I have put my grandmother's Clio up for sale on this site and on a couple of others and received an email during the night from someone purporting to be in Spain which reads:
Hello,I am from Spain,i was going through
the classified ads when i came accross your
advert concerning your Renault Clio £750
for sale i am really intrested in buying,pls let me know the features and condition
including your last
price you are willing to sell,Get me all this asap.
cheers
I sent a reply asking how collection/payment would be arranged and received this email:
Hello,
I willbe paying the 750 you advertised for ok, i will be paying with a cashier check or a bank draft in uk pounds,So kindy provide me the following information ok-------------------
1,Your full name to be on the check.
2,Your postal address.
3,Your phone number both land and mobile.
4,Your postal code.
Get me this as soon as possible.Regards
Pls send me pics
IS THIS A SCAM?
I have heard of such scams on eBay and am very wary - perhaps too wary but do any of you know about this?
Any help much appreciated,
Matthew
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Play safe. I'm sure that a more plausible prospective buyer will be along shortly.
--
L\'escargot by name, but not by nature.
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Probably a scam, all the words seem to match to the others. Spain is an unusual angle but hey, Do you really need this hastle to sell a car anyway.
Ignore it.
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Yes.
last time I put a car on autotrader I got a dozen of these, I checked the source of the emails and found that they came from all over the place - but not from where they claimed to be from.
nobody is going to buy a car without looking at it. without haggling, from a foreign country.
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scam scam scam scam
ask him what cheque he will be sending? western union?
look here
www.419eater.com/
do a search for scammers on google or altavista
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Thanks guys - you're right, it's just too good to be true. I'd prefer to just sell it to another old lady in England anyway.
Cheers.
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The usual scam is to overpay you - so he'll pay, say, £2000, then ask you to reimburse the overpayment. You check with your bank, and they tell you it's OK to draw against the payment. You reimburse him, he withdraws the money and then disappears. Meanwhile his bank bounces his draft/cheque and your bank empties your account.
You then have a huge argument with your bank 'cos they told it was OK.
There's a correct form of wording that you have to use to ensure his payment has properly cleared and it can take several weeks, although your bank will let you draw against it after a few days.
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He wasn't a Pastor was he?
Coz if he wasn't, I wouldn't trust him! ;)
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?f=2&t=29...1
Vista's answer is a very concise description of what this crim is almost definitely planning on trying.
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Of course it's a scam, but most of them eminate from Africa - see the other thread on the same subject about "Someone wants to buy my Alfa".
Similar e-mail scams cover bank accounts, the fact that you've just been appointed to a top position in a company (please send your bank details to enable us to pay in your salary), auction sites such as e-bay and so on.
Just delete them and wonder why a few out of many, many thousands who receive these e-mails, often through sheer greed, actually respond to such missives...:-)
Some basic info on the subject:
www.fightidentitytheft.com/internet_scam_nigerian....l
slate.msn.com/?id=2072851
www.thedenverchannel.com/technology/2677278/detail...l
www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/cybe...0
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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This is amazing - I have now received 5 replies within 24hrs of posting the advert. They all contain fairly dodgy grammar and strange expressions. I have decided to reply to them all asking them to call me in order to discuss this further - here they are!:
Hello,
I saw your advert and i'm interested in purchasing your{Renault Clio}with the price of {£750}.
I will want you to get back to me with the following info.
1.It's present condition
2.An updated pics{if any}
3.Your last price.
I will make payment with a UK cheque.
Hope to hear from you in earnest.
------------------
My Client is interested in your Renault Clio .
What is your last asking price ?
Regards.
-------------------
Hello seller,
Am seriously interested in purchasing your Renault Clio
.I will want you to get back to me with the information i.e the
last selling price,the present condition.I hope to hear from you.
Thanks.
Regards to your family.
Tosin..................
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Hi Matthew,
I am interested in your car (the Clio) could you please send me pictures
Best wishes,
RT
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Speak to your local Plod.
I'm sure they'd love to catch one of these gentlemen redhanded when he comes to fetch the car...
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Doesn't work that way - the arrangement is that he "pays" for the vehicle to be shipped out to Africa by sea....:-)
Hardly worth the cost for an old banger I would have thought...:-))
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Put it this way, if you want to buy a second hand car, do you go to Spain to look? No, so what are they doing??
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They never come to collect the car. The car is the bait for the money! All they want is for the stupid one to send the cash by Western Union.
