Can anyone explain to me...
 

...why some people do not do regular money transfers as we know in "the old world"
- usual bankaccount to bankaccount transfer (swift)
- or maybe paypal...

Instead people say
- moneygram
- western union

despite these systems are very uncommon in europe it feels somehow "suspiciously"

OK, i did it once with one of the Pelicans here SIDNEY E SMITH so i transferred money via a friend of mine living in the US and the result was somehow as expected: money payed with no goods and cut (unanswered) mail contact since 3 months now.

OK, my fault, i should not have done it. I was naive for shure.

Just again i had another pelican contacting me on another search. Again no evidence, no telephone number gut MONEYGRAM expected. And again a weird gmail mailadress.

Is that common?
Whats your experience?

Dont know for sure. Used to be that people would send you a cashiers check, or money order, but that seems years ago. Now I use paypal. Most of those you refer to don't have banks, so send it through western union. I'd stay away from them in any dealings. Just my 2c.

The US is way behind Europe in terms of personal banking. I think the only thing the U.S. is leading the world in these days is fat people.

But to better answer your question, in the last year there has been a sharp increase in scammers on both Pelican and Early S Registry. Anyone with a WTB ad gets contacted saying they have the parts you need. Typically they are in England and many times say their paypal is dormant and they request a moneygram be sent. Another indicator is they have 0 posts or maybe up to 5. That alone should make you suspect.

There are threads on each site where people post a new scammer's screen name, happens all too regularly.

I recently bought some seat fabric from a Dutch company. They suggested Xoom for payment. I went to the Xoom website and made a transfer of about $150.-. Xoom offered 2 payment options. Credit card (slightly higher fee) or bank account. The transfer was simple with confirmation number, the Dutch company accepted the payment with the confirmation number and shipped the fabric via FedEx. Simple and effective transaction.

Are email bank transfers not an option?

US banks usually charge a high fee for sending wire transfers, which is why they're not common here. I deal with people every day who use them to pay foreign vendors. But there are cheaper ways to pay people domestically.

It is difficult, or impossible, to get your money back after a deal goes south if you paid by Moneygram or wire transfer. A common scam is as Sean described, "Anyone with a WTB ad gets contacted saying they have the parts you need. Typically they are in England and many times say their paypal is dormant and they request a moneygram be sent."
Sean is right except the problem extends way beyond Porsche parts and Pelican - the scammers can be from anywhere and claim to have anything they think you want. There is a fairly active guy working in Western Pennsylvania doing this with all manner of items. We've been chasing him for years. He knows the system and knows that if he rips someone off for less than $1000 the local authorities won't pursue it, so he keeps dollar amounts under $1k. He also knows that if he accepts anything sent through the mail he is guilty of mail fraud, so he will not accept a money order sent through the mail.
Parts Sales Fraud - SmokStak

Wow, there seem to be funny guys around!!

How do you make sure a deal with an unknown virtual person here on pelican really works?

Thanks,
Robert