Any sellers had one of these emails before?

Dear Sir,
I would like to buy your boat and can offer a building plot in a prime site on the Portugese coast in exchange. I am sure that you will find this offer acceptable.
Yours
**********
 
Christopher D

I had exactly the same message 4 days ago, only the price was different. I really believed it, because it sounded so professional. The email was sent from richardsmith780@yahoo.com

Apart from the price (40.000euro)

I have had others saying the boat (they have not seen), was fine and would I send them my Paypal details. One claimed to be an engineer on board a U.S Navy ship and this was the only way he could pay for the boat etc.

Could someone explain what this is all about? I just want to sell my sail boat. I could do with some advice on how to deal with these scams. I think when I finally get a genuine offer I will end up responding badly.

Can anyone help out here?
 
Thats the guy.

I had another about 2 weeks ago saying he had been on holiday and repeated the scam.

Just reply and say that they should come visit the boat, and that no money shall change hands until you've met them. If they are a serious buyer they will come visit the boat, simple

Or do what I did when it was obvious it was a scammer, send back pictures of lots of laughing chimpanzee's.

:D
 
Christopher D said:
I had exactly the same message 4 days ago, only the price was different. I really believed it, because it sounded so professional. The email was sent from richardsmith780@yahoo.com

Apart from the price (40.000euro)

I have had others saying the boat (they have not seen), was fine and would I send them my Paypal details. One claimed to be an engineer on board a U.S Navy ship and this was the only way he could pay for the boat etc.

Could someone explain what this is all about? I just want to sell my sail boat. I could do with some advice on how to deal with these scams. I think when I finally get a genuine offer I will end up responding badly.

Can anyone help out here?
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It is highly unlikely that someone will buy your boat by email without seeing it and no genuine buyer will over pay and then ask you to pay them back the difference.
 
Christopher D said:
Could someone explain what this is all about? I just want to sell my sail boat. I could do with some advice on how to deal with these scams. I think when I finally get a genuine offer I will end up responding badly.

Can anyone help out here?
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The basic principle is that a cheque drawn in Euros cannot be cleared through the normal UK cheque clearing process - instead it has to be sent to the issuing bank for payment. this takes a long time. At some point your bank will credit your account with the money and all will appear fine, but it won't be "cleared funds".

Subsequently, it will transpire that the cheque is a forgery. The bank on which it was drawn refuses payment and your bank will debit your account. If you have done as they requested and sent them some money then you will be out of pocket.

A variant of this is where you receive a cheque for more than the price of the boat and are asked to send them back the overpayment.

If it sounds too good to be true, it is.

Avoid.
 
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Just had mine. Mine came from "Tim Holye" <jjay01@studentvillage.co.za>

Thanks for the mail..I really love the condition of the boat and i am
ok with the price but i can only make the payment via paypal..you can
easily set up a paypal account on www.paypal.co.uk and send me the
email address you used to register so that i can put the money through
and we will arrange for the pick up as soon as you have confirmed the
money in your bank account..If you already have a paypal account,send
me the email address you used to register with paypal so that i can
offer the payment to you.
Get back to me accept..
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neale said:
Do you get to keep the interest? :D
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Sadly no!

When the value of the cheque is debited to your account it is done with the same value date as the original credit. All accrued interest you thought you would be entitled to disappears in the blink of an eye as the overnight processing completes. If your bank happened to have paid you interest in the interim, you can be sure that would be reversed out too!

Anyhow, interest is sooooooo last decade!!!! ;)
 
Angele said:
... A scam using Paypal is obviously working on a different principle, but almost certainly involves an apparent payment subsequently being undone.

Read the advice on Paypal's website here.
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I'm sure the next email would contain something about him including some extra money, which i'd need to pass along to someone when the money gets to me.

EDIT Just sent him another email, see what his next move is. I asked if he was happy with the asking price of £54,950 (boat is actually £45,950) :D
 
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Angele said:
Sadly no!

