Scam? Seller beware?

[Fixion]

In short this is what just happened to me. I'm not goint to reveal his (supposed) name yet.

As some of you know, I'm trying to sell my 2k2 STO cocker. Trying to get more offers, I posted it on paintballclassifieds.com. A couple days latter I get this email from a guy called (sorry edited for now) who is supposedly from the UK. Being suspicious because of his many grammar mistakes, I look his name up on google, and UK phone dirrectories. I only get one (edit: guy by that name) in the entire UK, who's phone # doesn't correspond with the one he gave me. And he won't give me his address, he says he'll arrange a pickup. Oh, and he inists on paying me with $5000 and having me wire him the remainder.

I edited the email names that reveal his name just for now because I"m not sure what to think.
This mail is from (edited for now)@graffiti.net (free web mail service):

Hello, Fixion!

You have a question regarding your advertisment
http://paintballclassifieds.com/detail.php?cat=25&de=26753
from (edit out) <(edit for now)@graffiti.net>:

Hello i am very much intrested to have your (2002 STO Autococker )
for sale so i
want you to kindly provide me with your last price and you contact
address and valid phone number, cos i intend to make payment with a cashier
check so hurry i will be awaiting to read from you soonest.complete this with
the
full name for the check issue concern.

Paintball Classifieds

Please visit us at http://www.paintballclassifieds.com

He wouldn't reply to my emails properly. Never gave me his adress, gave me a phone # that when I called I got a busy signal for a few seconds then it hung up on its own, inisted on paying me with $5000 (which someone supposedly owed him), didn't seem to know much about paintball, and insisted on a pickup.

Today after having relisted the cocker on pbclassifieds I get the following email, suspiciously the same from [email protected]. What kind of paintballer separates the two words?!?!

From [email protected] this morning:


Hello, Fixion!

You have a question regarding your advertisment
http://paintballclassifieds.com/detail.php?cat=25&de=27061
from paint baller <[email protected]>:

Hello i am very much intrested in your (2002 STO Autococker) so i want you to
kindly provide me with your last price and you contact address and valid phone
number, cos i intend to make payment with a cashier check so hurry i will be
awaiting to read from you soonest.complete this with the full name for the check
issue concern.

Paintball Classifieds

Please visit us at http://www.paintballclassifieds.com

An other thing that bothers me is he uses a free email service instead of the one his ISP might give him. He also wouldn't give references and just plainly avoided some of my questions.

Tell me guys, am I just hella paranoid? Or does this look like a scam to you. I think it could be money laundering, which I don't want anything to do with. Please give me advice. I've gotten scamed before (eventually got the stuff back), but I don't want it to happen again.

[guysdaman]

GO with your gut! It does sound kinda shady!

[abaez]

Common scam.

[Fixion]

Oh, and he was willing to pay the full $550, even though I ephasised OR BEST OFFER. He did not try to hagle with me. I mean c-mon, thats a high price, you can get an orracle for that much. I expect people to try to take the price down AT LEAST.

I'm sure Nigerians don't want to give me their millions, why would a guy from the UK trust me with $5000?!

[cphilip]

Regular Scam. Nothing new and commonly reported scam. The check will bounce eventually. It takes some time to bounce but it will. They counting on you having delivered the merchandise and remaining cash before it does.

This is also happening in our Scooter board. Every one who has a Scooter up for sale gets these.

[Fixion]

Originally posted by cphilip
Regular Scam. Nothing new and commonly reported scam. The check will bounce eventually. It takes some time to bounce but it will. They counting on you having delivered the merchandise and remaining cash before it does.

This is also happening in our Scooter board. Every one who has a Scooter up for sale gets these.

Is that why he insists on a pickup?

[cphilip]

No mailing address and no mail fraud? I dunno but it often includes that. Perhaps its a well organized gang of people that work for these guys that do the leg work.

They are not where you think they are. He is most likely in Canada or something. Even perhaps Nigeria or even in the US. No telling. They are a band of thieves.

Also often includes the story that a friend of his owes him money and will pay you the money. Then you are to deduct the money for your item and give him the remainder.

Thats not always exactly the same but often its something to that affect.

