Scam or Not

[Jimmy G.]

As a lot of you who know me understand that I retired and have advertised that I am trying to sell down my parts collection. I received an email from an individual who wanted to buy my entire parts collection - sight unseen. He said he would have his business manager send me a cashiers check for the price that we would agree upon and then he would arrange transportation of all the parts shortly there after. Not sure but something smells fishy to me. His email was very short and it almost appeared as if English was not his primary language because it was sorta cryptic..

Has this happened to anyone else or am I his first potential victim. Just want to protect myself and any other NCRS members if this is a scam.

[Rich G.]

Re: Scam or Not

Definitely a scam. Definitely.

[Ed S.]

Re: Scam or Not

Reply by telling the buyer to wire the money to your bank account. Go to your regular bank and open a new account with a $5 initial deposit. Give the buyer the account #. When the money arrives at your account transfer it to an account he does not know then advise him to bring his truck and get his junk out of your garage.

[Garry B.]

Re: Scam or Not

Jimmy, have you advertised your collection for sale on this site or others? I would wonder how someone would know your collection is for sale if the only form of advertisement has been word of mouth. Although Ed's guidance may take a little leg work on your part, it does offer you the opportunity to flush things out. Maybe it is legit. Depends on how bad you want to sell all of it at once. Good luck and be careful.

[Dan D.]

Re: Scam or Not

Jimmy, this is a scam for sure.

I had a similar situation happen to me last April when I tried to sell a large mower deck for a utility tractor on Craig's List. When I got her cashiers check (for more than the cost of the deck), I knew before that it was a scam. I took the check to my bank, 2 bank people looked at it and said it was bogus.

There are 2 key things here that are a tip off. 1, is the English; mis-spellings, incomplete sentences, etc., and the other is the cashiers check. Regardless if the bank initially accepts the check, it can take up to 2 weeks before it actually bounces. The check looks very real, and a Google scan in my case confirmed that the issuing bank is real, but the check was not.

What they want is access to your account, where they will drain it. You wont have to worry about how much money you have in your account, because there wont be any.

What I did is I e-mailed her back and told her the bank said her check was fraudulent and tore it up (which was a lie), and I told her I was reporting it to Craig's List.

Never heard from her again (I still have the check).

Dannnnnn

[Floyd B.]

Re: Scam or Not

It can take financial institutions weeks to unravel fraudulent checks. The bank has set time limits that it must make the funds available governed by various federal and state regulations. But this does mean the check is legit. There is no set time limit for the bank to discover that the check is bad and come after you for repayment. NEVER accept checks from people or businesses you don't know and trust.

[Mike M.]

Re: Scam or Not

Jimmy: you have a PM. mike mccagh

[Ed H.]

Re: Scam or Not

If walks like a duck and smells like one
Well!!!!!!

[Domenic T.]

Re: Scam or Not

I have one. Ed's is wise.
I sold a damaged airplane to a Doctor in Austria. He seemed to be OK. Well I sent my bank info for the wire and took all but 105.00 out of my account.
I called the automated system and they said I only had 5.00 in my account. Pay Pal took 100.00 out and when I investigated they gave me a E-mail that read, I needed the money and spent it already. Next time be careful when you do a wire. Just as said above the response from the thief was as said above not to be in proper English.
I sent the info to pay pal and they stiffed me for the 100.00 + a fee, I think. So, I did what Ed said and opened another account and blocked all till the money 17,000.00 came in and then transfered it to my new account.
Some how the thief got my info and was going for the 17K.
NO more pay pal for me!! they had all the proof but denied my claim. The bank was closed due to covid and when they opened and I detested the pay pal the gave me mega lip service. I lost 130.00.

Dom

[Ian G.]

Re: Scam or Not

Recently my grandfather (89 yrs old) was scammed out of 5 grand. He was spear phished by two guys. One guy called him pretending to be me in jail on a DUI, in a wreck with a broken nose. Guy says he can only talk for 5 minutes and asks my Grampa to send bail. Another guy calls him pretending to be the defense lawyer to make it all seem legitimate. My grandfather overnighted 5 grand in cash to an empty house in Pennsylvania on zillow. he called me two days later to make sure I was OK and I had to explain I was fine, not in Pennsylvania and not injured in a DUI car crash. I think they probably just googled obituaries to get the minimal info on him they needed or spent 5 bucks on an information scraping site. Your whole life is available on the internet even if you aren't on facebook or otherwise. Never ever believe any cockamamie story you hear from a stranger on the phone or internet without first contacting someone you know and trust first to just talk it through. I've had my identity stolen now probably three times. You have to be careful.

[Duke W.]

Re: Scam or Not

Reply by telling the buyer to wire the money to your bank account. Go to your regular bank and open a new account with a $5 initial deposit. Give the buyer the account #. When the money arrives at your account transfer it to an account he does not know then advise him to bring his truck and get his junk out of your garage.

This is the way to do this type of transaction. Wired funds arrive at the receiving bank the same day they are sent, and at that point it's a done deal. Irreversible!

Duke

[Chris H.]

Re: Scam or Not

Senior fraud is a multi billion dollar industry. The relative in jail, needs bail money scam nearly got my father. Had it not been for the cashier who asked him why he was buying all those iTunes gift cards, he would have been out $4k.

[Paul Y.]

Re: Scam or Not

Agree with Duke. I have done that with overseas purchases, and it has worked out well. The bank does not like to open short term accounts though.