JohnDav78

iTrader: (11)

Hi - selling my blob eye wagon on Autotrader and I had an interesting email from a guy calling himself Andy from Ireland supposedly!!!! Think he maybe Nigerian though judging by his use of English!

It reads:

"HELLO SELLER,

I SAW THE ADVERT OF YOUR CAR ON AUTOTRADER. WHICH IS FOR SALE. I AM OKAY
WITH THE CONDITIONS OF THE CAR AND I AM READY TO BUY FROM YOU. I AM BASED IN
DUBLIN IRELAND ,BUT AT THE MOMENT AM ENGAGED IN ALOT OF THINGS TO COME FOR THE
VIEWING OF THE CAR. AM OKAY WITH YOUR PRICE AND AM READY TO GIVE YOU EXTRA'S OF
£100 EXTRA FOR SECURING OF THE CAR SO IT WOULD NOT BE SOLD TO ANOTHER BUYER ,AND
FOR YOU TO KNOW HOW COMMITED I AM IN BUYING FROM YOU.
I WILL LIKE YOU TO KNOW THAT I CAN'T COME FOR THE VIEWING OF THE CAR AS EARLIER
STATED CAUSE I'M VERY BUSY AT WORK RIGHT NOW, BUT WITH WHAT I SAW ON THE ADVERT
I AM SATISFIED.I WILL LIKE YOU TO SEND ME SOME PICTURES OF THE PRESENT LOOK OF
THE CAR.I LOVE THIS PARTICULAR MODEL.I WILL BE VERY HAPPY IF THE CAR IS MINE.
I WILL ALSO WANT YOU TO KNOW I WILL BE PAYING YOU WITH A BANKER'S DRAFT, THE
AMOUNT ON THIS DRAFT WILL BE MORE THAN THE PRICE OF YOUR CAR [OVERPAYMENT].
THE EXCESS FUND ON THE DRAFT WILL BE FOR MY AGENT FOR PICKUP OF THE CAR AND SOME
OF MY OTHER ITEMS I ALREADY BHOUGHT INSIDE AND OUTSIDE UK .
ONCE YOU HAVE FUNDS CLEARED IN TO YOUR ACCOUNT YOU WILL DEDUCT YOUR TOTAL MONEY
PLUS THE EXTRA'S FROM THE FUNDS AND WIRE THE EXCESS TO MY AGENT FOR PICKUP, SO
THAT THEY CAN PROCEED WITH THE NECESSARY PAPERWORK AND ARRANGE WITH YOU A
CONVINIENT DATE AND TIME FOR PICKUP.
IF THIS IS OKAY BY YOU,YOU WILL HAVE TO GET BACK TO ME WITH SOME NECESSARY
INFORMATION WHICH WILL BE NEEDED FOR THIS TRANSACTION TO PROCEED.
THE INFORMATION IS AS FOLLOW; YOUR FULL NAME....
YOUR FULL ADDRESS WITH POSTCODE......
YOUR TELEPHONE NUMBERS BOTH OFFICE AND MOBILE/HOME NUMBERS...
N:B
THE NAME YOU GIVE WILL BE THE NAME YOU WILL SEE ON THE CHEQUE AND IT WILL BE
SENT TO THE ADDRESS YOU MAIL TO ME.YOUR PHONE NUMBERIS FOR TIME TO TIME CONTACT.
ALSO IF ANY BUYER CONTACT YOU ABOUT THIS PARTICULAR CAR, PLEASE TELL THEM IT'S
ALREADY BEEN SOLD CAUSE AM READY TO MAKE PAYMENT AS SOON AS I GET THOES DETAILS
NEEDED FROM YOU..
I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO A HAPPY TRANSACTION.
HOPING TO READ FROM YOU SOON.
REGARDS,"

So okay I know this is a bit fishy but he says he has posted me a cheque and as soon as I have paid into my bank and it has cleared he will send his agent to collect the car. How does this scam work as when the money clears into my account he can't get it back can he?

Be interested if any of you guys have had this before?

360ste

iTrader: (1)

SCAM. This has been done many times in that the bank tells youi it is cleared you give the car and the extra money to somone as agreed. A month or so later the bank calls to say sorry but it bounced we are taking the money from your account. Firstly you have lost your car and secondly are out of pocket by the extra money. So leave well alone, if he really wants it tell them to send the £100 as a deposit (non-refundable) and you will hold the car till he can come to visit and pay CASH.

They say bankers draft early in the e-mail but then state your name will be on the cheque??????? SCAM SCAM SCAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

dsemuk

Run, run, run money laundering at best, straight fraud at worst.

