OT: Post your scam stories

Wavex

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This may be worth "stickying" as it may save ppl a lot of troubles...


Here is what just happened to me this week, it was pretty obvious if you've heard about typical scam methods, but they're getting smarter!


I am selling the OEM plastics of my gsxr, and here is a little email correspondence that I thought I'd share... I wish I could kick that guy's ass...

1)
===========================================
From: Marcus Bradley [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Monday, June 15, 2009 10:57 PM
Subject: MOTORCYCLE/SCOOTER

I saw your advert on Craigs-list and am interested in buying the item from you. I will be responsible for the shipment to my location. Let me know the asking price. Regards
===========================================

2)
From: David ***** < d*******@hotmail.com >
Subject: RE: MOTORCYCLE/SCOOTER
To: "'Marcus Bradley'" <[email protected]>
Date: Tuesday, June 16, 2009, 4:05 PM

Hello,

Price is $900 + shipping for everything.

Rgds,

D~
===========================================
3)
From: Marcus Bradley [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Wednesday, June 17, 2009 7:22 PM
To: David ******
Subject: RE: MOTORCYCLE/SCOOTER

Thanks for getting back to me. I'm currently in UK and want to ship the item down here. There won't be any problem with the shipment 'cos my shipping broker will handle all necessary things,I will like to know the current condition and will appreciate it if you can send me some recent pictures Let me know.

Regards, Marcus
===========================================
4)
From: David ***** <*******@hotmail.com>
Subject: RE: MOTORCYCLE/SCOOTER
To: "'Marcus Bradley'" <[email protected]>
Date: Thursday, June 18, 2009, 3:13 PM

Marcus,

All pics are included here (click the links): 2005 GSXR-600 Mint plastics

Shipping to the UK is fine, but will probably be quite expensive for international shipping… Do you have paypal?

Rgds,

David
===========================================
5)
From: Marcus Bradley [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Thursday, June 18, 2009 9:56 PM
To: David ******
Subject: RE: MOTORCYCLE/SCOOTER

Am very excited with the condition. This is what am going to do in term of payment, I have a friend in the state who is owing me some money, i will instruct him to makeout a money order or cashier's check to you in the amount he's owing me and as soon as you get the payment cashed, you will deduct your money and you will handover my balance to my shipping broker at the time of pickup or you will send it to them. I think this payment method is okay by you, so get back to me with your contact information ASAP because i also have some other goods to pickup in the state. Get back to me with your contact info for payment processing.

Regards, Marcus
===========================================
6)
Hey Marcus,

The Scams

See the second paragraph on this website.

Paypal up front only.

Thanks,

David
===========================================



Anyone not as lucky and lost some $$?
 

AJ_rider

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I've seen a lot of these as of late. I'm trying to sell my buddy's engagement ring for him on Craigslist and all I'm seeing are "overseas buyers". I find some of them pretty hysterical, one guy offered me $800 over my asking price (which was already set a little higher than I wanted) because he needed it right away as a birthday gift for his son. Remember this is a diamond engagement ring. Oh and I had to ship it to some place in Europe and couldn't use Paypal for some reason or another.

Definitely have to be careful out there. A few years ago I was almost taken by a guy when I was trying to sell my Xbox 360. He said he would xfer the money to my Paypal when he received confirmation from Fed Ex that his package had been picked up. (dumb I know :spank:) But he offered to use his Fed Ex account for shipping AND let me keep the $30 shipping fee I had set up in the auction. Thankfully Fed Ex saved my A$$ by canceling the pickup because it had been flagged as a fraudulent account. Ever since then I've been very weary of scams through Ebay or C-list.
 
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Tremulant

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Way to stick it to him. These people are pathetic.

Dateline did a special where they tracked the scam all way to it's source, which ended being somewhere in Switzerland (after going through the states, and South Africa). It was definitely a good episode and made a lot of douchebags sweat.
 

tjhagen

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I've been getting a lot of those too! Mostly through Craigslist. Recently, I got one from a netvibes . com, almost looks like a blog entry, but pasted in an email. I smelled SCAM and deleted it. Anytime, they say "I like your item" without mentioning it. You can pretty much guess its a scam.
 
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oldfast007

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WOW, Marcus from the UK wanted to by limited Peavy guitar last year, same scenario !! It's getting too much, this crap has got to cease but never will.
 

necrotimus

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My wife almost sent money Western Union overseas for tickets. She assumed that the purchase would be protected but after making some phone calls to Western Union found out that there was no protection and if the money was sent then that would be it. She told the guy she sent the money and never sent it. We call all hope he got several flat tires on the way. It all looked very legit but it wasn't.

Just take your time and do your research and you can protect yourself. DON'T EVER BE IMPULSIVE ABOUT SENDING MONEY.
 

larryinpa

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I got an email last week using my daughters email address asking for money in Zimbabwe. It wasn't how my daughter writes, so I thought it was a scam. It wasn't - it was her all right.. All the banks were closed and no ATM machines work there. I guess I was being too careful, but sent her the money anyway, lol.
 

