I'm being scammed...

S

steveparker

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This is an email reply to an ad for a boat I'm selling:

Good day,

Am very much interested but i will need to know some few and very necessary details before making the purchase.

I will kindly like to know the last offer you will accept for it and also be very happy to know if you can send me some current or updated pictures so i can know it present condition.

I will be looking forward to your mail.

Thanks and Best Regards,

(I'd better not put his name, on the offchance that he's genuine!).

.....................

I replied with a moderately adjusted price and a promise to send some pictures asap. Then I received this:

Thanks very much for the mail,

I have much interest and i trust it is in excellent condition, I am okay with the asking price and will pay as u mentioned. So kindly hold on and ignore all other parties wanting to buy it as i am highly interested.

For the payment, I will mail out a bank draft to you so as soon as you receive it and have it cashed then i will send someone to come and pick it up. If you have any option to deliver it to me which is going to be affordable and convenient to me you are welcome to let me know as that will also be greatly appreciated.

To proceed, Kindly give me the name and address you want payment to be mailed out to you. I will also need a direct phone number so i can reach you, Please get back to me as soon as possible so i can forward payment to you for us to proceed and wrap up this transaction.

I will be looking forward to your mail. .....

Thanks and Best Regards,

...........................


I'm wondering whether to ignore any further emails or string him along a bit. This seems to have all the hallmarks of one of those African car import scams.

Anyone else had one of these, and what did you do?

Cheers,

Steve.
 
Probably but less sure than those where they ask for your bank details.

My position would be to inform the person that the boat would only be released when you had confirmation from the bank that the funds were irrevocably credited to your account.

John
 
had this some years ago when selling my car via the internet...

i responded back to them like "sure will give you all my details and shell i send you the car keys as well"

never got any reply...
 
Certainly looks iffy. Surely anyone buying a boat would want to see it first anyway?

I sold a dry suit over the web. Guy send me a cheque for £125 more than the asking price. I emailed him and told him to send a cheque for the correct amount but heard nothing. Took the cheque to the bank to see if it was genuine but they didnt want to know, so i tore the cheque up and re advertised.

Too slow...Neil beat me to it!
 
Here is the basis of the scam.

The cheque/order can be in your bank for several weeks apparently cleared. Then it is bounced, by which time you have sent the goods never to be seen again.
So, you lose the goods
You lose the money
You pay the bank a referral fee
You waste your time trying to locate the jar of fog who bought it from you.

http://www.met.police.uk/fraudalert/419.htm
 
Scam Scam Scam

Sounds Nigerian to me, a bit colonial in style. The style and tone look very familiar. I work with many Nigerians and when I read your post its their dialect in my head.

Scam - junk mail him. Why not give us all the eMail address so we can warn others.
 
FullCircle said:
Here is the basis of the scam.

The cheque/order can be in your bank for several weeks apparently cleared. Then it is bounced, by which time you have sent the goods never to be seen again.
So, you lose the goods
You lose the money
You pay the bank a referral fee
You waste your time trying to locate the jar of fog who bought it from you.

http://www.met.police.uk/fraudalert/419.htm
Click to expand...

Agreed!

Rule one: only ever except fund transferred TO your account. I am not even happy about cash (forged etc). Never ever accept any bank draft. Why can't they do a transfer? Even drafts on a UK bank can be cancelled. Drafts on overseas banks may come back to haunt you 6 months later, even after the bank has told you they have cleared. WARNING - banks will say it is cleared - but they are not in a position to say this, so why do they?
 
Yeah, I know it's a scam (see the thread title), and it's a common one with car import/exports (the key thing is the banker's draft as mentioned above), but I was wondering whether to bait him a little and waste as much of his time and effort as possible. Has anyone seen the 419 Eater site where they bait Nigerian 419 scammers? Some of it is hilarious. This one is worth a read. The first page or so is hilarious:

http://www.419eater.com/html/bigman.htm

Steve.
 
Never conduct major transactions / sales via the phone.

You have no record and no come-back on anything going wrong. Ask him / her for a postal address and write to that address. Send all correspondence and photographs to that address as any electronic transfer (email, ftp) can be hidden and re-routed to God knows where!

I wonder if he / she will offer up a postal address for any future transactions negotiations regarding your sale? I won't hold my breath. :rolleyes:

ps: I wonder if you can 'ping' his IP address? ;)
 
steveparker said:
Yeah, I know it's a scam (see the thread title), and it's a common one with car import/exports (the key thing is the banker's draft as mentioned above), but I was wondering whether to bait him a little and waste as much of his time and effort as possible. Has anyone seen the 419 Eater site where they bait Nigerian 419 scammers? Some of it is hilarious. This one is worth a read. The first page or so is hilarious:

http://www.419eater.com/html/bigman.htm

Steve.
Click to expand...

Brilliant :)

bigman07.jpg
 
steveparker said:
Yeah, I know it's a scam (see the thread title), and it's a common one with car import/exports (the key thing is the banker's draft as mentioned above), but I was wondering whether to bait him a little and waste as much of his time and effort as possible. Has anyone seen the 419 Eater site where they bait Nigerian 419 scammers? Some of it is hilarious. This one is worth a read. The first page or so is hilarious:

http://www.419eater.com/html/bigman.htm

Steve.
Click to expand...
It would indeed be good fun to start a 419 bait on the forum.... whaddya say we construct a nice response to your potential buyer?

(we might want to move it to the Lounge too to keep it a bit more secure)
 
BlowingOldBoots said:
Sounds Nigerian to me, a bit colonial in style. The style and tone look very familiar. I work with many Nigerians and when I read your post its their dialect in my head.

Scam - junk mail him. Why not give us all the eMail address so we can warn others.
Click to expand...

I also work with Nigerians and this sounds VERY nigerian to me too. Don't trust them for even a second. They would steal the milk out of your tea..............
And for any of you who are thinking of slating me for my racist attitude on this - F**K OFF. I have worked with them for 13 years and I don't need you to tell me what to think of them.
 
steveparker said:
Yeah, I know it's a scam (see the thread title), and it's a common one with car import/exports (the key thing is the banker's draft as mentioned above), but I was wondering whether to bait him a little and waste as much of his time and effort as possible. Has anyone seen the 419 Eater site where they bait Nigerian 419 scammers? Some of it is hilarious. This one is worth a read. The first page or so is hilarious:

http://www.419eater.com/html/bigman.htm

Steve.
Click to expand...
That fellow is a genius. Did you get as far as the video of the Dead Parrot Sketch he got this scammer to do for him?
 
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