Once the cheque clears you transfer xxx to the buyer only for your bank to come back later and say the cheque was stolen and remove the funds from your account, leaving you to foot the bill for the money you transfer to the "agent"

dsemuk

duplicate post

Camoscooby

iTrader: (5)

Here is a more detailed explanation:

Overpayment Cheque Scam

People selling high-ticket items such as cars, motorcycles or computer gear via the Internet should be aware of a cheque scam that is bilking victims out of thousands of dollars. Although the scam has been around for quite some time, recent trends indicate that it is netting an increasing amount of victims, especially among car owners looking to sell their vehicles.

Typically, an overpayment cheque scam works like this:

• A seller places an Internet advertisement for a car or other item with a high price tag.
• Later, the seller receives a generous offer for the item, usually via an email.
• The seller agrees on the price, and, often, also agrees to the proviso that he or she refuses any other offers for the item.
• The scammers then send a cheque for the item. However, the cheque is for substantially more than the specified amount.
• The scammers invent some excuse for this overpayment and ask that the balance be electronically transferred to a specified bank account. For example, they may claim that the extra funds are to pay the fees of an agent who is handling the sale or to cover shipping costs.
• The seller dutifully transfers the amount out of his or her own funds.
• Later, the seller finds that his or her bank has dishonoured the cheque. In some cases, the bank may actually have cleared the funds, but discovers later that the check is a forgery or was stolen.
• Thus the seller has been bilked out of a substantial amount, with little chance of recovering the money. Furthermore, the item remains unsold and the seller may have rejected legitimate offers in the mean time.

The supposed buyers usually originate out of West African nations such as Nigeria. In fact, it is probable that the same gang of con-artists that run Nigerian loan scams and international lottery scams are responsible for the overpayment cheque scam as well. Like the Nigerian scam, the intent is to draw the potential victim deeper into the scam via a series of emails.

To protect yourself against this sort of scam, never agree to a deal in which the payer wishes to issue an amount for more than the agreed price and expects you to reimburse the balance. The scammers use a variety of excuses to explain the overpayment, but any such excuse should be treated with the utmost suspicion.

Hope this helps and run like the wind

Camoscooby

iTrader: (5)

I am sure you have also already noticed how 'generic' the email is

dsemuk

Do a search on Google for the first line of the email text, gosh so many results, 54,100 results!

Camoscooby

iTrader: (5)

'They' tried the same scam on me last year when I was selling my S15 - feckwits

dantastic

Would this face lie?

seddomyster

iTrader: (9)

avoid. happend to me few year ago seling my yamy r1. said from france. sent a cheque with overpay to arrange courier. expected me to send bike off when got cheque. few days later cheque bounced an said ringing police. they never answered calls

tathan

What surprises me is given the amount of times this has obviously worked, you'd think they could employ someone who could a) speak English and b) turn CAPS LOCK off.

It's so obviously phoney - with a few minutes work it could look 100x more genuine. Retards.

JohnDav78

iTrader: (11)

Thanks guys knew it was something dodgy just thought well they are sending me a cheque which when cleared is mine! Or maybe not then!!! I was just waiting for them to ask my bank account details but in the reply email he just said he was sending me the cheque so kinda confused me.

Cheers chaps update my advert to cash only on collection!!!!

JohnDav78

iTrader: (11)

I have for you four million Ugandian dollars madam!!!!!!!!!

dantastic

Just for a laugh you could tell them you go over to Ireland once a week on business, so will deliver the car in person and refund them the extra cash when you drop the car off, thus saving them the cost of having the car collected by their shipping agents, it would be interesting to see what they say.

Camoscooby

iTrader: (5)

JohnDav78

iTrader: (11)

I think I may have some fun with george before blowing him out...............................

pslewis

Cash is OK, but have a Note Tester pen handy!! And test every big value note .. random test the rest.

I'm about to sell and have all this fun to come!

GH80

I would feed him a load of mis-information and make him work a bit for his dishonesty

C8 DHC 04WRX

iTrader: (13)

Why not give him the address of your local police station (without letting on that it is a police station), then tell him the cheque has cleared a week later and to come and pick the car up. Could be interesting!

The Zohan

Yup, car is then shipped abroad and never seen again and the cheque is then found to be worthless - based in Ireland, originated from Nigeria at a guess.

Bankers draft or nothing, ask for a draft and it will go quiet.

markjmd

iTrader: (11)

Known scam or not, I'd find it pretty hard going through any business transaction worth several thousand £s with someone who writes page-long emails in caps-lock

Terminator X

iTrader: (7)

The Banks take the risk of stolen cheques now though so after 6 working days the money is yours & any comeback sits with the Bank. It's an abvious scam though of course ...

TX.

BULLITT

If you're gonna play with them, take some advice from The Scam Baiters

lordharding

iTrader: (1)

Yes have fun with them
I have reglar corespondance with my buisness advisor / travel planner / property section /and politics collection friend in Columbia ( I think )
he is looking forward to meeting me at the airport to help me invest