MarinaFazer

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LOL - that would be like my friend in the Peacecorps emailing me for cash but it sounding like a total scam. I'd feel pretty bad if she really needed it for whatever reason...kinda amusing to think about since nothing bad happened.
 

CHEMIKER

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Dang David, that was sneaky. Good you caught it. Most of the ones I have gotten from Craigslist are way more blatant, like women in Russia that are planning a trip here and looking for a good time LOL.

I don't know if they would lead to scams or not, but I don't even respond to inquiries where they ask for information that's in my ad. Like I got one the other day "what's the model number" when the model number was clearly in the title and body of the ad. I'm just suspicious of those.

Even if it's not a scam, if the person is dumb enough to inquire about a product without reading the description, I don't want to deal with them anyway.
 

SovietRobot

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It's a very generic nigerian scam. I would've stopped replying after the 2nd email.

I myself have never fell victim to one of those, but my brother in law did.
He was selling a jeep and the guy sent him a bad check, which he thankfully didn't cash, so he didn't lose $1,500

Good job on calling him out though!
 

dean2287

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I've bought and sold many, many things on-line, and thankfully never got scammed once. Here's my advice...

PAYPAL OR CASH UPFRONT

EBAY IS THE SAFEST AND IS INSURED, LOOK FOR "SQUARE TRADE" MEMBERS

NEVER TRUST OVERSEAS BUYERS OR BUYERS ACTING THROUGH A 3RD PARTY

ALWAYS SHIP WITH INSURANCE

IF IT SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, IT ISN'T!!!
 

lilfuzz

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I tried selling my 95 Blazer on Facebook classifieds. I got a reply similar to the OP. I was like. WTF. But I love those email that tell me in my total German ancestory that I am the last remaining air to Saddam or some other Iraqi person!!! If I am well then Im dumb and I should be rich.
 

LittleRed

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When I was trying to sell my first bike on Craigslist I got an email response from someone named Albert- here's a copy of the two messages I received before I said face-to-face and cash only (to which he never responded, funnily enough):

1st- "Hello I saw your advert craigslist but not sure of wat u are seeling so pls get back to me on wat u posted so i can get the item u are selling ?let me know this item is still avialiable for sale and the last asking price.Thank u, and you send the pics too ok.."

2nd- "Thanks for the mail you sent. Really i am okay with it and i have concluded with my son regarding your item that i want to purchase,I am buying this item for my personal use,I am also okay with your final selling price So i will be very much happy if the item is sold to me. The paymentwill come inform of Certified cashier check for the item. Moreso the shipping fee will be added to the payment which you have to deduct your own money and the rest will be for the shipping agent that will come for the pick-up of the item in your ocation. You can contact them via e-mail ([email protected]) and make a pick-up arrangement with them concerning the time they can come for the pick-up of the item after you might have receive the payment
and verify by your bank. I'll be looking forward to hearing back from you soonest with your payment information such as
Your Full N ame.................
Your Full Postal
Address..............
Your Country Code & Your Telephone
#........................
I will await your mail and your payment information as requested for the payment of the item to get to get to you on time/before weekend,Thanks for your understanding and God bless."

A good way to spot a scam is when they refer to what you are selling as an "item" and want it to be shipped. Craigslist's scam avoidance advice is a great tool to use.
 

Raid The Revenge

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Let's see:

I've was scammed two times on Craigslist, three times on Ebay, once in person and about a dozen times over the phone. I'm pretty sure WE ALL have had Email scams.

Long stories short, I'll give you the items and result.

Craigslist - GSXR1000R - The "lady" wanted to sell it cheap ($4000) because she claimed it from a divorce from her husband. Fortunately, I wasn't dumb enough to send $1000 down payment for an invisible motorcycle.

Craigslist/In Person - TDM850 - This bike I bought for a friend. That damned seller was a spoiled brat who lied to me straight in the face. I knew there was oil coming from the forks. He said the bike was in near-perfect condition. The pictures were PHOTOSHOPPED to make the forks look brank new! Lies. I went to him in person and "talked" him down on the price...

Ebay - Dainese Jacket - Ohh boy....this one actually cost me some money. I won a bidding war for a nice jacket, only to pay and not receive my item. I was new on the internet at the time, so I never heard of PAYPAL. $500 US dollars - GONE.

Ebay - Memory Stick Pro DUO (16GB) - This one was being sold by a guy in Hong Kong. I used PAYPAL to buy it, but apparantly his account was "hacked" and he could neither ship the item nor refund my money. Thank goodness for PAYPAL's buyer protection program; I got my money back. That cost nearly $100 US.

Ebay - Memory Stick Pro DUO (16GB) - After the failure from the previous transaction, I attempted to buy some digital memory, again. This one was being sold by a guy in Texas (1000+ Postive Feedback). I used PAYPAL to buy it, only to discover the next day that his account was banned from Ebay. The guy was actually living in Hong Kong while using a fake name, fake US Ebay account and selling fake items. PAYPAL saved me on this one, again. $80 US.