[Fixion]

Originally posted by cphilip
No mailing address and no mail fraud? I dunno but it often includes that. Perhaps its a well organized gang of people that work for these guys that do the leg work.

They are not where you think they are. He is most likely in Canada or something. Even perhaps Nigeria or even in the US. No telling. They are a band of thieves.

Also often includes the story that a friend of his owes him money and will pay you the money. Then you are to deduct the money for your item and give him the remainder.

Thats not always exactly the same but often its something to that affect.

Thats exactly what he told me. But also told me I can wait for the check to clear...

[cphilip]

It will but eventually it will be bounced. After he has your money....

[JT2002]

sorry to ask a nub question, but the check clears, how could it then bounce?

[cphilip]

Its found to be fraudulent later. And its then your responsibility as you cashed it.. See this below. This is nothing but a varitation of the Nigerian Scam. Slight variation but well documented. I fould this at Scambusters.com

Counterfeit Cashier's Check Scam

Although the Nigerian fee scam is becoming more well-known, a new type of overseas financial scam is making the rounds. While the Nigerian scam targets victims' greed (who doesn't want a large sum of money?), the counterfeit cashier's check scam targets the average person who's selling or auctioning goods on the Internet.

Here's how it works: You put up a large item for sale (a car, for example) or auction. Then you're contacted by someone from overseas pretending to be interested in buying the item. They ask you if a friend in the United States can mail you a cashier's check to cover the cost plus transportation fees.

You may see no reason to object, since, unlike personal checks, cashier's checks cannot bounce because the amount is paid to the bank when the check is issued (similar to a money order).

After the cashier's check is deposited, you are asked to wire the transportation cost to the buyer so he can arrange for the transportation. It's only when the cashier's check is discovered to be counterfeit that you realize you've lost a large sum of money.

There are also variants where you ship the item and lose everything.

How to protect yourself: If you receive a cashier's check, call the bank that issued it (the bank's name will be printed on the check) and ask them if they authorized that check.

For more information on this scam:

Wired News Article: Nigerian Net Scam, Version 3.0

==> http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,56829,00.html

Not to mention the possibility that the person that personaly comes to pick up the merchandise is either maybe going to rob you or is casing your house for later robbery as well as this scam.

[cphilip]

There are other variations of this...

Rather than a Cashiers check they ask for your account number and name and address so they can wire the money in... Now they got that info! They have your bank acct # and all you information!

They ask for your address and when you will be home to make the pick utp and instead of that they come when your not there to get the stuff and Rob you or target you for robbery because they know you have this merchandise for sale and most likely other stuff.

[Steelrat]

You are right to be worried. It is getting more and more common for couterfeit check makers to "recruit" people to cash their checks, in exchange for a cut of the proceeds. Thats a quick way to get a felony arrest on your record. Seriously.

[tyrion2323]

CPhil knows what's up:

it's a chance for this dude to (a) get your marker and (b) get your money.

Don't do it.

[rkjunior303]

Didn't anyone notice that the e-mail is exactly the same? I'm sure its some script or somethign that's run and it automatically sends out this "offer" to scam someone.

avoid it like the plague!

[Fixion]

Yeah, I told the guy no deal yesterday. The second email that looked exactly the same as the first one confirmed the scam for me. But he said this morning that I should wait for the check. What should I do if I actually get one? Report the guy? If so, to who? I'm definatly not going to try and cash it.

I had this feeling from when he first contacted me. He just seemed wierd. The phone number he gave me also had 13 characters instead of 9 or 10 like most UK phone #s, the first two digits were a 23, not the country code of the UK.... (its 44). Oh, and it had the pattern 123 and 321 one too many times in it :D.

[Lakeview Bulldog]

If he sends the money first I do not really see how you could be getting ripped off. As for the pick up make sure that where ever you meet that you have at least one other person with you and meet in a public place. It does seem kind of fishy though. Listen to your insticts, thats the best advice I could give.

[Skreemer]

If you actually recieve a check from this guy bring it to either your local PD station or to your local FBI office. Do not open the envelope it may be in and above all to not agree to meet this guy... If he's trying to get to see you in person call the local PD right away...