Plod is not interested because there is no scene of crime. If the crime goes on the books, it is a stat that has no chance of being "detected". Try reporting eBay crime to police, go on, I dare ya! It is almost impossible. You are in Coventry, you receive an email from "where"? you receive a cheque in Coventry by post, you send money by western union. It is collected "where"? It is the easiest crime in the world for police to bat off. In fact, some will say that it is a civil matter.
eBay fraud is, probably, the fastest growing fraud in the world. Every minute of every day, there is some poor ignorant sap waiting for his tool box, TV, DVD player, teapot, stamp collection, Gameboy/gear, iPod to arrive, having sent his money by western union.
Every day, there is also some poor ignorant sap who is thousands of pounds lighter on his bank balance for having a cheque (which is either stolen and washed, or counterfeit)paid into his account then sending money by wetsern union to the villain of the piece.
There are thousands of stolen cheques and counterfeit cheques making their way into the UK from West Africa via the well known courier companies. Police recently did a spot check with customs at Heathrow on couriered mail from West Africa. There were thousands...and I mean thousands of cheques going to addresses all over the place ready to be used.
I know that eBay is a useful tool to purchase in, and that the chances of being defrauded are slim in most circumstances. However, it would appear that certain types of auction items attract fraudsters.
It is now becoming commonplace thro'advertising your car via the well known car sales mags.
I can tell you this as well, it won't be long before the poor ignorant sap who has lost money actually gets arrested for money laundering on behalf of the villain.
Never go outside of PayPal, never ever send money Western Union in a transaction where you don't know who the counter-party is. Do these things and you will not put a foot wrong.
Finally....never ever respond to this type of email. You are just letting them know you are there. If they call you, just hang up. Do not get sucked into a conversation. Do not try to act as a private detective and meet them....you will get hurt. These are serious organised gangsters.
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RT sounds genuine, the rest fraudsters. Not sure I'd want anyone phoning me up to talk some more - plenty of nigerian gangs could have local enforcers - do you really want to play games with these people?
Rich
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For best advice check www.met.police.uk/fraudalert/419whattodoif.htm
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Oh, I had much more fun with mine:
hello, i saw your advert on the web and i am ready to pay £6495 for it.Tell me the condition with necessary photos attached to it. regards roderick
Roderick
Thank you for your email. What pictures would you like of the car?
hello. Good to read from you as i would want to view the interior and exterior photos of the car.I am interested in buying the car and i would be paying you with cashier cheque or money order which i would allow to clear from your bank before instructing my shipper to come for pickup at your location. Get back to me asap.
regards roderick
Roderick.
Here are pictures of my car as requested. Let me know if you need any more information about my vehicle which I think you will agree is something very, very special and worth every penny of £6,495.
(I then sent overview of CRV, engine from Audi, rear engine shot of 911 & interior of Ferrari)
Roderick
Did you receive my email with pictures? I'm sorry to chase you but I have a lot of people interested in my car so I might have to sell to the first person who offers me the money. I didn't want you to lose a special opportunity!
HELLO COLLIN,
I AM INTERESTED IN BUYING THE CAR AS I WOULD BE PAYING YOU WITH CASHIER CHEQUE OR MONEY ORDER.I WOULD ALLOW TO CLEAR FROM YOUR BANK BEFORE INSTRUCTING MY SHIPPER TO COME FOR PICK UP AT YOUR END.
I AM BASED IN HOLLAND,WAITING TO READ FROM YOU
REGARDS
RODERICK
Roderick
What good news you live in Holland! I am visiting Monster (not the mother in law, but Monster town near Hoek van Holland) over Christmas and the New Year. I have a new car now, but can bring the Porferrhonda over with me and as it has such a powerful dual engine system, I can drive anywhere in the Netherlands very quickly.
We can then meet in person, you can see the car and we can conclude a cash transaction without any need to use a bank. As I have some small problems with the British police connected with the banking system, I prefer to use cash. I hope this is OK for you. The car will then be delivered free to Holland saving you lots of money and I am sure the shipper you plan to use is very busy shipping cars at the moment. I understand there are many international car transactions happening right now as well as Santa Claus who is busy shipping a load of stuff round the world too! Do you believe in Santa Claus?
I look forward to hearing from you. I know the car will make a very nice Christmas present for you.
Sadly I didn't hear any more after that one!
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nice one !
just a warning to Matt and others that use autotrader or similar - expect a lot of virus ridden emails as well - make sure your a/v is up to date.
Mark
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Thanks for all your very helpful (and amusing) tales - I have since received over ten more emails and am simply staggered by the whole thing... Cheers,
Matt
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