Sellers beware Scam

[Pat H]

Just a warning to those that may fall foul of this nasty Scam.

Basically it involves a response to an add you may have placed to sell a car or a motorbike or something else of some value.

You'll get an e-mail possibly in poor english from a Yahoo account (but possibly others)

It may ask for photos of the item to confirm condition (they won't come in person of course)

They then agree to buy with no haggling on price and ask for an address to send a banker draft.
At some point they will tell you that the draft will be for more then the items value (by a few thousand pounds)
To cover shipping costs. The shipper getting in touch when the funds have cleared.
They will assure you that the draft can be cleared before you need to do anything.

In due time a very realistic looking bankers draft will turn up most likely from an Irish bank.

Now for the bit most people aren’t aware of and can catch you out.

The draft will clear in your account after 3 days. You will then be asked to send a cheque for the shipping cost to an address.
The shipping agent to contact you when that cheque has cleared.
Unknown to you the draft can take many weeks to get to originating bank who will then delare it fake and suck that amount back out of your account. By then your cheque will have been cashed and you will be out of pocket for the shipping fee which is likely to be thousands.

Most people believe cleared funds mean just that cleared funds but in fact that's not the case.



Luckily they didn't get me. But I do have a nice little Bankers Draft to show my friends. Looks impressive.

 

[Bunny]

Thats good you didn't get caught out.
Can you post a copy of the bankers draft for us all to see?

 

[jug]

i think (hope) everyone knows about this type of scam by now. they should do, its happening everywhere and has been for years.

 

[TDF]

Thats what I thought, I would never have dreamed of warning people of this, but obviously some people don't know the OP being one of them.

*Goes off to start thread on not running with scissors*

 

[Hellcat]

Many people would believe cleared funds mean just that...

We have fell foul of such a scam through Paypal.. The 'safe' way to transfer money.

 

[jug]

according to paypal's website once payment has cleared into your bank account from your paypal account it cant be taken back. if you only release a car (or whatever) once the money has transfered into your bank, and not your paypal account, you cant lose. thats why it takes so long to do a transfer, but i'd rather make someone wait a week than take the risk. if the buyer isnt willing to wait for it to transfer they're probably not genuine. much safer than getting it paid direct into your bank account.

 

[x Alex x]

thanks for that! i didnt know, and i'm sick of being scammed and ripped off i'm to trusting in people, i'm only going to accept cash or paypal, thanks again

 

[jug]

and dont forget about fake money. cash isnt always cash. i had a mate who accepted £500 worth of fake £20s AND he didnt fill in the log book, he just gave it to them to fill in. we did end up spending all the fakes so it wasnt lost money, but do you have any idea how hard it is to get rid of that amount of fakes. i must have given more than a dozen of then to a woman in a bikini working at baha beach club in newcastle, and she never thought it was strange that i bought a drink with an extra crispy £20 every time. haha great days. but seriously check cash, and not just the top 2 notes. dont just count it, have a good look. and never accept £50 notes, even if the buyer drives an aston martin.

 

[Pat H]

Thats good you didn't get caught out.
Can you post a copy of the bankers draft for us all to see?

Have attached a copy. Obviously I've put the Fake over the top.
It would have been easy to tell if it had come like that.

 

[dave]

can a bank charge you intrest on it if you have spent it and need time to pay it back? could get intrest free loan by putting one of them in the bank and drawing all the money out before they say its fake :devil:

 

[x Alex x]

heh good thinking but they wouldn't give you a long time to pay it back i doubt..

 

[Pat H]

can a bank charge you intrest on it if you have spent it and need time to pay it back? could get intrest free loan by putting one of them in the bank and drawing all the money out before they say its fake :devil:

Did think of that. Pay it into an account. transfer it to a high interest savings account. When they try and claw it back it's gone and you haggle for time to repay. While earning interest. Problem was even at the best interest rate it's not worth the agro.

 

[Hellcat]

according to paypal's website once payment has cleared into your bank account from your paypal account it cant be taken back. if you only release a car (or whatever) once the money has transfered into your bank, and not your paypal account, you cant lose. thats why it takes so long to do a transfer, but i'd rather make someone wait a week than take the risk. if the buyer isnt willing to wait for it to transfer they're probably not genuine. much safer than getting it paid direct into your bank account.

Not true..

The funds had cleared from Paypal into Bunny's account. She had spent it on bills when she got a call from Paypal saying the card used was stolen, and they were claiming the money back from her account.

Very nearly stuffed her University course as that money was needed. Gits.

 

[chaos]

Have attached a copy. Obviously I've put the Fake over the top.
It would have been easy to tell if it had come like that.

You can instantly tell it's fake - look at the postcode - Bt1 SJS?

Northern is also misspelt.

As an aside, the old FF flyers had a spelling mistake on them - I hadn't seen an old one til Skeggy when Gaz handed me one and I read it

 

[Gazzak]

I recently sold my Ulysse and included my e-mail address on the autotrader advert. I got a few of these e-mails and luckily sussed out that they were not totally kosher. However, the people who eventually did buy the car initially contacted me by e-mail asking for extra details. I sent them a curt reply thinking they were more scammers and to ring me for details rather than e-mail me. Thanfully they rang me and turned out to be the best and most reliable buyers I'd ever had the pleasure to meet. I could have scared them away very easily. So whilst you must be on your gaurd against the scammers, please be careful not to alienate the genuine ones who'd rather send an e-mail than call you. Not easy I know, but remember there are genuine e-mailers out there.