A Cautionary Tale of traps for inexperienced advertisers

A word of caution about Internet e-mail and possible scam attacks. While I do not subscribe to the alarmist comments made by some that the Internet is a dangerous place, none the less when it comes to money it does pay to be cautious in dealing with "anonymous" people by e-mail for the first time. (Just as it is when dealing with someone face to face for the first time) A couple of our advertisers have been the recipients of "scam" emails from potential overseas buyers of the car. The way it goes, the potential overseas buyer has a business partner (or a third party) who will to send a Cheque for more than the agreed price. The seller is asked to forward the balance via western union to the shipper, usually early to get the ball rolling in terms of the shipping because "it is a long process while the cheque was clearing". Eventually, the cheque will bounce and the seller looses any "advanced" money, and the goods if already forwarded. A fairly transparent scam, but one that could fool the unwary. So, be careful and look for obvious signs of attempted fraud. Like the now well known Nigerian Scam (and its derivatives) and the various Bank ones (purporting to come form your bank), care needs to be taken when selling over the Net as well. The moral is, just like selling anything face to face, wait for any funds to clear from the bank before surrendering title to the goods. However, my recommendation would be to ignore any email from prospective overseas buyers unless they are able to prove their veracity. Peter H - Webmaster. (An example of emails received by one of our members can be seen below.)

Contact the Webmaster with any questions:

It pays to be careful when you receive strange emails concerning the sale of your car. An example of an attempted email scam following is actual except for the details of the email address. It is fairly obvious, full of typographical errors, but none the less please be aware of the lengths that some people go to to rid you of your money.

----- Original Message -----
 

 From: michael dave
To:
Sent: Saturday, February 05, 2005 10:23 PM
Subject: 1965 2000 P6, Series one


Sir/Madam.
I am mark smith,87-90 Loom Madrick Camian Street ,
Florish Amstandam Netherland .We specialise in purchase of
Autos(car,bike and equipment) for customers here in
Europe,and we get paid in commission,after payment has been
confirmed by the seller to the buyer.I write you on behalf
of our client to contact you and arrange for the buying and
shippment of your vehicle which our client saw on the
internet,we would like to know the conditions of the said
vehicle and probably arrange for payment to get to you and
shippment. My customer interested in purchasing your car
mentioned (ASKING FOR THE LAST PRICE AND THE PICTURE IF AVAILABLE)and we will arrange for the pick up of the car once payment is confirmed cleared by
you. Please acknowledge the offer and we will inform the buyer of your
confirmation of acceptance to sell and have the funds remitted to you as
soon as possible ,and i'll like this transaction to be kept in utmost
trust.I hope you can understand.
Hope to hear from you soon.
Smith
 

From: michael dave
To:
Sent: Wednesday, February 09, 2005 12:22 AM
Subject: PAYMENT...


Hello ,
My Client asked me to bring to your notice that payment will be made
to you by means of a cashier check in the amount of ($10,000)This
amount he asked me to let you know would come in this form due to an
earlier order he made with a Company in the States but did not go
through due to delay in Shippment of goods he ordered.
To conclude the transaction,Send your Name, Phone # and Address to
enable my Client forward it to the Company to make out the check in
your Name. When the check gets to you,you are to refund the excess
amount of ($8,000) to his Shipper via western union money Or money
gram transfer immediately to enable him arrange for the Shipping of
the vehicle on time.So confirm this and provide the information for
payment to be sent to you via priority mail.
Regards,
Micheal..