!

one was a bloke working on behalf of a very exclusive client, who was very interested in my fourtrack. claimed he couldnt reveal his identity as his celebrity status.

...why does a celeb want to pay more than the asking pricefor an old daihatsu??!!

seriously, would you trust someone whose basic grasp of the english language and typing skills are on a par with a 2 year old chimpanzee, with your bank details!?!?

..thought not!

if anyone is in doubt, post em up on here and we`ll vet them for ya!

so easy to trust someone if they sound genuine, but remember

this is known to be linked to money laundering etc, the people you could be dealing with may be gansters and pop a cap in yo ass! (please dont give em your address!)  :lol:

[bobmaf]

if you decide to con him and go along with the scam and you recieve a cheque DO NOT TRY and cash it  i did last year and had the fraud squad asking me loads of questions    
JUST BE CAREFUL

[Hovis]

Old Robinson replied, no mention of his offer but wants my address so he can send payment.

I've also had a new one!

>From: jon ellie <jonllie@yahoo.com>
>To: hoe_1@hotmail.co.uk
>Subject: little pickup, it's a '90 Samurai.
>Date: Sat, 18 Mar 2006 17:27:22 -0800 (PST)
>
>How are you doing?I live in Canada,I hope you'ar fine
>and your Family,I'm okay with the Condition of your
>advert forsale,Form of payment is by Certified check
>Drawn in uk Bank....I will like to know your selling
>price,Also want to remind you that i will arrange for
>the shipment,so do not worry about that.I will await
>your reply as soon as possible in this regard.I'll
>like to have your Full details address For payment
>asap.
>Your Full Name: That will be on the check for the
>payment...............
>Residential Address:.......................
>City:.......................
>State:..................
>Zipcode:....................
>Country:...............
>Phone Number: (Cell,home and office phone #)
>Those information are needed so that the payment can
>be made out and as well sent by one of the quickest
>courier services. so i want you to mail me back with
>the details requested above so that this transaction
>can be concluded as soon as possible. I shall look
>forward to read from you Quick Respond.
>Waiting to read from you Soonest.........
>
>Jon.

I replied....

Hi Jon

I, unfortunately, have no family any more. I've had several offers for the jeep now so need to know what you are willing to offer. I would iamgine that its going to be extrememly expensive to export the jeep to Canada, what shipping company do you use? What are you intending on using the jeep for, it is no good for road use, but very good off road!

I would prefer cash but will accept cheque. Let me know your offer.

Best regards

Mark

Lets see how long i can keep them going. Anysuggestions for an address i can give? I was thinking scotland yard or something.

[Hovis]

Robinson is back but he only offered £2000  :(

I repiled

Hi Robinson

Ok, is that your best offer? I have been offered more, (not a lot more but more all the same) please remember it has lift shackles, tin-foil springs with new polyprostimate bushes, full cavity service and a brand new Bosch Foo-Foo valve. These things, as you probably know, are worth that alone. You need to be in the region of £2,350.

You must let me know very quickly as someone wants to pick it up on the 30th of this month and i need the space pretty quick. He says he will send the cheque as soon as i tell him to. I can send you some more pictures if you want to check it has the stuff i say it has. But, I am a man of my word and you can trust me.

Best regards

Mark

[Edge]

:D  :lol:

[thumbs]

brilliant mate  :D

ive had so many of these scamers they are annoying. never bothered to reply to any off them.

my ebay account is now blocked to international people