When the value of the cheque is debited to your account it is done with the same value date as the original credit. All accrued interest you thought you would be entitled to disappears in the blink of an eye as the overnight processing completes. If your bank happened to have paid you interest in the interim, you can be sure that would be reversed out too!

Anyhow, interest is sooooooo last decade!!!! ;)
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In addition ,the bank will charge you (used to be £25) for bouncing the cheque,as it was YOU who presented the invalid item.
 
Am I the ONLY one that thinks the BANK is in the wrong with these scams?

How can it be that the bank tells you that the cheque has cleared, and then later on, after the scam has been completed say "oh no sorry it has bounced"

I personally think the bank should ONLY tell you the cheque has cleared when it really and truly has cleared. And by telling you that it has cleared before it really has, the bank should then be liable for any loss.

It is only because of the unprofessional way that banks operate that this scam works.
 
ProDave said:
Am I the ONLY one that thinks the BANK is in the wrong with these scams?

How can it be that the bank tells you that the cheque has cleared, and then later on, after the scam has been completed say "oh no sorry it has bounced"

I personally think the bank should ONLY tell you the cheque has cleared when it really and truly has cleared. And by telling you that it has cleared before it really has, the bank should then be liable for any loss.

It is only because of the unprofessional way that banks operate that this scam works.
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Nope, i agree with you Dave. The banks should be clearer or stand the losses.
 
There was a sad tale told on these pages many years ago (late 90's I think0, when such scams were still quite rare: the same arrangement, over payment from an overseas buyer to cover the shipping costs of transporting the boat, and the balance 'returned' to the buyer. The seller had the boat lifted, paid the lorry driver when he arrived out of the funds provided by the buyer. Boat disappears off down the road on the back of a lorry, complete with signed bill of sale etc. Then the bank bounced the original overseas payment.

No boat (but gone with legitimate paperwork etc), and no money.

Its high time the banks closed this loophole, it happens across the board with expensive items, cars, campervans, aircraft etc.

Even cash isn't safe: there was a recent case of a man who sold a car, and even gave his buyer a lift to the ATM to 'draw out the cash'. Except at some point the buyer switched the ATM money for a roll of forged notes, which were later refused by the bank.
 
SimbaDog said:
Ha, He's just emailed again to tell me he will pay by PayPal & get his couriers to collect :rolleyes:
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Me too.

Thanks for the mail,no problem i will add the extra charge of paypal,I
live in Texas in the USA and my agent will be coming for the pick up
on my own behalf,all i need form you is your
paypal email address so that i can make the payment, kindly get back
to me with your paypal email address so that i can offer the payment
to you accept..
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The extra charge he mentions are the PayPal fees, which i said he'd have to pay. He didn't notice i changed the price from £45,950 to £54,950 :D

Very tempted to string him along some more, but i don't want to give him my PayPal details. Did think of opening up a new account, just for him, but not sure i want to get too involved.
 
PaulGooch said:
Very tempted to string him along some more, but i don't want to give him my PayPal details. Did think of opening up a new account, just for him, but not sure i want to get too involved.
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Nothing good will come out of it for you. (Ok, for as long as he/she is being strung along by you then some other potential victim is not being targetted). But, if I were you, I would just tell him/her to get lost and move on.
 
ffiill said:
One of the most sophisticated at moment is one from Paypal informing you that you have paid for something.
This appears to be very genuine looking and your response may well be to immediately log in using the e mails link.
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I recently received a very convincing one seemingly from Orange advising me to update the firmware on my router. It told me to log into the router using its IP address and conveniently provided me with the link to do so. Fortunately I remembered to hover over the link and check where it was really pointing which showed it going to a different place altogether. Googling the site it was linking to, it turned out to be distinctly iffy. Normally these scams start 'dear customer' but this one had my name on it.

I wanted to forward it to Orange but they have no address for things like that.
 
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