The moral of the story is to use only Paypal over the internet. DON'T use a credit card, unless you REALLY know who you're dealing with. The smaller the item, the more likely it is going to be fake. Feedback on Ebay DOESN'T always work. Finally, if something sounds like it's too good to be true then it probably is.

EDIT: I just remembered, there was also this one time I wanted to buy a camera from 86th street New York...
 
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FZ1inNH

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Well, last Friday night I made some fork springs out of paper clips and solder and stuck them in a Racetech box. Then I sold them to a guy on the forum who came over and we installed them. It cost me $3.74 to build them! ;)























No.... really. I've not been bit by a scam. I'm far too skeptical of ANYTHING that comes in snail or e-mail. :thumbup:
 

Kilbane83

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I find it funny how his english gets worse and worse as the emails go on. You'd think they'd have a well written copy/paste script by now so it'd sound a little more legit. Reading that email was so confusing I wouldn't know what to do if I was stupid enough to try to go forward with that sale hah.
 

Soap

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Well I've had my debit card cancelled today by Abbey National's Fraud Dept. as someone has been trying to use it for a total of £1000...
 

CCHOUSEKY

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Great idea for a thread, wavex!

I've had two recently. The first I'm still trying to resolve and it involves a brand new pair of Oxtar EVO Ti boots I found on Ebay. I pm'd the guy and asked about buying them from him and he agreed on a price of $100. All his feedback looked good and I've never had any problems, either buying or selling, on Ebay before. I used Paypal and sent him the payment and even talked to him by phone before the purchase and everything seemed in order. 2 weeks later, I'm still waiting for the boots to arrive in Kentucky from Arizona!

I finally reached him by phone 3 days ago and he gave me some song and dance about having a funeral to attend just after the sale and a business trip that was supposed to end yesterday. He promised he'd call me last night, but I never heard from him. I called again today and got his voicemail and left him a not so nice message. I've already disputed the charge with my credit card company and they've temporarily returned the money to my card, pending the outcome of their investigation. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he'll come through, but I'm not holding my breath.

The second one involved a golf bag that I was selling for a friend on Ebay. This was a $225 Nike cart bag that we put up for auction at a starting price of $125. I got some nibbles, but it didn't end up selling. Then I get a message on Ebay from some guy with the screen name "his_golf_stuff_does_not_belong_in_my_shoe_closet!". This is the text that I received...sound weird to anyone else?

"My friend wants to BUY IT NOW your bag for the $100.00 with the $25.00 Shipping. ($125.00 Total),...If you relist it for the $100.00 with the BUY IT NOW button,...attached,...and allow the MONEY ORDER Payment with the USPS Money Order (gauranteed),...I will mail it out today once the Posting is relisted to reflect that. Let me know, and relist it at the TOP of the Pending Hour). Just let me know,...there is another bag listed for $79.00 with FREE SHIPPING,..however, I already set up a pending agreement with you, so, I want to follow through (or NOT) with you first before I venture for the GREATER savings with the other persons bag. Let me know."

Needless to say, this sent up a red flag for me and I didn't respond and my friend decided to keep the bag.

I seem to be seeing more and more of this while the economy is in the toilet!
 

moopie

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Beware that paypal does not always work! Two x-mas's ago I bought a DS game off ebay that was shipping from Hong Kong. The seller had hundreds of good feedback and then just suddenly seemed to scam a whole lot of us at once. For whatever reason, paypal was only able to recover about a third of my money. That's the last time I've bought from someone overseas.

I also once sold a PS2 on ebay. The buyer tried to claim he never got it even though I'd sent it with signature upon delivery. What a tool!
 

jlsmith411

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Wow, ya'll have some crazy stories... I am extremely skeptical of anything online or anyting sent to me via email. Even when I use ebay I check the feedback score and atually read the feedback.

I did get taken for $30 on ebay though. I bid on a textbook for school. The book was listed as like new and the auction stated that there were no marks in the book. The person had 140+ positive feedback and no negative feedback. I went ahead and bid on the book, won, and soon received my item. However, when I received the book it was bent, dirty, and there was underlining, circling and other annotations throughout the book. I contacted the seller and tried to reason with them, but they refused to refund my money. I opened a dispute with the seller through Paypal, and thankfully, justice prevailed! Paypal refunded my money. I was pleased about that. Of course after I received my refund I left the seller negative feedback. The "sucky" (is sucky a word? haha) part of the whole deal was not so much the time and effort spent recovering my money, but the feedback I received as a buyer. As I'm sure you know, sellers cannot leave negative feedback for buyers. This seller left me positive feed back, but wrote: "DONT SELL TO THIS PERSON OR BUY ANYTHING! LIER! CHEAP! AND A CRY BABY! F----" So even though I still have 100% positive feedback, if anyone actually reads my feedback they will see that. *rolls eyes* Why can't people just deal honestly with other people? Whatev, I got my money back! :)
 
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