Possible scam

[Randy C.]

I advertised my 7041212 carburetor in Driveline and the on-line NCRS advertising site and got a response from the NCRS advertising site that sounds a bit too fishy for me to move forward with it right now. The response is from a "John Jakoba" and he signs his emails as "Mr John". His English is stilted in his emails which tells me English is not his native language. His email address is john.jjonline001@gmail.com and there is a list of numbers after his name that read "197.210.226.155 : 197.210.226.155" which I took to mean his telephone number but I could find no country that has a telephone prefix of 197. I sent him pictures of the carburetor and his response was "...really loves it...ready to purchase...state [my] price...will mail a certified check to me...will personally arrange for the pick-up after [my] bank confirms payment to [me]...take the ad off the site".

I asked in the email with the pictures where he lives. No response to that question. Usually (not always, but usually) people who respond to NCRS ads have Corvettes and they like to talk about them. There is no mention of any Corvette from Mr. John, nor is there any indication of what Mr. John wants to do with this carburetor. He asks for the price of the carburetor; it's in the ad. And I've read of situations where a bank will take a "certified check" and tell the depositor it is good, only to find out a month later that the check is an outstanding counterfeit and that the check is no good.

I haven't given Mr. John any particulars as to my address and so forth except that my phone number is also in the ad. I'm thinking about telling Mr. John to have his pick-up man meet me in a very public place with cash so we don't have to deal with any check but I don't think that's a good idea.

If anyone on this site knows Mr. John personally and can vouch for him, I'll follow through. But, I seriously suspect it's someone on a mission to scam me out of $450!

Randy C.

[Justin S.]

Re: Possible scam

Randy,
Mr. John's phone numbers look like IP addresses.

[Gary C.]

Re: Possible scam

Randy,

IP Address 197.210.226.155 is from Nigeria.

DO NOT click on any links in emails from this guy and report him to gmail.

Gary
....
p.s. only members that login to the NCRS on-line Classified Ads can see any member information. Guests can only send an email

[Michael J.]

Re: Possible scam

You do have to be careful about "For Sale" items. I had some redline bias ply tires for sale in our chapter newsletter (also on the internet) a while back. A person contacted me by email using stilted English and awkward, non-American phrasing. Since I used to travel to and do business in Nigeria, I recognized it immediately. If is sounds and seems suspicious, it is. I went along with it for a while, he said he would send me a cashiers check for $1200, the tires were for sale for $500, he said he would arrange pickup and I could send my personal check for the $700 extra back to him after his check cleared. I got the check, it was not in his name, I researched the name and address on the check, it was for a person who had died about 3 months before. I called his scam, reported him to the FBI, and I don't think he was ever caught. These kind of things are far too common.

[Leonard M.]

Re: Possible scam

"Mr. John" contacted me as well. Here's his second email and my second reply. Even if I waited for his "certified check" to clear I'm sure I would have been charged the fee for a bogus check.

Thanks for the pictures..I really love it and I'm ready to purchase
from you. So i have make an arrangement to issue the payment in a
certified check and mail to you. Kindly provide me your information.

Your full name
Address
Zip code
Telephone number
Price
I will personally arrange for the pick up after your bank confirm my
payment to you. I will advise you take the ad off the site. I await
your reply.
Regards
Mr John
Mr John, I will need information from you first.
Since the system was listed on ncrs, you must send your ncrs number.
To be sure it is correct for your car I will need your model, year, engine size and horse power so a return is not necessary.
After that information we may proceed. Thank you, Lenny

[Ed H.]

Re: Possible scam

I too responded to John Jakoba. His name is not listed in NCRS. I requested his info from the NCRS Admin. I checked on other cites and found
a number of John Jakob's residing in N.Y. I hope our tech guys can do a little forensic digging and pinpoint this guy. I asked for his NCRS number and no reply. Looks like he got into our (For Sale) system or he has a friend working with him. If he shows up at my house my .45 will be cocked and locked. Gary's ID of an IP address in Nigeria is suspect enough. Since I don't have an gmail account how would I inform the gmail admin
about this guy. I would like to break up this scam. I think this should be put up on the sticky board in bold font.
I just completed filling out the form on IC3, the FBI web cite used to advise them of this breech of our system. I have a question for anyone who
has knowledge of hackers possibility getting into my email cite for info on any of my financial or banking transactions, what suggestions could you
give me.

[Ed H.]

Re: Possible scam

I just spoke to a friend in the FBI. The instructions, to take care of this scamer, is go to a special web cite maintained by the FBI and report all info you may have. The web cite is IC3.gov. I am going to the cite now, I will let all know the results

[Bill M.]

Re: Possible scam

Watch out for a reverend Jeremy from the UK. he sent my son a big check for his 78 cutlass. we smelled a rat and turned the check over to a FBI friend. we found out that the check would have passed normal channels but later on it would have ben proved phoney an we would be on the hook.

[Ed H.]

Re: Possible scam

On advise from an IT law enforcement friend, I have since put all e-mails from the scammer "JOHN JAKOBA", into my spam file. That should keep him off of my tail.

[Don H.]

Re: Possible scam

Moving this to the Feedback/Support Forum. This is not a possible scam, it's an obvious scam. A 'certified check' scam. There are millions of them flying around the internet all the time. OP described all the clues in the first post. I always immediately dump these emails into the spam file as soon as I get them. They are as obviously fake as a three dollar bill. I never respond to them and can't see how reporting them to some authority will make them stop either. To each her own as to how to handle these but my way works for me.

[Gary C.]

Re: Possible scam

FWIW, good ole John J posted a question about a classified ad item I'd listed. John J probably sent everyone who has a NCRS Classified Ad a message. Have reported the POS John J to gmail

Guideliness emails:
1) never click on a link in an email that's not from a sender you know. Even then you should be exercise extreme caution in case their email got hacked. Hover over the email link to see what the URL address is. If it looks suspicious, then don't click on it.

2) classified ad scammer emails
At the bottom of the message there's a "76.225.137.87" The 4 segment number separated by decimals is the IP address of the sender. In an Internet browser type in whois 76.225.137.87 Then select one of the returns to see the location of the sender.

3) report phishing emails
Search the web for how to report phishing emails to the email provider the message came from. Then follow the email providers instructions on how to report phishing email sender.

Gary
....

[Ed H.]

Re: Possible scam

Thanks Don and Gary for your quick response and sage advise. Our system too unique to let some "ADAM HENRY" fool around and mess
with heads of old guys like me.

[Terry M.]

Re: Possible scam

Thanks Don and Gary for your quick response and sage advise. Our system too unique to let some "ADAM HENRY" fool around and mess
with heads of old guys like me.

We use slightly different characters. In my lingo they are called: "Alpha Hotel."