[ScatterPlot]

I completely agree with what everyone else said, but I don't think a sign of a scam is a free email account. I use Hotmail exclusively just because I like it better than Outlook Express, and it gives more privacy. But since that's not the only sign, then I say don't do it.

[Armed & Harmless]

Its pretty clear that this one is indeed a scam.
I have dealt with a few people like him and from my experiences (and others I?m sure) "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is"

[WARPED1]

It's gotta be a scam, I got the exact same email for two of my guns there.

[Steelrat]

Contact your local Police department, the local FBI office, or the local Postal Inspectors. Explain what has happened, tell them that you have the check, and inform them that there are other people being approached with the same scheme. If the check was sent via the US Mail, I would hit up the locals or the Postal Inspectors first. Whatever you do, DO NOT cash the check. I can almost guarantee it will be counterfeit, and you will be stuck for any money sent back to the buyer.

[RRfireblade]

If it matters any,I've had basically the same offer made on a 'For Sale' post with basically the same conditions.It's been awhile so I doubt I still have the details.After great difficulty in getting him to agree to other arrangements to cover my butt,I never heard from him again.

Which seemed just fine to me at the time.

You loose nothering by bailing out on a questionable deal.

Be smart.

[cphilip]

Originally posted by bertmcmahan
I completely agree with what everyone else said, but I don't think a sign of a scam is a free email account. I use Hotmail exclusively just because I like it better than Outlook Express, and it gives more privacy. But since that's not the only sign, then I say don't do it.

Well I can tell you that Credit Card companies and online vendors are more and more calling the Card holder if they see a online account using a free Email addy. Because it is a common way for Credit Cards to be used in commiting Fraud. Free email accounts and your card number and some information on you and I can spend away! Many companies are checking and thats is one of the things they look at.

Since your only liable for $50 the online vendor is very likely not to process the transaction without some kind of permanent email address and confimed shipping to the Billing address of that card. Scammers commonly use Free email acconts and alternate shipping information.

[Timmee]

Also, never use Western Union (or any other money wire service) to send money to someone you don't know. Since they can pick it up at ANY authorized transfer point in the world, tracking someone who's ripped you off is extremely difficult. It also can't be recovered by the money wire service.

[MarkM]

Want to pm me that number and I'll give it a go from here, it does sound like a scam but then it could be a number that just happens to be legit, though it doesn't look like it. A company near me has the number 1234567 now if ever that sounded like a fake number that's it but it is real but you do need to put the correct area code to make it work, I bet they get lots of calls from little children playing with phones in the local area :D

[Fixion]

MarkM - you have a PM
I didn't look at the phone number when I posted, so it doesn't actually have 123 and 321, but other arrangements of those numbers.

BTW I just got this. C-mon, can't they at least think of a better name? This sounds too familiar.

(edit)[email protected] wrote:

>Hello, Fixion!
>
>You have a question regarding your advertisment
> http://paintballclassifieds.com/detail.php?cat=25&de=27061
>from (edited) <[email protected]>:
>
>MY FULL NAME: (edited)..
>
>I am highly intrested in your (GUNS) .I want you to send the Bottom price .its g

>t;very ok to me. i want you to send me your full name,phone number and address
>because i Will like to pay you with a US check and dont worry about the
>shipment. i have a shipping agent who will come to your place for the pick up .
>
>waiting for your mail.
>
>(edited)...
>
>Paintball Classifieds
>
>Please visit us at http://www.paintballclassifieds.com
>

[Bulldog]

Ya he'll come to your place for a pick up alright...

All your electronics equipment, any jewelry, valuables etc.

[Fixion]

MarkM checked the phone # the guy (John Matters supposedly) gave me. Its fake.

[Target Practice]

Ya know, I feel sorry for these people that do this. I mean, how ******-up do you have to be. 'Course, I feel worse for the poor kids that try to buy thier first marker from some punk that rips them off. God, I hate the internet.

[ScatterPlot]

When you have to take (a) crap, (the) John Matters.














[Peter Griffin]"Oh I get it, Lois, a poop joke. Very funny."[/Peter Griffin]











:D