FRAUD ALERT !!!!

[Blakej]

Just a heads up to you guys selling I recently had an offer on my boat which I was selling through several sites so I cannot identify which site it originated from but I was told by the FBI (after some conditions of the deal began to get fishy I was refered to them) that it was most definately a fraud or money laundering situation. Basically watch out for buyer out of country, offering suspiciously more than your item is worth used and the big hit asking you to accept a larger amount than agreed and then forwarding the difference to them for whatever reason they give. This last one the "money maker" for them sounds obvious but my guy actually had a very believably story given how obvious it seems in retrospect so beware.

[klenke]

I saw a story about this on TV recently (on the news, I think).

 

Thanks for the heads up.

[Collin]

I've heard of similar scams and I was trying to sell my antiqie stove I had numerious replys that were definately scams. Below is one of the emails I got:

 

( Thanks very much for the reply and God

bless. I need the stove badly.

Well,not to waste time becos i need it

urgently i'm quite agreed to pay $3500 for the it

becos of the urgency in need of it.

But this is how we are going to seal the

transaction becos of delays and fastness.There is one

of my assosiates in the United states , who is oweing

me the sum of $8420 in which i will ask him to issue a

cashier check or Money Order of the total money oweing

me to you and you will deduct the total cost of the

item and send the balance to me via MoneyGram . The

reason

why i am doing this is because a check sent within

America especially Money Order

clears almost immediately.Concerning the shipping i've a shipping

firm here that will just come for the pick up after

the payment becos they are cheaper and faster and i've

been dealing with them for years.But the only thing is

for you to send the balance so as to pay them for the

pick up.

So if this offer is okay by you send me your

contact information(name and address) to which my

assosiate will address

the check to .. so that

everything will be ready in time..

Thanks once again as i await your response.

Regards Olly.)

 

SCAM!!! Don't fall for it or anything like it.

[Blakej]

Amazing almost the exact same deal but the guy sold it a little better in the beginning not playing the you give me the difference bit till a little later. I've still got this asshole stringing along as I'm hoping the FBI can nail him. I get just a little pissed when someone tries to screw me over.

[rbw1966]

I'm missing something here--how is this screwing you over?

[catbirdseat]

You aren't necessarily getting screwed, but if you go along, you are being made a willing accessory to money laundering. This is most likely drug money or money from blood diamonds.

[swaterfall]

I've got a friend who was bidding on a motorcycle part on an unnamed internet auction site. He lost the auction then got an email from some one pretending to be the seller. That person said that the high bidder backed out and did my friend want to buy the item. He then proceeded to give my friend an out of the country bank account to transfer the money into. My friend thought that it was suspicious and eventually found out that the whole thing was a total scam.

[dbb]

From what I've heard, they send you a bank check that passes your bank. You then send them the $1000 or whatever, and then two weeks later the bank check gets returned and you're screwed... you can search around for details on google.

[boatskiclimbsail]

This is why I like to deal in cash. I trust paypal too, but there really is nothing more sure than closing a deal with a wad of bills in your hand.

[tomtom]

Well, duh, folks.

[Blakej]

can you use paypal separate from e-bay. Thought they were joined at the hip but then again I've never tried.

[boatskiclimbsail]

Well, duh, folks.

 

My point is, it's not worth my time or my hassle to deal with some sort of complicated payment scheme. Other than the two-week clearing time, personal checks are about as complicated as I'm willing to go to sell something.

 

 

Paypal is a separate entity, you can pay anyone with an email address. Bidpay is Ebay's baby but I believe you can pay for non-auction related things with that too.

[CascadeClimber]

Paypal is not safe, either. They are not goverened by the same rules as banks. I've read of several instances where items were sold on eBay to overseas buyers, the seller received payment into their Paypal account, shipped the item, and Paypal subsequently pulled the payment due to fraud.

 

Be careful.