Whats the con?

[Randomman]

Just read the other thread about conmen trying to send 3000k for an 800 quid car and the rest for the shipper etc...

Obviously they are as real as Michael Jackson's complexion, but I fail to see how they stand to make money from it? I can assume you will never recieve a penny, but then no one would give up there car on trust before funds are cleared so wheres the gain?

 

[thepottleflump]

The plan is to get you to send the difference back and release the car before the cheque bounces. Having had a recent experience with a rubber cheque it can take a while for you to be notified, in my case the money had appeared to clear, 2 weeks later the cheque was sent back and the money taken back out my account.

 

[ChrisUK]

Easy answer open an anonamous swiss bank account sell you car for 20,000 to one of these fartknockers and withdraw the cash before it bounces .

 

[sludgeguts]

Not only is the con still used on sites such as ebay but also in mags such as auto trader - and it must work else they'd stop doing it.

The con works for two reasons.
1. People are greedy. "I'll send you a cheque for £8k, you keep the £100 for your mobile phone (whatever) plus a few hundred for yourself (my dear friend) and send £500 to my shipping agent {who doesn't exist but the PO box is probably owned by the scammer}, when the cheque has cleared you can send the item to me"
Of course, the cheque will clear because it is stolen, just the one cheque from near the back of the book.
2. Banks are incredibly lax when it comes to dealing with everyone else's money.

So. Despite the fact that you have only used cheques 1 & 2 out of a book, they quite happily process payment for cheque 48 without a second look.
Come the end of the month when matey gets his bank statement, he sees cheques 1&2 - that's fine - then cheque 48 & starts getting narky with the bank. The bank look at the details & agree it is a bit naughty so refund his money & instruct your bank to take the cash from your bank.

In a lot of cases, the scammer is the genuine owner of the cheque - they end up with a full refund plus the goods.
Some shops etc are now refusing to take cheques for this reason - they say it saves time & money etc but the reality is that they have also been conned with high value purchases & then finding out later that the cheque used was 'stolen'

 

[volxstu]

If a check bounces the money was never yours in the first place so you get left with a 20 grand debt.
They have been learning from the government they give you a bit of tax credit money then tell you you owe them a s**t oad more.

 

[dan_in_darlo]

if that happened couldnt you take it to the highstreets where they charge u like 2.9% on cheques and they cashed it there and then so couldnt u do that ?????

 

[jug]

they dont send you a cheque, its a money transfer, usually by western union. the payment appears on your account for a few days. they dont want the car or anything else they are paying for, all they want is for you to pay them the difference, that is why they always pay you more than the item is worth. when the money transfer is rejected (because the person paying has no funds in thier account) you are left with nothing, but the money you paid them was real money, yours, and now you've lost it with nothing to show for it and no way to get it back.