Another car buy scam ...

[Drdogface]

But this one took a while to develop. At first he sounded just like an interested party, asking for additional pics, history, chain of ownership, etc. Then today I get this and must admit some disappointment as I've been trying to sell this P car for some time. I can usually tell it's flaky by the poor English skills and, of course, having someone else come to drive it, etc. I'm sick of these a$$ hats..

"Mark
Thanks for getting back to me. I will offer you $18,500 for it and i will like to inform you that i will be having our local transporters to come to your location for a test drive process on it and moreover i will have to make a down payment to you so as to make you reserve it for me for not getting it sold to other interested buyer's till the test drive and the sale will be done as it would take time to get all of that done..
I will make a down payment of $2500 and also I will include the test drive fees which will cost for $1500 and mind you I want the payment made out to you by check and also as soon as the funds of $4000 have been cleared into your account.
I will like you to have it ready for the test drive process and also you will make the remaining funds of $1500 payable to the transporters to cover for the inspection/test drive fees and all other expenses during inspection..
I will be looking forward for proceedings to you and also get back to me with the full names, mailing address and phone number the check can be made payable to you.
I will be looking forward to hear from you..
Regards..
Don.."

[krystar]

yea. just mess around with "Don". tell him you're ready. send him some pictures even. tell him you'll be waiting at the front door for the transporters with cash in hand. pshh yea right.

[Drdogface]

I did that once before but got bored with it. That was about a year or so ago. This guy I just told to send me a US Postal MO and we'd go from there. I'm sure I won't hear from him again. God, I hate selling cars...

[GWN7]

So some guy shows up at your door with a cheque for $4000 and you give him your car and $1500 ........both of which you won't see again.....

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by GWN7

So some guy shows up at your door with a cheque for $4000 and you give him your car and $1500 ........both of which you won't see again.....

That's good thinking there. Let the car go with a balance of 16K owed. Not even the dumbest of the dumbest would go for that.

[vonsmog]

Just answer the door with your gun on your hip and tell him you will be right out, you just need to go in and get your badge! Then you will be ready for the test drive, but will he mind if you swing by the police station to pick something up off of your desk! I bet by the time you come back out he will be gone!

[Drdogface]

Uhhh.... I didn't fall off the turnip truck yesterday Nobody gets this car until I have full price in hand...no checks... Friend of mine is an antique gun dealer. He has a drawer full of counterfeit checks and still has all his guns...

[GWN7]

Originally Posted by Zeke

That's good thinking there. Let the car go with a balance of 16K owed. Not even the dumbest of the dumbest would go for that.

The car is going for test drive. Says so in the note from the nice potential buyer.

A buddy sells cars...he was asked if he takes payments ....his answer was "yes, just one"

[Zeke]

I give up.

[onewhippedpuppy]

It's a good thing scammers are morons and typically foreign. You can normally tell from the first email, because it's a copy/paste.

"Hello, is the item still available? Please tell me your best price, I wish to purchase immediately!"

Always strange and poor grammar, always a very general email, never any specific probing questions, always convoluted payment schemes to pay from afar and ship. I have never sold a car to someone that hasn't asked any specific questions regarding condition, maintenance, etc. That one is typically the dead giveaway, it's rare to get those sorts of questions from a scammer like you did.

I just ignore them, because they're pretty easy to weed out. What's really sad is that if these people are persisting in the same scams year after year, that means it probably works.

[Drdogface]

Totally agree Matt. This AM I got the following...but I'm still very goosey about this. If this is real, he must be a foreigner living in England...

"Mark
Am located in England you can reach me @ 447024056048 am not a scammer
a bad peoples has spoiled a good people.
Thanks."

So I replied that he needed to do a direct bank transfer and pay all the other parties involved himself. We shall see... He sure is persistent though..

[Zeke]

http://www.ukphoneinfo.com/search.php?GNG=447024056048&Submit=Submit&d=nl

"Numbers must start with `0' if they are area codes or full UK telephone numbers, or start with `1' if they are access/short codes.
Numbers starting with digits 2-9 are for local, within exchange area, calls."

More:

(447) 02405 604 8

"024 National Dialling expansion

Section: Codes in Range 1000-2999 - Geographic Numbers
Warning: Numbers starting 02405 60 are probably not valid.
Oftel records show that numbers starting 02405 60 are free, and available for allocation."

[Drdogface]

Thanks for that Zeke

[varmint]

Depressing.

I live in Alaska, and am at a loss to figure a way to buy a vehicle long distance that doesn't make me look like a scammer.

How is it done?

[dennis in se pa]

"Depressing.

I live in Alaska, and am at a loss to figure a way to buy a vehicle long distance that doesn't make me look like a scammer.

How is it done?"

Just send me the money. I will buy it for you!

[varmint]

"Depressing.



Just send me the money. I will buy it for you!

Just send me your Ssn and bank account numbers. I'll wire it to you. Maybe your mother's maiden name as well.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by varmint

Depressing.

I live in Alaska, and am at a loss to figure a way to buy a vehicle long distance that doesn't make me look like a scammer.

How is it done?

Lots of cars bought and sold over the Bay using PP. Don't know what it entails to buy a car south of you in Canada, but there must be many available. You can buy one anywhere along the West Coast and get it shipped fairly easily. You have lots of friends out here.

[varmint]

Quote de varmint

Lots of cars bought and sold over the Bay using PP. Don't know what it entails to buy a car south of you in Canada, but there must be many available. You can buy one anywhere along the West Coast and get it shipped fairly easily. You have lots of friends out here.

Thanks in advance. One of these years I'm gonna get another R-50/2 with a sidecar.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by varmint

Depressing.

I live in Alaska, and am at a loss to figure a way to buy a vehicle long distance that doesn't make me look like a scammer.

How is it done?

Act like you're not a Nigerian and offer to pay via a secure and respected method? I've sold multiple cars to people that I've never met. Hell, I've sold several with only email correspondence. Like I said earlier, you can tell pretty quickly whether you're dealing with an informed and serious buyer or a scammer. Ask some questions, make the deal, pay via wire transfer, arrange for a truck to pick up your new car. Done!

[dienstuhr]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

It's a good thing scammers are morons and typically foreign. You can normally tell from the first email, because it's a copy/paste.

"Hello, is the item still available? Please tell me your best price, I wish to purchase immediately!"

Always strange and poor grammar, always a very general email, never any specific probing questions, always convoluted payment schemes to pay from afar and ship. I have never sold a car to someone that hasn't asked any specific questions regarding condition, maintenance, etc. That one is typically the dead giveaway, it's rare to get those sorts of questions from a scammer like you did.

I just ignore them, because they're pretty easy to weed out. What's really sad is that if these people are persisting in the same scams year after year, that means it probably works.

It's funny, there's a school of thought that holds that it's actually BENEFICIAL to scammers to use poor grammar, weird English etc. because in doing so, they weed out the recipients who are unlikely to respond to the scam anyway (i.e. the smart ones).

The principle is that if you respond to something like that not noticing that it sounds fishy, you are exactly the type of person who'd be a mark.

I always thought that the scammers could do so much better if they just improved their approach, but maybe they're smarter than I thought.

Cheers

w.